The Who’s new drummer Scott Devours has spoken out after it was announced that he would replace the band’s longtime member Zak Starkey.
Starkey, 59, was ousted from the band for a second time this week after The Who announced the North America leg of their farewell tour, which will commence in August.
He was first fired in March after an apparent row over his performance at the rock band’s Royal Albert Hall concert, then reinstated shortly after he made his firing public. The band put the dispute down to “communication issues”.
Starkey later claimed the band, fronted by Roger Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend, had asked him to “lie” and say he had decided to quit, rather than say he had been fired again.
Devours, who previously drummed in Daltrey’s solo band and will now join The Who on their farewell tour, shared an Instagram post this week in which he said Daltrey and Townshend had “once again changed my life forever”.
“It’s hard to express the tsunami of emotions that I’m processing since that incredible news, but there are a couple of things I feel compelled to say,” he wrote.
“The first is that I need to thank all the family, friends and fans for the countless messages, texts and emails congratulating me and sharing their excitement… The amount of positivity thrown my way has been overwhelming, I truly thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Also, please don’t ask me for tickets, lol.”
Devours, 58, then addressed the fans who he expected would not accept him “or anyone” as The Who drummer other than Starkey.
“I know that this will be the case for some and I acknowledge that,” he said. “For others, perhaps the jury is still out. Maybe I’ll need to let the music do the talking?
“In my world, there are no bigger shoes to fill than those behind Pete and Roger. The weight of this responsibility is enormous and I am feeling every ounce of it.”
He continued: “What I want to say to all of the fans is that I will do everything I can to honor the legacy of The Who, Zak, Kenney Jones, Simon Phillips and the memory of the great Keith Moon.
“For my name to even be mentioned in a sentence like that literally sends shivers down my spine and I know I need to earn this honour.”
He concluded by saying that his “ultimate goal” was to give the band “every second of my time, every beat of my heart, and every drop of my sweat and blood” while playing “the greatest songs ever written”.
Starkey, the son of Ringo Starr, first joined The Who in 1996 for their Quadrophenia tour. He was introduced to drumming by the band’s former drummer Keith Moon, a family friend who gifted Starkey a drum kit as a child.
