The Who has reportedly fired longtime drummer Zak Starkey.
The news first surfaced on Tuesday night, with a spokesperson for The Who providing a statement to The Mirror that “the band made a collective decision to part ways with Zak after this round of shows at the Royal Albert Hall. They have nothing but admiration for him and wish him the very best for his future.”
Indeed, The Who recently performed several shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall for frontman Roger Daltrey’s Teenage Cancer Trust, and in videos of the performances online, it’s clear that there’s some tension in the band. Several times throughout the run of shows, there were audible mistakes and missed cues, some of which the band even acknowledged to the crowd.
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During a rendition of “The Song Is Over” at a show on March 30th, Daltrey even stopped the music, telling the audience “To sing that song I do need to hear the key, and I can’t. All I’ve got is drums going boom, boom, boom. I can’t sing to that. I’m sorry guys.”
Reinforcing the idea that Starkey — son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr — was responsible for some of the tension, another source reportedly told The Mirror that the parting of ways was “a little acrimonious to say the least.” Furthermore, unnamed “insiders” said the band felt there were a “few issues with the drumming… and the standard wasn’t as high as everyone wanted.”
To that end, even some fans are seemingly less-than-thrilled with the drumming at The Who’s recent shows, with some commenters noting that Starkey’s parts don’t always mimic what late drummer Keith Moon originally played.
But it’s worth noting that many of the drum-related challenges may not be all Starkey’s fault. Yet another source told The Mirror that “he is an extremely talented drummer and [his firing] doesn’t make any sense,” and when watching the clip where Daltrey stopped the music to complain about the drums, there’s no obvious indication that Starkey’s playing is what caused the flub. Watch a fan-recorded video of the moment below (Daltrey cuts the music around the 3:12 mark).
Meanwhile, Starkey himself seemingly alluded to his firing on social media in the days leading up to the spokesperson’s statement, sharing several cryptic messages on Instagram. One post shows slowed footage of The Who live with Primal Scream’s cover of “So Sad About Us” overlaid, followed by a strange post days later seemingly depicting Daltrey in a pair of briefs underwear with the caption “Nice bum shame about the y fronts Roger!”
Then, on Saturday, April 12th, Starkey shared a typo-ridden post that appears to convey that he was informed he was fired after the group was “unhappy” about the Royal Albert Hall performance. Though no official replacement for Starkey has been named, he supposed in the caption that he would be replaced by “a reserve from ‘The Burwash Carwash Skiffle ‘n’ Tickle Glee Club Harmony Without Empathy Allstars.’”
As for Daltrey and fellow co-founder of The Who, Pete Townshend, their upcoming bookings appear to be proceeding, business-as-usual. The band has a pair of tour dates booked in Italy in July, and around those, Daltrey will tour around the United Kingdom (get tickets).
