Zak Starkey, the former Who drummer who was fired, rehired and fired again by the band last month, has told his side of the story.
Speaking with The Telegraph, Starkey says he was forced to accept the blame for an onstage error made by The Who's frontman Roger Daltrey. Starkey says the trouble was related to the band's performance of the rarely-played The Song is Over at the second of this year's Teenage Cancer Trust benefit shows at London's Royal Albert Hall.
“What happened was I got it right and Roger got it wrong,” Starkey claims. "Roger [came] in a bar early."
Starkey says that a week later he received a call from The Who's longtime manager Bill Curblishly, informing him that he was being dismissed because "Roger says you dropped some beats."
"I watched the show and I can’t find any dropped beats," says Starkey. "Then Pete [Townshend] had to go along with it because Pete’s had 60 years of arguing with Roger."
Starkey says he eventually returned to the band after being obliged to admit that any mistakes were his rather than Daltrey's, but the reunion was short-lived and he departed a second time after it became clear that the singer couldn't work with him.
"I don’t blame anyone," says Starkey. "I blame The Who because they’re unpredictable, aggressive and fucking insane."
Perhaps bizarrely, Starkey finishes by claiming that Daltrey has suggested there might be a route back into the band.
"I spoke to Roger last week and he said, ‘Don’t take your drums out of [The Who’s] warehouse yet in case we need you,'" says Starkey. "I said, ‘Best let me know.'"
Starkey's place in The Who has been filled by the drummer from Daltrey's solo band, Scott Devours. The band's farewell US tour begins on August 16 at the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, FL.
In other Daltrey-shaped news, the singer has been Knighted in King Charles III's Birthday Honours List.
The Who: The Song Is Over tour 2025
Aug 16: Sunrise Amerant Bank Arena, FL =
Aug 19: Newark Prudential Center, NJ =
Aug 21: Philadelphia Wells Fargo Center, PA ^
Aug 23: Atlantic City Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, NJ +
Aug 26: Boston Fenway Park, MA ¶
Aug 28: Wantagh Northwell at Jones Beach Theater, NY º
Aug 30: New York Madison Square Garden, NY º
Sep 02: Toronto Budweiser Stage, ON >
Sep 04: Toronto Budweiser Stage, ON >
Sep 07: Chicago United Center, IL <
Sep 09: Chicago United Center, IL <
Sep 17: Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl, CA ¶
Sep 19: Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl, CA ¶
Sep 21: Mountain View Shoreline Amphitheatre, CA ¢
Sep 23: Vancouver Rogers Arena, BC ¢
Sep 25: Seattle Climate Pledge Arena, WA ¢
Sep 28: Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena, NV ø
= with Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters
^ with ZZ Ward
+ with Booker T. Jones
¶ with The Joe Perry Project
º with Feist
> with Tom Cochrane
< with Joe Bonamassa
¢ with Candlebox
ø with Billy Idol
