Pete Townshend is a full-time member of the Who, but not even he fully understands what happened to cause drummer Zak Starkey to be dismissed from the band.
Starkey was fired back in April after Roger Daltrey was reportedly displeased with his performance of “The Song Is Over” at the Who’s concert in London. But just a few days later, he was reinstated and Townshend publicly noted that it was the result of “communication issues.” Starkey was then dismissed for a second time and replaced by drummer Scott Devours.
Starkey has claimed that Daltrey was the one who came in a bar early while performing.
“I got a call from…the manager, [and] he says, ‘It’s my unfortunate duty to inform you…that you won’t be needed from now on,” Starkey recently told The Telegraph. “‘Roger says you dropped some beats.’ I watched the show and I can’t find any dropped beats. Then Pete had to go along with it because Pete’s had 60 years of arguing with Roger.”
Pete Townshend Says Things ‘Got Out of Hand’
In a new interview with i Paper, Townshend appeared to agree that Starkey’s performance was fine.
“I couldn’t see anything wrong,” he said. “What you see is a band who haven’t played together for a long time. But I think it was probably to do with the sound. I’ve lost my sound man as a result.”
Townshend continued: “I think Roger just got lost. Roger’s finding it difficult. I have to be careful what I say about Roger because he gets angry if I say anything about him at all. He’ll be sacking me next. But that’s not to say that he sacked Zak. It’s a decision Roger and I tried to make together, but it kind of got out of hand.”
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Townshend also noted that it was Daltrey’s original idea to bring Starkey into the band.
“I didn’t invite him in, right? Roger invited him,” he explained. “And at that time, I don’t know quite why he chose Zak, but Zak is another Keith Moon. He comes with real, real bonuses and real, real difficulties.”
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Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci
