The Who have fired longtime drummer Zak Starkey again, two weeks after he was reinstated ahead of the band’s farewell tour announcement.
The news was made public first by guitarist Pete Townshend, who shared it with his followers on social media, and then confirmed by Starkey, who made his feelings about the decision clear.
The musician, who is the son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, said he had been asked to claim that this time, he was quitting of his own accord.
“This would be a lie,” he wrote. “I love The Who and would never have quit.”
Townshend had said, in text written over a photo: “After many years of great work on drums from Zak the time has come for a change. A poignant time. Zak has lots of new projects in hand and I wish him the best.”
He also revealed that Starkey would be replaced by Scott Devours, who has worked with frontman Roger Daltrey’s solo band.
“Please welcome him,” Townshend wrote.
In response, Starkey wrote text over Townshend’s image, commenting that quitting The Who “would [have] let down the countless amazing people who stood up for me (thank you all a million times over and more) through the weeks of mayhem” as he was first fired from the band then reinstated.
“To clarify ‘other projects’… yes I do have other projects and always have,” he continued, referencing his work with artists including Johnny Marr and The Lightning Seeds.
“None of this has ever interfered with The Who and was never a problem for them,” he concluded. “The lie is or would have been that I quit The Who – I didn’t. I love The Who and everyone in it.”
Starkey was fired from the band in April over a dispute about his performance at the Royal Albert Hall the previous month.
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A report on the band’s gig in the Metro suggested that Daltrey had complained onstage about Starkey’s performance, apparently telling the audience he was struggling to sing their final track, “The Song is Over”.
“To sing that song I do need to hear the key, and I can’t,” he said. “All I’ve got is drums going boom, boom, boom. I can’t sing to that. I’m sorry guys.”
Starkey was reinstated three days later, having called his bandmate “Toger Daktrey” and joking that he was bringing “formal charges of overplaying” against him.
He first joined The Who full-time during their 1996 Quadrophenia tour, having been introduced to the drums by the band’s former drummer, Keith Moon, a family friend who gave Starkey a drum kit for his eighth birthday.
The band are due to kick off the North America leg of their farewell tour, UK and Europe dates for which have yet to be announced, in August.
A number of Starkey’s friends and fans posted messages of support on his latest Instagram post, including Sean Ono Lennon, the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who joked: “WIthout Zak it’s like, ‘The Who who?’”
Brazilian drummer João Barone of the band Os Paralamas do Successo said: “Simply unbelievable, what a wrong move, couldn’t be a worse choice, it’s a matter they just ‘Can’t Explain’…”
The news comes after another rock drummer was fired over the weekend, as the Foo Fighters dropped Josh Freese two years after he was brought on to fill in for the late Taylor Hawkins.
Freese said that he had never been let go from a band in his 40 years of playing professionally, so while he was not angry, he was “a bit shocked and disappointed”.
“I enjoyed the past two years with them, both on and off stage, and I support whatever they feel is best for the band,” he said.
