Roger Daltrey Says Zak Starkey Was Fired by The Who Over a ‘Complete Misunderstanding’ and ‘Character Assassination’

In a new interview, The Who singer and co-founder Roger Daltrey said that the band’s longtime drummer, Zak Starkey, was fired after a “complete misunderstanding” led Starkey to make comments Daltrey said amounted to “character assassination.”

Starkey, the son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, had served as the band’s drummer since 1996 but in April he was fired after the band performed at the Royal Albert Hall, was then re-hired, and then fired again. The reasons for this odd turn of events weren’t clear at the time, but speaking to The Times of London, Daltrey explained that it started with a mixing error.

Daltrey told the Times that the drums the band uses are electronic so that he can hear them through his monitors. “It is controlled by a guy on the side, and we had so much sub-bass on the sound of the drums that I couldn’t pitch. I was pointing to the bass drum and screaming at him because it was like flying a plane without seeing the horizon,” he explained. “So when Zak thought I was having a go at him, I wasn’t. That’s all that happened.”

Starkey apparently thought Daltrey was yelling at him and later said, “what happened was I got it right and Roger got it wrong. That, Daltrey told The Times, was “kind of a character assassination” and “incredibly upsetting.”

When asked to explain why Starkey rejoined only to be fired again, he added, “Pete and I retain the right to be the Who. Everyone else is a session player. You can’t replace Keith Moon. We wanted to branch out and that’s all I want to say about it. But [Starkey’s reaction] was crippling to me.”

Read the interview with Roger Daltrey here.

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