Ringo Starr: I've never liked the way that little man runs The Who
Zak Starkey, The Who's former drummer, has claimed his father Ringo called Sir Roger Daltrey a 'little man' over his firing.
Starkey, the band's drummer since 1996, was fired, re-hired and fired again last month in a spat sparked by a Royal Albert Hall performance in March, when an agitated Sir Roger was seen on stage complaining that 'all I've got is drums going boom, boom, boom'.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Starkey said after the rift that his father had said: 'I've never liked the way that little man runs the band.'
During Starkey's last performance with The Who, Sir Roger paused the band's rendition of The Song is Over after just one verse. He told the crowd: '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.'
On April 16, Pete Townshend, The Who's guitarist, announced in an Instagram post that Starkey was no longer part of the band.
'After many years of great work on drums from Zak the time has come for a change,' the post read. 'A poignant time. Zak has lots of new projects in hand and I wish him the best.'
But the drummer denied the claim that he had 'retired' to focus on other projects, and insisted he had been fired after the onstage spat with the 5ft 7in frontman.
Starkey told Rolling Stone he had been blamed for missing his cue, when in fact Sir Roger had come in 'four bars early' after being unable to hear the piano.
'He came in four bars early. And he just asked for the drums to be turned up, and he couldn't hear the piano,' Starkey said, adding: 'He just got lost. He blamed it on the drums being too loud, and then it got made into this huge social media thing. And it freaked him out.'
Starkey said he was told he had 'dropped two beats' – though he could not hear it listening to the film back – was fired, and was told he would be reinstated if he admitted publicly to the mistake.
He said: 'So I did. I posted that little toy duck playing the snare drum. Pete [Townshend] called me and said, 'Try again without the duck.' I took the duck out, and I got my job back.'
On the band's official social media, Townshend wrote: 'Roger and I would like Zak to tighten up his latest evolved drumming style to accommodate our non-orchestral line-up, and he has readily agreed.'
He added that Starkey had 'made a few mistakes and he has apologised'. But the drummer said he was informed 10 days later that the reinstatement was ' never going to work ', and was encouraged to put out a statement to say he was moving on of his own accord.
Instead, in a lengthy Instagram statement, Starkey said: ' I was fired two weeks after reinstatement and asked to make a statement saying I had quit The Who to pursue my other musical endeavours. This would be a lie.
'I love The Who and would never had [sic] quit…quitting The Who would also have let down the countless amazing people who stood up for me…thru weeks of mayhem.'
He told Rolling Stone: 'Just because it's The Who, I'm not going to let you walk all over me. We've had 30 years of great music. But I'm also not going to let it f--- me up. I'm going to tell the truth.'
Starkey said he was unsure where he now stands with Townshend and Sir Roger, who embark on a world tour in July.
He said: 'I spoke to Roger last week. He said, 'Don't take your drums out of the warehouse, we might be calling you.' What the f---? These guys are f---in' insane! I've been fired more times than Keith Moon in 10 days.'
Starkey was a family friend of The Who's late drummer Moon, and was taught to play by Kenney Jones of the Faces – who went on to replace Moon after his death, aged 32, in 1978.
Starkey said he did not 'blame anyone' or 'hold grudges', and was focused on his Britpop supergroup venture, Mantra of the Cosmos. The band consists of Shaun Ryder and Mark 'Bez' Berry of Happy Mondays, as well as Andy Bell of Oasis, and has recently featured Noel Gallagher.
Starkey previously had a stint with Oasis and said he was 'gutted' not to have been asked to join their reunion tour.
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