Latest news with #MantraOfTheCosmos
The Independent
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Mantra of the Cosmos: Sons of Beatles legends record new track
Sean Ono Lennon and James McCartney have collaborated with Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr 's son, on a new song called 'Rip-Off' as part of the supergroup Mantra of the Cosmos. Zak Starkey, formerly of The Who, shared a sample of the song on Instagram, noting that Shaun Ryder and James McCartney also contributed vocals. Mantra of the Cosmos, formed by Starkey in 2023, includes Shaun Ryder, Mark 'Bez' Berry, and Andy Bell. This collaboration follows Lennon and McCartney's earlier release of ' Primrose Hill ' in April 2024, hinting at more collaborations to come. Zak Starkey was recently left The Who. Pete Townshend has announced his replacement as Scott Devours.
Perth Now
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Three members of the Beatles' sons feature on new Mantra Of Cosmos tune Rip Off
Three Beatles members' sons feature on a new song. Sir Ringo Starr's son Zak Starkey, Sir Paul McCartney's son James McCartney and the late John Lennon's son Sean Ono Lennon have come together on the Mantra Of The Cosmos song Rip Off. It's not the first collaboration between offspring of the legendary Liverpool band, with Sean and James having teamed up in 2024 on the track Primrose Hill. Zak has insisted his supergroup - which also includes Happy Mondays stars Shaun Ryder and Bez and former Oasis bassist Andy Bell - do not sound anything like the Fab Four. He recently told The Telegraph: "No it's not. "It's like Mantra Of The Cosmos with them in it. It's Sean of the Cosmos and James of the Cosmos, it's still my band." Zak previously shot down suggestioning he and Sean were forming a band together on social media after a picture of the pair set off the rumour mill. He wrote: 'If we had spent 3 years sleeping on flea infested mattresses in the back room of a Hamburg club it might have chemistry. 'But we have been swaddled in silken robes in houses so big that it's too far to go and make a piece of toast – seen?' The latest tune comes after the group released 'Domino Bones (Get Dangerous)' featuring Noel Gallagher. Zak also insisted in his interview with The Telegraph that he isn't as wealthy as the other children of the Beatles. The 59-year-old drummer is the eldest of Ringo's three children with late hairdresser Maureen Cox and he's adamant he doesn't have the same kind of wealth as the other Beatles offspring, because they inherited money from their parents while Zak's mum died penniless in 1994. He told the newspaper: "[The others have] loads of money because their dads are dead. James' mum [Linda McCartney] is dead. Left him a lot of money. "[But] my mum died skint with a whole desk-full of brown envelopes that she never opened because she spent all her money on her friends." Zak - who recently lost his gig drumming with The Who - added of his financial woes: "And now I haven't got a job." The sticksman was let go by the band earlier this year before being welcomed back and then dismissed once again, and Zak's departure was put down to disagreements over his performance at a gig at the Royal Albert Hall in London in April but he's convinced it was the product of tensions that have plagued the band for years. Zak claims The Who's Pete Townshend went along with the decision to part ways with the drummer for a second time because he didn't want to disagree with frontman Sir Roger Daltrey. He told the publication: "What happened was I got it right and Roger [Daltrey] got it wrong ... 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 ... "I don't blame anyone. I blame The Who because they're unpredictable, aggressive and f****** insane." He went on to reveal he's written to music legend Bob Dylan to ask if he needs a drummer, but hasn't heard back from him. However, Zak's drumming days with The Who might not be over for good. He added: "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'. I said: 'Best let me know.'"
Telegraph
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Ringo Starr's son Zak Starkey: I turned down Oasis only to be fired by The Who
Zak Starkey picks up a life-sized golden skull from a side table in a central London hotel and strikes a Shakespearean pose. 'Alas, poor Roger! I knew him well,' he says with a dramatic flourish. The snippet tells us plenty about the 59-year-old drummer. Firstly, that he has a scabrous, knockabout sense of humour, with a big dollop of his father Ringo Starr's trademark drollness. Secondly, that the drama around Starkey's recent sackings as the long-term drummer of The Who – that's 'sackings' plural, he was ditched twice in a month – remains at the forefront of his mind. He has plenty to say about Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend regarding the saga, which apparently might not be over yet. But more on that later. We've met to talk about something altogether more other-worldly. Starkey is the brains behind Mantra of the Cosmos, an indie rock supergroup comprising himself, Andy Bell from Oasis and Ride, and Shaun Ryder and Bez from the Happy Mondays. Mantra's new single, Domino Bones (Gets Dangerous), is a Dadaist slice of punky psychedelia featuring Oasis's Noel Gallagher singing the chorus and Ryder freestyling verses about 'dropping some potion' and things going 'up the junction' like Edward Lear by way of Timothy Leary. Produced by Starkey, it's a clattering monster of a track. 'Dylan, Dali, Ginsberg and a bit of cosmic jibber-jabber,' is how Gallagher describes Domino Bones. 'It's Free Bird for Mods,' Starkey says proudly, describing how he took a chorus that Noel sent him – 'yacht rock' – and chopped and warped it, adding in Ryder's lyrics. Ryder was meant to be joining us in London but is stuck in Manchester with Covid while Bell and Gallagher are away on Oasis rehearsal duties ahead of next month's reunion tour. But speaking over Zoom from a bedroom at home, a semi-crocked Ryder – who says he keeps falling asleep like 'Dylan the f-----g rabbit in The Magic Roundabout' – describes Mantra's sound as a 'mish-mash of nuttiness'. 'I like doing Mantra with Zak because it's different than the Mondays and different than [his other group] Black Grape. Zak's a f-----g brilliant producer,' says Ryder, who, despite feeling rough, still managed to get 'completely f-----g mashed up' at an 'amazing' Morrissey gig in Manchester last weekend. Starkey met Ryder after an anniversary recording of TFI Friday in 2015 in which Starkey, Liam Gallagher, Daltrey and others played The Who's My Generation (as well as being in The Who, Starkey was the Oasis drummer between 2004 and 2008). Years later, Starkey was asked by a record industry bigwig to form a 'Britpop supergroup' with luminaries like former Smith Johnny Marr or New Order's Bernard Sumner. But he bridled at the term 'supergroup'. 'No way. What, all that Cream s---? Everyone having a solo, one after the other?' says Starkey. 'Zak didn't want to play that game so he got me and Bez,' Ryder roars, joking that the only more unlikely recruits to the band would have been Donald Trump and 'that baby t--- who wears eyeliner'. Elon Musk? 'No. The other one, with the beard.' J. D. Vance? 'That's it!' Mantra have an album's worth of songs. A future single, Rip Off, will feature fellow Fab Four offspring Sean Lennon and James McCartney. It's like The Beatles, I say. 'No it's not,' Starkey says, snippily. 'It's like Mantra of the Cosmos with them in it. It's Sean of the Cosmos and James of the Cosmos, it's still my band.' You just need [George Harrison's son] Dhani on it, I add. 'No I don't. Why do I?' Well, because… never mind. Talking of The Beatles, Starr 'loves' Mantra, Starkey says. 'He wants me to remix all his early singles like Mantra,' he explains. His plan for his dad's 1973 song Photograph is to slow it down and add a 'gospel kind of vibe'. Noel Gallagher has agreed to appear on a couple of tracks. Despite being the son of a Beatle, Starkey insists he's not wealthy. As well as his drumming projects he has built a recording studio in Jamaica and co-launched the reggae label Trojan Jamaica, neither of which come cheaply. 'And now I haven't got a job,' he says wryly. The other Beatles progeny might have 'loads of money because their dads are dead. James's mum [Linda] is dead. Left him a lot of money. [But] my mum [Maureen Starkey, Starr's first wife] died skint [in 1994] with a whole desk-full of brown envelopes that she never opened because she spent all her money on her friends.' Aah, yes. The job. The Who saga runs something like this. In mid-April, two weeks after The Who played two Teenage Cancer Trust concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, the band said they'd made a 'collective decision to part ways with Zak' after 30 years due to apparent issues with his drumming at those shows. Starkey said he was 'surprised and saddened' by the decision. But days later, he was back in the fold after the resolution of what Townshend, 80, called 'some communication issues'. 'Zak made a few mistakes [at the Albert Hall] and he has apologised,' the band said. Yet on May 19, he was fired again, for the second time in a month. He remains perplexed and saddened by it, not least because he says he turned down the megawatt Oasis tour because he was in The Who. Which he now isn't. So were he not in The Who, he would have played with Oasis? 'Of course. Of course.' What happened, precisely? 'What happened was I got it right and Roger got it wrong,' Starkey claims. He's talking about The Who's performance of 1971 track The Song is Over at the second Albert Hall show. The band don't usually play it live and Starkey suggested they performed it as a 'treat' for fans. But, he says, a combination of under-rehearsal ('they hate rehearsing') and the fact that Daltrey, 81, 'took a bit out' of the song because it was too long meant that, on the second night, 'Roger [came] in a bar early'. The Who's performance of 'The Song Is Over' in March that Starkey says led to his sacking There were no backstage fireworks. Such is the way with live music. The Who are an incendiary live act; Starkey says something 'disintegrates' every third gig and the band just start again. But, seven days later, 'I got a call from Bill [Curbishley], the manager, [and] he says, 'It's my unfortunate duty to inform you' – it's like Porridge or something – 'that you won't be needed from now on. Roger says you dropped some beats.'' It was clear that Daltrey thought that Starkey was in the wrong. '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,' says the drummer. Following the sacking, Townshend phoned Starkey to ask if he was prepared to fight to get his place back. Starkey said no. But a week later when Townshend called again, he had changed his mind. 'I said, 'I want my gig back.'' He returned, having been forced to admit – he says – that he dropped two beats. But the reunion was short-lived. 'Two weeks later it was like, 'Roger says he can't work with you no more, and we'd like you to issue another statement saying you're leaving to do your other projects' and I just didn't do it because I wasn't leaving [of my own volition].' Why did Daltrey feel he couldn't work with you again? 'They didn't specify.' He says Daltrey later told him that 'you're not fired, you're retired because you've got so many other projects', one of which is Mantra. Despite the situation, Starkey regrets the way that some fans sided with him and piled into Daltrey and Townshend. He calls The Who his 'family', which is entirely understandable given he's been with them since 1996. And he says he harbours no ill-will towards anyone. 'I don't blame anyone. I blame The Who because they're unpredictable, aggressive and f-----g insane,' he says. And that's why he loves them. He'd go back in a heartbeat. So what happens now? Starkey has the Mantra album to finish although that band can't tour because Oasis, the Happy Mondays and Black Grape are all touring this year. You get the impression that, Mantra aside, he's rather twiddling his thumbs. Sad, when he could be touring with either The Who or Oasis, two of the world's mightiest bands. It's as though he's been barged into the still epicentre of a swirling musical hurricane. It's a waste. At one point, Starkey even claims he's fallen out of love with drumming and prefers the guitar these days. He was taught, aged seven, by Marc Bolan. 'Have you seen what a guitar looks like? It's like a woman. A drum looks like a pot of biscuits. You can't play the drums and watch telly,' he says. But I don't believe him. Because later he says he's written to Bob Dylan to see if he needs a drummer 'because he's the only person that's anywhere near Pete lyrically'. Has he heard back? 'Course not, it's Bob Dylan innit?' Tantalisingly, things with The Who may not be over yet. '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.'' Starkey leans forward. 'I said, 'Best let me know.''
The Sun
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Ex-Oasis' drummer Zak Starkey reveals biggest ‘punch up' he saw between Noel & Liam and if he'll return to The Who
FIGHTS between Noel and Liam Gallagher in Oasis have become music legend. But their former drummer Zak Starkey insists he never saw the brothers scrapping. 8 8 I'm sitting with him in London's Soho Sanctum Hotel as he promotes his supergroup Mantra of the Cosmos' new single, Domino Bones (Gets Dangerous). 'There was a punch-up when I left,' Zak tells me in a whisper. 'They were throwing furniture and everything. 'But when I was there, all we did was laugh and play amazing music. 'I learned so much from how hard working they were. 'If it says 5.30pm, they are there at 5.10pm. Their work ethic is incredible. It was sleeves up for 12 hours a day.' Zak, who drummed for the band for four years until 2008, reveals there was one major turning point for Oasis, though. He recalls: 'When Kasabian came on tour with Oasis, we played Benicassim festival in Spain. 'We'd had three weeks off and were at home watching fng TV. We were on at 2am. 'Kasabian were on at midnight. Noel went, 'I'm not going on at 2am, switch it'. 'Wishing I was there' 'So we went on at 12 and because we'd had three weeks off, it was a bit sloppy. 'Them guys kicked the fing st out of us. They did a 20-minute drum solo. It was like Black Sabbath. EXCL Watch the moment furious Roger Daltrey kicks off at The Who's drummer Zak Starkey live on stage - weeks before officially sacking him 'They destroyed us. But it was the greatest thing that ever happened to Oasis, because we had to pick it up pretty fing quick.' Zak adds with a laugh: 'In the middle, Tom Meighan went, 'This one's for Noel and Liam, you fers'. 'Liam went to me, 'Did he actually say that?'. I love that attitude. Everyone needs a reality check at times. And they gave us one.' So, I ask, what kind of telly left Oasis in such a sloppy hole? 'Liam used to say, 'You have the big three — Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale',' Zak adds, rolling his eyes as he mainlines his umpteenth black coffee. 'It's like heroin. It starts with Richard and Judy and ends at 9pm. We might as well put a fing spike in you.' Zak won't be part of the Oasis reunion, saying he texted them asking why he hadn't made the cut and was 'gutted' to learn they had Joey Warnoker in on the sticks instead. 'I don't know anything about Joey, apart from he's not a mod,' Zak says with a laugh. 'I think they will get through it without falling out. I will be wishing I was up there. 'I couldn't watch The Who because I know they'd be doing it all wrong.' He is the greatest rock 'n' roll drummer in the world. He's better now than he was then Zak Starkey Talking of Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, they parted company with Zak twice last month after accusing him of dropping 'two bars' during a gig at the Royal Albert Hall. Zak says he may be back in the fold again as the band prepare for a major tour in the US. He adds with a wry smile: 'I spoke to Roger last week and he said, 'Don't take the drums out of the warehouse yet, in case we need you'. There's no grudge, it's fing music. In the beginning, they were the maddest band. 'Pete is incredibly intimidating. He called me a ct and gobbed on my drum riser. That was very early on.' Asked what his dad, Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, made of his dismissal, Zak adds: 'I spoke to my dad about it and he watched it and stuck up for me. But he's my dad, isn't he? 'He wasn't happy. He saw the show on TV and was a bit like, 'What the f?'. 'He didn't think anything was a sackable offence. Apart from the ticket price.' As the son of a Beatle, I ask what guidance Ringo gave him over the years. 'My dad never opened the doors for me,' Zak says. 'Mad pop single' 'He'd watch me and say the most cutting fing st. He loved Oasis gigs. I spoke to him after one and he told me, 'It's been a long time since I've seen teenagers throwing beer over each other'. 'I know he loves it, but that's what you're going to get from him. "But I'd say to him, 'Why does the Abbey Road remix sound like Supertramp?'. 'He was like, 'The drum sounds good'. I said, 'It's not about the drums, Dad. I learned that when I was 19'. 'But he is the greatest rock 'n' roll drummer in the world. He's better now than he was then.' With Oasis off limits and The Who dates still up in the air, Zak is busying himself with finishing the 14 tracks Mantra have created — with Happy Mondays' Shaun Ryder and Bez and Oasis bass player Andy Bell. For Domino Bones (Get Dangerous), Noel got on board, too. Zak explains: 'It was a track Noel did with Shaun a few years ago, but it didn't really fit with High Flying Birds. 'It's a mad pop single and I'm hoping to have a demographic of four to 60.' Looking back at his career, I ask Zak if he ever takes a moment to pinch himself. 'All of my dreams have come true,' he says. 'Who's on the phone? Oh, it's Oasis. Oh, Johnny Marr, the greatest British guitarist, is on the phone.' With a glint in his eye, Zak adds: 'Look, when I was 12 and I was playing in clubs, I didn't realise I was going to turn out like f*ing David Beckham. 'What can I say?' I think that sums it up perfectly. EX-OASIS DRUMMER ON... THE GALLAGHERS 8 There was a punch-up when I left, they were throwing funiture and everything. But their work ethic is incredible, it's sleeves up 12 hours a day THE WHO 8 There's no grudge, it's f***ing music. In the beginning they were the maddest band. Pete is incredibly intimidating - he gobbed on my drum riser. DAD RINGO 8 He never opened any doors for me - he'd watch me and say the most cutting f *ing s t. But he is the greatest rock 'n roll drummer in the world - better now than he was then. 8 GEORGINA LACES IT GEORGINA RODRIGUEZ knew how to thrill when she wore this black laced-up dress to a party for Netflix in Madrid. The model, who is the partner of Cristiano Ronaldo, looked amazing, despite revealing her reality show I Am Georgina won't be returning for a fourth series. She said: 'It has been a lot of work and requires so much effort. 'I think that it has given me the opportunity to show the real me to the world. However, at the moment, I do not plan to continue with the reality show.' LOST TRACK BEHIND ROB & GARY RIFT TAKE THAT's long-lost single was the root of the rivalry between Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow, its writer and producer Ian Levine says. I told last month that an unreleased track called Falling For You Girl, recorded by all five members, above, had been unearthed and the team behind it were hoping to get it out. Now Ian has said Robbie was given the lead vocals on the song, which caused a row with bandmate Gary. Recalling their sessions in 1992, he said: 'The reason Gary hated me is because Robbie was mucking around in the studio when we were doing I Found Heaven. 'I said, 'Robbie, you've got a really nice voice, you sound like one of the Bee Gees', and he said, 'Don't be silly, I'm a backing singer'. 'I said, 'No, I want to make you a lead singer'. 'But Gary didn't like it and he went crying to manager Nigel Martin-Smith going, 'I'm the lead singer! I don't want to be stuck with one of the others'. 'I insisted, and Falling For You Girl is almost all Robbie.' Now Ian, who also worked on A Million Love Songs and Could It Be Magic, hopes the song will finally see the light of day. He added: 'The only way it'll get released is if the fans encourage the boys to put it out. It's fantastic.' SABRINA CARPENTER will drop a new album called Man's Best Friend on August 29. She announced the record last night and it comes just ten months after her smash Short n' Sweet, which returned to No1 for a fifth time last month. The album will feature her new single Manchild, which is on course to go to No1 this Friday, and comes ahead of two shows at BST Hyde Park in London on July 5 and 6. AFTER celeb haunt Chiltern Firehouse burned down last year, a new restaurant has popped up that's proving very popular with A-listers. Just in time for summer, Town on Drury Lane, in Covent Garden, central London, has become the go-to place. It's thanks to the menu from acclaimed British chef Stevie Parle, along with fancy cocktails. I'm told Gary Lineker is even a fan.
Miami Herald
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Classic Rock Drummer Claims He Wasn't Fired Twice But ‘Retired'
The saga of The Who firing, rehiring, and then re-firing Zak Starkey has taken another turn. Starkey, the 59-year-old son of Ringo Starr, had played drums with the classic rock icons for three decades, up until his dismissal in April. Starkey said he was "surprised and saddened" after getting fired, but Pete Townshend later posted on social media that Zak was back in the band and his departure was due to "communication issues." Except, fans got fooled again. Townshend posted on May 18 that the "time had come for a change," and that Zak was out. Scott Devours, drummer for vocalist Roger Daltrey's solo band, would handle drumming on The Who's forthcoming final North American tour. Now, Starkey says he wasn't fired. The band "retired" him. On May 26, the drummer posted a message to Instagram. "I had a great phone chat with Roger at the end of last week, which truly confused both of us!!! Rog said I hadn't been 'fired'…I had been 'retired' to work on my own projects." "I explained to Rog that I have just spent nearly 8 weeks at my studio in Jamaica completing these projects," wrote Starkey, "that my group Mantra Of The Cosmos was releasing one single at the beginning of June and after that had run its course (usually 5/6 weeks)." "I was completely available for the foreseeable future," the drummer added. "Rog said 'Oh!' and we kind of left it there- On good terms and great friends as we have always been. Gotta love these guys. As my mum used to say, 'The mind boggles!!!'" After the second firing on May 18, Starkey said he was "asked to make a statement saying I had quit The Who to pursue my other musical endeavors. This would be a lie. I love The Who and would never have quit. So I didn't make the statement." Quitting the who would also have let down the countless amazing people who stood up for me (thank you all a million times over and more) thru the weeks of mayhem of me going 'in an out an in an out an in an out like a bleedin squeezebox," he added. Related: Legendary Rock Band's New Drummer Speaks Out After Replacing Son Of Music Icon Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
