In fact, the band is going so far as to make it sound like they never formally fired Starkey (a veteran drummer of almost 40 years who is nevertheless doomed, in every news piece ever written about him, to be noted as Ringo Starr’s son) at all. Pete Townshend posted a message on the band’s official web site on Saturday morning in which he stated “He’s not being asked to step down from The Who.” (Despite The Guardian having a representative from the band saying “The band made a collective decision to part ways with Zak” just two days ago.) The ensuing statement is kind of fascinating, in so far as it has pretty clearly not been run through the PR machine to scrub out any lingering animus over the situation, which is how you get gems like this: “Maybe we didn’t put enough time into sound checks, giving us problems on stage. The sound in the centre of the stage is always the most difficult to work with. Roger [Daltrey] did nothing wrong but fiddle with his in-ear monitors. Zak made a few mistakes and he has apologised. Albeit with a rubber duck drummer.”
(No, nobody knows what that last bit means.)
Townshend’s statement also says that “There have been some communication issues, personal and private on all sides, that needed to be dealt with, and these have been aired happily. 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. I take responsibility for some of the confusion.” It concludes, also kind of weirdly, with an apology from Townshend to Scott Devours, who’s toured with Daltrey as his drummer on multiple occasions, and subbed in for Starkey with The Who when he was sidelined by injury on a couple of occasions. Devours, Townshed writes, “Was rumoured might replace Zak in The Who and has always been supportive of the band. I owe Scott an apology for not crushing that rumour before it spread. He has been hurt by this. I promise to buy him a very long drink and give him a hug.” Because nothing says “We’re so glad you’re back, Zak!” like name-checking and publicly apologizing to the guy who was probably expecting to get his job, all in the span of the same post.
Starkey, for his part, seems to be fully on board, though: He deleted a previous Instagram post mocking Daltrey, and shared the band’s statement with a “V grateful to be a part of the who family Thanks Roger and Pete.”
