Zak Starkey said he remained confused about his double dismissal from the Who earlier this year – but explained why he didn’t hold a grudge against his former colleagues.
In April 2025 the veteran band announced they’d let him go. It was speculated that singer Roger Daltrey had made the decision after a London concert in which he couldn’t hear himself over Starkey’s drumming.
Pete Townshend then said the move had been rescinded. But soon afterwards Starkey was once again told he’d been dismissed. He later said the drama had lost him the opportunity to join Oasis for their reunion tour.
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“I’d like to say that we remained friends throughout,” the son of Ringo Starr told Q1043 New York in a recent interview (video below). “I spoke to Roger like, two weeks ago…we never actually became, like, enemies or anything.”
He continued: “I think they just wanted to change; and then they didn’t, and then they did, and then they didn’t, and then they did, and then they didn’t.
“It was pretty confusing. And I think they’re still confused. I’m still confused!”
Zak Starkey Calls Who Firing ‘Just Band Business’
Starkey went on to say that he didn’t want to darken nearly three decades of work by feeling bad about the way it ended. “I’ve been working with Roger on and off since I was 17,” he said. “And I worked with John Entwistle from even younger than that.
“I was in the Who 29 years, and I wouldn’t bury a friendship over it. It’s just band business.
“I have nothing against them. As far as I know, they’re done. I’d like to have finished it off, but I didn’t. … I don’t hold a grudge, really, because they’re my friends; and we’ve been friends for such a long time.”
Watch Zak Starkey’s Interview
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Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci
