He might not be drummer in The Who any more, or Oasis. But Zak Starkey, son of Ringo, can boast one feat – he’s managed to get three Beatles’ sons on one track.
It’s Rip Off, by his ‘hobby’ group Mantra Of The Cosmos and it features Sean Ono Lennon and James McCartney, as well as Starkey’s bandmates on the project – Shaun Ryder and Ride/ex-Oasis guitarist Andy Bell. And funnily enough, it sounds exactly like you’d expect a track featuring three Beatles’ sons and Shaun Ryder to sound like…
The track will be released on the band’s album which should emerge later this year, though no release date has been confirmed as yet.
Starkey has given a revealing interview to The Daily Telegraphin which he talked about his exit from The Who and his plans for Mantra Of The Cosmos.
In the course of the conversation he also brought up the fact he isn’t as rich as the other Beatle offspring. “(They have) loads of money because their dads are dead [don’t worry – Paul’s not dead]. James’s mum (Linda) is dead. Left him a lot of money. (But) my mum (Maureen Starkey, Ringo’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.”
Talking of his dad, Ringo apparently loves his son’s new band. “He wants me to remix all his early singles like Mantra,” Zak explains. One of those might be his 1973 hit Photograph, which Zak has plans to slow down and add a “gospel kind of vibe”.
Until then, there’s the group’s single Domino Bones (Gets Dangerous) which features Noel Gallagher on chorus vocals. “Dylan, Dali, Ginsberg and a bit of cosmic jibber-jabber. It’s Free Bird for Mods” is Starkey’s description of the track. Make your own mind up:
