Poor old Zak Starkey. He’s wasted the last three months leaving, then not leaving and eventually definitely leaving The Who. All the while he’s managed to miss out on another prime gig – the vacant position for drummer in Oasis.
That’s what he was bemoaning in a new interview with The Daily Star. Starkey sat behind the kit on the band’s final two albums – 2005’s Don’t Believe The Truth and Dig Out Your Soul from 2008 – and would have been in the running as sticksman on their 2025 comeback tour. Instead, that honour has gone to stalwart session player Joey Waronker. Much to Zak’s chagrin.
“I’ll cry if I go, in case he mucks it up,” said Starkey. “I’m sure he won’t, but you know that’s my favourite band. I’d have done that gig for nothing, you know? I just loved it. I can’t see someone else do it, that’s not me.”
The drummer also continued his recent habit of making puzzling comments about his elongated sacking from The Who. It seems he’s still “friends” with Mssrs Daltrey and Townshend, even though he got fired. “I got fired, twice,” he reiterated. “Once I wasn’t even there.”
“I didn’t enjoy what they (the reports) were saying about Roger (Daltrey), because he’s my friend. And we talk on the phone every week still. And I text with Pete (Townshend) for hours. We’re still great friends. We’ll always be friends and brothers, really.
“Roger thought that I was so busy that he needed to retire me because of Mantra [his hobby band Mantra Of The Cosmos] but I’m actually not busy at all.”
He also intimated that he could even end up rejoining The Who. Again. “Last week Roger said, ‘Don’t take your drums out of the warehouse yet in case we need you’. What the f**k, Roger!? Has anyone been fired three times from you? I said, ‘If that’s going to happen, please let me know’.”
The Oasis Live 25 tour starts in just over three weeks, at the Cardiff Principality Stadium on July 4.
