Zak Starkey has left The Who.
The 59-year-old drummer has parted ways with Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend after almost 30 years following their two Teenage Cancer Trust concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall last month.
A spokesperson for the ‘Pinball Wizard’ group said: “The band made a collective decision to part ways with Zak after this round of shows at the Royal Albert Hall. They have nothing but admiration for him and wish him the very best for his future.”
The statement comes a few days after Zak himself suggested Roger wanted to “Zak the drummer” because he was unhappy with his “overplaying” during the gigs.
In a largely deliberately-misspelt post on Instagram, the sticksman wrote: “HEARD TODAY FROM INSIDE SOURCE WITHIN WHOSE HORSES NOSE THAT TOGER DAKTREY LEAD SINGER AND PRINCIPAL SONGWRITER OF THE GROUP UNHAPPY WITH ZAK THE DRUMMER’S PERFORMANCE AT THE ALBERT HALL A FEW WEEKS AGO IS BRINGING FORMAL CHARGES OF OVERPLAYING AND IS LITERALLY GOING TO ZAK THE DRUMMER AND BRING ON A RESERVE FROM ‘THE BURWASH CARWASH SKIFFLE ‘N’ TICKLE GLEE CLUB HARMONY WITHOUT EMPATHY ALLSTARS’ THIS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY WHOSE LONG TIME MANAGER WILLYA YOUWONTYOUKNOW (sic)”
According to Metro, during The Who’s London show on 30 March, Roger stopped the performance multiple times and complained he was unable to hear over the sound of Zak’s drumming.
Stopping the concert during the final track, ‘The Song Is Over’, the 81-year-old rocker told the audience: “To sing that song I do need to hear the key, and I can’t. All I’ve got is drums going boom, boom, boom. I can’t sing to that. I’m sorry guys.”
Zak has suffered health issues this year, with a blood clot in his right leg, forcing his supergroup Mantra of the Cosmos – which also features Happy Mondays stars Shaun Ryder and Bez and former Oasis bassist Andy Bell – to pull out of a performance at their own party in London.
The drummer was prescribed blood thinners and ordered to rest for two weeks, leaving him “devastated”.
Shaun quipped to guests at the Soho bash: “As soon as I get out of here I’m going to take some tights to get on Zak’s legs.”