Zak Starkey “doesn’t know what the f*** is happening” with his position in The Who.
The 59-year-old drummer was let go by the band earlier this year before being welcomed back and then dismissed once again, and though his future with the group is still up in the air, he has accepted that is just part of life with the “oddest, maddest group there is”.
Zak – who has performed with The Who since 1996 – told The Independent: “I don’t know what the f*** is happening.
“The thing is, this is The Who, man. The most unpredictable, aggressive, arrogant people, lovely people who are my family, but you never know what’s gonna happen, and that’s why it’s The Who. They have an addiction to friction.
“If you look at The Who through the years, all the way back, there’s four completely opposite people. One of them writes all the songs and thinks the other three are an art installation. And they don’t know what that means. They are the craziest, weirdest group there’s ever been.
“That’s what’s great, isn’t it, that they’re so untraditional with everything that they’ve ever done.”
Zak was drummer with Oasis from 2004 to 2008 and confirmed he had talks about being part of their reunion tour, but was ultimately unable to commit to the gig.
He said: “It was discussed with Noel, but I was in The Who.”
The Mantras of the Cosmos rocker – who is the son of Beatles legend Sir Ringo Starr – adored his time with Oasis.
He said: “It was just f****** great fun and fantastic rock’n’roll, start to finish… We were the greatest live band in the world, I think, at that time. It was like a f****** comet coming at you.”
When he was around 15 years old, Zak refused to listen to his father’s band anymore, but rediscovered The Beatles a decade later.
He said: “It’s like a wall. Can’t get over it. Can’t get through it, can’t get under it…
When I was 25, I listened to The Beatles and went, ‘F****** hell, these guys were amazing. I should have been listening to this years ago.’ And then I got over it.”
And despite his global fame, Zak never thought of Ringo as anything other than his dad.
He said: “My dad, to me, is this: my dad is chasing me down the garden, going, ‘If I get my hands on you, I’ll bloody kill you.’ That’s my dad. My dad. He changed the world, he was in The Beatles. See him on TV, get a bit misty at that.
“But he’s my dad and that’s how I remember those years. Like everyone’s dad, he’s a dad, innee.”