Pete Townshend Speaks Out About The Who’s Split With Zak Starkey: ‘I Have to Be Careful What I Say’

Pete Townshend has a simple description of The Who’s turbulent split with longtime drummer Zak Starkey: “It’s a mess.”

In a new interview with i Paper, the legendary guitarist and songwriter opened up about the chaotic sequence of events earlier this year involving Starkey’s firing, rehiring and eventual departure. Starkey, a veteran session and touring drummer, had been part of The Who’s lineup for nearly 30 years.

“I will miss Zak terribly. But quite what the story is, I don’t f—king know. I really don’t know,” Townsend admitted.

The confusion began in April when Townshend and The Who frontman Roger Daltrey made a “collective decision” to part ways with Starkey, who is the son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. Days later, Townshend reversed course, stating Starkey was “not being asked” to step down. But just a month later, Townshend again changed his stance, saying, “The time has come for a change,” signaling the end of their long-running collaboration.

Shortly after, Starkey offered his own version of events, claiming he hadn’t been “fired” but had instead “retired to work [on] my own projects” ahead of The Who’s The Song Is Over farewell tour.

The fallout appears to have been sparked by a misstep during the band’s charity performances for the Teenage Cancer Trust at London’s Royal Albert Hall in March.

“[Daltrey] came in four bars early,” Starkey told Rolling Stone in June. “But he just got lost. He blamed it on the drums being too loud, and then it got made into this huge social media thing.”

In his interview with i Paper, Townshend addressed the same performance.

“I couldn’t see anything wrong. What you see is a band who haven’t played together for a long time. But I think it was probably to do with the sound. I’ve lost my sound man as a result,” the iconic musician said.

He continued, “I think Roger just got lost. Roger’s finding it difficult. I have to be careful what I say about Roger because he gets angry if I say anything about him at all. He’ll be sacking me next. But that’s not to say that he sacked Zak. It’s a decision Roger and I tried to make together, but it kind of got out of hand.”

Despite the turmoil, Starkey says he would return to The Who if asked.

“Of course I would,” he told Rolling Stone. “I said to Pete, ‘Thirty years. In the 30 years, you put the bar so f—kin’ high. What the f—k do I do now?,'” he said. “The Who, you just don’t know what’s going to happen. If you think something is going to happen, the opposite happens. If you second guess Pete, he will play the opposite. You have to go with whatever you’re doing, and not think.”