After the Gig Newsletter - The firing of Zak Starkey??
What happened on stage the night Zac Starkey was fired from the who, and why he was re-hired so quickly
Morning thoughts
Well I know… It’s Tuesday, BUTTTTTT It’s been a busy weekend! First of all, I hope you all had a lovely Easter, and depending on where you live, maybe it’s April vacation for you as well. So I hope all that is going well for you as well. As I sit outside of a Starbucks on a perfect day in Pittsburgh, I am very excited for the week of music I have ahead. Whenever I go through long stretches of not playing onstage I get a little depressed. I start to feel pretty crappy, and I’m never sure why until I get back on stage that first time.
Yesterday I drove up to Boston to attend the Marathon Monday Red Sox game with my Brother (hi Scott!) and his friends. It’s like Christmas Day for degenerate Red Sox fans and I love it so much. This year I was faced with a serious challenge. Try to not get so banged up, so they let you on the plane to Pittsburgh at 7pm. As you read in the previous paragraph, I did, indeed, fool them enough to let me on the plane, and I made it to Pittsburgh late last night for the first of 5 Carbon Leaf shows (one private show on Saturday). I’m feeling good and looking forward to seeing the guys when they pull up in the bus a little later today.
Zak Starkey
I’m sure you heard, but I’ll say it anyway. Longtime drummer for the Who and son of drumming royalty Ringo Star, Zak Starkey has been fired from The Who following a recent performance at Royal Albert Hall… Wait, what??? He’s been rehired? Ummmm ok.
Longtime drummer for The Who and son of drumming royalty Ringo Star, Zak Starkey has been HIRED as the drummer for The Who.
So, what happened here… During a recent performance at the Royal Albert Hall, Roger Daltrey halted the performance, and blamed Starkey’s drumming for his hearing difficulty. After the show, Starkey was reportedly fired for his “overplaying”.
There was lots of speculation as to why Starkey was fired. I won’t drag this article on and on without first offering my opinion. Roger Daltrey was being a dickhead. The melody was out of his range, he couldn’t do it, so he turned around and blamed someone. In front of a massive audience, and the rest of the world via the internet. Sure, you guys know I’m a drummer, and I’m likely to take their side, but here’s why.
Zak Starkey plays an electronic drum kit with The Who. It’s fashioned to look like a regular kit, but it’s in fact, electric. If you’re a drummer, it’s the end of the story. If not, I’ll go deeper. An electronic kit can only be as loud as the mixer sets it. You have complete control over the volume in your monitors, and in the main mix you hear out front. If it was too loud for Daltrey, he simply could have had the monitor engineer turn it down. That should clear up the “playing to loud” nonsense. Unless Roger wasn’t able to concentrate due to the nearly inaudible tapping sound a stick makes when it hits a soft piece of mesh, or a rubber pad.
To be marked as an overplayer in a band whose original drummer was Keith Moon is also astounding. Now, every point I’m making here is to show that Daltrey’s actions were nothing more than an effort to save himself from embarrassment. The second time they attempted the song, Starkey didn’t change anything about the performance, and his “part” was consistent with how the song is supposed to be performed. It feels to me that the issue here is simply the aging of a group, and an old man unable to perform original parts, and melodies. Throwing your bandmates under the bus on stage is never excusable, and I feel that fans need to know the details here since a fantastic drummer’s [Starkey] reputation was put on the line in such a public way. It’s sad to see that Daltrey doesn’t “have it” anymore, and even worse that he’s willing to needlessly call out bandmates for his own shortcomings.
If you get a chance, read Zak’s public response to the temporary firing. It was incredibly professional in a moment when raw emotions could have easily led him to the low road. Peter Townsend’s statement was also prompt and professional, as well as a communication to fans that Starkey will remain with the band.
Daily “Show Day” Blog posts
This year I will be doing a daily road blog for “show days”. Whenever I have a show, I’ll write about my day and the experience as well as feature photos and lessons learned from the day. This will be available for paid newsletter subscribers, and also included for members on Patreon. This is part of a larger goal to educate musicians on massive “real world” things left out in the music school curriculum, as well as deepen the community of fans' experience here on After the Gig. To get these blogs and other paywalled content, upgrade to a paid subscription below. I hope you’ll follow along!
Those are my ramblings for today. Have a wonderful week ahead!
best,
Jesse
Totally agree regardng Daltrey's actions. I never had the chance to see the Who live until 2002 (that's another story), but even 23 years ago, he did not have the vocal range of his youth. And I've seen the Who twice since then, and Daltrey solo (with band, of course) as well, and his range never got better. I imagine his hearing has suffered tremendously, too - at least Townshend admits that he's deaf!