Roger Daltrey Labels Zak Starkey’s Comments ‘Character Assassination’

Four months on from the shows that sparked Zak Starkey’s departure from The Who, Roger Daltrey has attempted to set the record straight.

Starkey and The Who have been in and out of the spotlight since April following the back-and-forth that Starkey had been fired from the group, only to be welcomed back ahead of his eventual departure – which Starkey clarified was not him being “fired” but rather “retired.”

Initially, a spokesman for The Who had claimed that “the band made a collective decision to part ways with Zak after this round of shows at the Royal Albert Hall,” referring to a pair of gigs the month prior.

Addressing the gigs in an interview in June, Starkey detailed his version of what had happened at the shows in question. “What happened was I got it right and Roger got it wrong,” he told The Telegraph.

According to a report from The Who’s Royal Albert Hall shows, the recently-knighted Daltrey had stopped several songs mid-performance, citing difficulty hearing the band over the drums. Per Starkey’s recollection, the group played the rarely-performed “The Song is Over,” and a lack of rehearsal meant that Daltrey “came in a bar early.”

The result was a call from band manager Bill Curbishley who shared the bad news with Starkey. “He says, ‘It’s my unfortunate duty to inform you,’” Starkey remembered. “‘That you won’t be needed from now on. Roger says you dropped some beats.’”

Though Starkey would admit to having dropped the beats, Daltrey himself has attempted to set the record straight in a new interview with The Times. 

“An audience can see what’s happening on stage and have a complete misunderstanding of what’s actually going on,” he said in relation to the Royal Albert Hall gigs, before turning his attention to Starkey’s comments. “It was kind of a character assassination and it was incredibly upsetting.”

According to Daltrey, the moment that inspired the troubles is related to the technical setup of The Who’s live show, which features electronic drums piped in through in-ear monitors.

“It is controlled by a guy on the side, and we had so much sub-bass on the sound of the drums that I couldn’t pitch,” Daltrey explains. “I was pointing to the bass drum and screaming at him because it was like flying a plane without seeing the horizon. So when Zak thought I was having a go at him, I wasn’t. That’s all that happened.”

As Daltrey concluded his focus on the topic, he also gave a brief insight into how it was that Starkey’s membership in the band was left under a cloud of confusion for a number of weeks.

“Pete [Townshend] and I retain the right to be the Who,” he explained. “Everyone else is a session player. You can’t replace Keith Moon. We wanted to branch out and that’s all I want to say about it. But [Starkey’s reaction] was crippling to me.”

In late July, The Who hit the stage in Italy as part of their The Song Is Over Tour, which touches down in North America later this month. “This is certainly the last time you will see us on tour,” Daltrey confirmed to The Times.