Could Zak Starkey reunite with The Who? That seems to be what Roger Daltrey is suggesting might happen in a new podcast interview.
The singer was speaking on LifeMinute with Joann Butler and the conversation turned to drummers, with Daltrey musing that things hadn’t really been the same since Keith Moon died in 1978.
“We were firing on all cylinders,” he recalled. “You could fire anything at us and we would make something of it. That kind of disappeared when Keith died.”
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“But we found Zak Starkey. We tried Kenny Jones – who is a great drummer. A straight drummer just does not work with The Who. Just does not work. Zak Starkey is not Keith Moon, but he’s come very close.”
Starkey joined The Who in 1996 and stayed for almost 30 years – several times the amount of time Moon spent in the band – until his messy exit last year. You may recall that after The Who’s Teenage Cancer Trust gig at the Albert Hall in March, Starkey was sacked. Then reinstated. And then sacked once more.
The tit-for-tat via social media and various interviews between the two parties went on for months. Meanwhile, the drum stool in The Who was filled by Scott Devours from Daltrey’s touring band.
So with Daltrey talking so admiringly about Starkey’s talents, Butler asked the obvious question: is a reunion possible? “I don’t know. We did a rehearsal recently, and Zak was the drummer.
“We love Zak, but sometimes the road doesn’t like Zak. Sometimes it gets on top of him, and it becomes difficult.”
“He was drumming at the rehearsal, and we did the rehearsal to see if we can possibly do shows next year,” the singer explained. “Still hit the notes, still get the drive. Who music demands an incredible amount of drive, and without that, it would be Herman’s Hermits without the Herman.”
The Who toured North America last year, a jaunt that they said would be their last in that territory. But of course if they are bringing the band to a close in the live setting, that would suggest a final European tour as well, which presumably is what the rehearsal was for.
Daltrey didn’t say whether the rehearsal proved that he can still hit the notes. Or if Starkey passed his audition to rejoin. No doubt all will be revealed in the fullness of time…
