The Who sack Zak Starkey

[Cato]

1 hour ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

 The Who don’t exactly have a hectic touring schedule at the moment. I’m sure he has something else lined up already.

 

I don't think Oasis have announced their line up for the reunion dates yet, but Mr Starkey has to be a leading contender for the drums.

[Mickeyboro]

15 minutes ago, Cato said:

 

I don't think Oasis have announced their line up for the reunion dates yet, but Mr Starkey has to be a leading contender for the drums.

He has indeed been inked in since Chris Sharrock turned the Gallaghers down. 

[Steve Browning]

2 hours ago, acidbass said:

I love Pino's playing but he wasn't the right fit for The Who, both in terms of playing and his tone.  What has since become apparent with Jon Button is that no one can really replace Entwistle.  Button is also a square peg in a round hole IMO.

I was talking to Pino's brother at a gig a few years ago (it was down the road from his home) and he was saying that Pino enjoyed the luxury of a Who tour, but didn't like the music and compared it to really enjoying playing with D'Angelo but didn't enjoy the lack of luxury while touring. First world problems, I guess.

[PaulWarning]

17 minutes ago, 12stringbassist said:

So.... Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend have fired Zak Starkey from The Who after this recent performance.

I find it absolutely staggering that some of my favourite musicians could go out and play like that, being so badly under-rehearsed and then turn round and blame the drummer for it all. 

those were my thoughts as well,he's been with them for years and now Mr Daltrey has decided he's not their cup of tea, very strange

[Terry M.]

29 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

I was talking to Pino's brother at a gig a few years ago (it was down the road from his home) and he was saying that Pino enjoyed the luxury of a Who tour, but didn't like the music and compared it to really enjoying playing with D'Angelo but didn't enjoy the lack of luxury while touring. First world problems, I guess.

I heard Pino didn't actually want The Who gig so he quoted them a ridiculously high rate thinking they would look elsewhere. They accepted 😂 Massive D'Angelo and Pino fan here. The Who isn't for me but it's all good.

[Terry M.]

18 hours ago, Misdee said:

 

Would be nice if they replaced Zak with Dr David Starkey, right-wing constitutional historian. I don't think he can play the drums ( that would probably  Daltrey fine) but he could give the audience some very insightful observations about the cultural context of songs like My Generation and Won't Get Fooled Again while Roger and Pete have their Tena pants changed during the interval.

David Starkey. Isn't he a known racist?

[Steve Browning]

I'd like to see them replace the singer with a guy I saw advertised at a venue (doubtless a tribute) - Rog Adultery.

[gjones]

3 hours ago, peteb said:

 

I saw Zak with Moody, Boz and a great singer who's name I can't remember (who went onto tour with some 60s heritage band) at the Royal Standard in Walthamstow in the early 80s. Zak would have been a teenager at the time (I wasn't that much older). Great band to see in a pub! 

 

Edit - just looked him up, the singer was Spencer James who later joined The Searchers

 

 

I met Boz Burrell in the 90s, in pub in Edinburgh, when he was in Tam White's band. He was real geezer. He was in a happy frame of mind as he'd just got off a 6 week reunion tour with Bad Company and was $600,000 richer. (nice work if you can get it).

[peteb]

3 minutes ago, gjones said:

 

I met Boz Burrell in the 90s, in pub in Edinburgh, when he was in Tam White's band. He was real geezer. He was in a happy frame of mind as he'd just got off a 6 week reunion tour with Bad Company and was $600,000 richer. (nice work if you can get it).

 

One of my bass playing heroes and by all accounts, a bit of a character...!  

 

[spongebob]

Wonder why they had to make the reason so public?

 

Most of these things end with plain old musical differences or concentration on other projects, etc.

 

Seems a bit disloyal to throw Zak under the bus, whatever the circumstances.

[Dad3353]

24 minutes ago, spongebob said:

Wonder why they had to make the reason so public?

 

Most of these things end with plain old musical differences or concentration on other projects, etc.

 

Seems a bit disloyal to throw Zak under the magic bus, whatever the circumstances.

 

Fixed. 

 

 

 

 

[Steve Browning]

Apparently it's been brewing for a long time. The kit is a Roland kit built into DW shells (by DW).

[Steve Browning]

Latest news is that ZS 'smokes' rather a lot, and was at least 3 hours late for rehearsals for the RAH gigs. Possibly the wrong original member is getting the blame.

Edited Thursday at 15:05 by Steve Browning

[Count Bassy]

Saw Roger Daltrey with his band (Not the Who) at the Birminham Symphony Hall last year sometime. Still an excellent voice and excellent show, IMHO.

[PaulWarning]

22 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

Latest news is that ZS 'smokes' rather a lot, and was at least 3 hours late for rehearsals for the RAH gigs. Possibly the wrong original member is getting the blame.

There does seem to be more to it than his drumming, just wonder why they didn't use "the musical differences", or "Zak's moving on to other projects" excuse, of course back in the day a young Roger Daltrey would have just thumped him

[Pseudonym]

27 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

There does seem to be more to it than his drumming, just wonder why they didn't use "the musical differences", or "Zak's moving on to other projects" excuse, of course back in the day a young Roger Daltrey would have just thumped him

 

These days, the howl in "Won't Get Fooled Again" is probably because he just put out his back lifting a bottle of mineral water.

[mikebass456]

Or the next cortisone injection being administered......😲

[shoulderpet]

8 hours ago, acidbass said:

I love Pino's playing but he wasn't the right fit for The Who, both in terms of playing and his tone.  What has since become apparent with Jon Button is that no one can really replace Entwistle.  Button is also a square peg in a round hole IMO.

I haven't heard them with Pino so I can not offer an informed opinion but doesn't Pino use flatwounds? Surely that has to be the polar opposite of what The Who would want for there sound?

[Russ]

2 hours ago, shoulderpet said:

I haven't heard them with Pino so I can not offer an informed opinion but doesn't Pino use flatwounds? Surely that has to be the polar opposite of what The Who would want for there sound?

Pino uses what's right for the musical situation he finds himself in. Flats, rounds, fretted, fretless, whatever. His P-with-flats sound has been in demand since he had the D'Angelo gig, and he's probably done more of that sort of thing than anything else in recent years.

 

He played a Fender Jag with rounds during his stint in The Who. I recall an interview with him at the time saying that the Jag was the only bass he had that got close to Entwistle's sound. 

 

[Steve Browning]

He recorded their album using a Precision with two Thunderbird pickups through a Fender Deluxe. 

[Piers_Williamson]

1 hour ago, Steve Browning said:

He recorded their album using a Precision with two Thunderbird pickups through a Fender Deluxe. 

So he didn't go the whole hog with a £20,000 Alembic that weighed half a ton then

[Wolverinebass]

22 hours ago, Piers_Williamson said:

So he didn't go the whole hog with a £20,000 Alembic that weighed half a ton then

Entwistle hadn't used an Alembic onstage with the Who since Live Aid in 1985. The 89 tour he played Warwick Buzzards (which are ironically even heavier) and from 1996 he played Status Buzzards which weigh nothing as they're a one piece graphite mould.

[Wolverinebass]

On 17/04/2025 at 21:28, Russ said:

He played a Fender Jag with rounds during his stint in The Who. I recall an interview with him at the time saying that the Jag was the only bass he had that got close to Entwistle's sound. 

 

That could be one of the most hilariously inaccurate things I've ever read. Pino never sounded anything like Entwistle. Ever.

 

Pino is brilliant as a fusion player but as a rock player? Nope. His tone is way too smooth for that band.

 

Don't even get me started on Jon "iced gem hair" Button. He plays even more sparsely than Pino did. Which just doesn't work.

 

The band died in 2002 with Entwistle. 

[chriswareham]

While we've veered off onto the subject of John Entwistle...

 

My current band briefly used a rehearsal space earlier this year that had one of John Entwistle's old bass rigs - the guy who owned the space bought it when a lot of stuff was auctioned off after Entwistle's death. It was separate Ashown pre and power amps in a rack case going into a big Ashdown cabinet (6x10" I think). It sounded absolutely sh*t. I was not entirely surprised as I've always found Ashdown gear to be woolly and underpowered crap, but was suprised someone like John Entwistle would have played it. Turns out the missing ingredient was the big stack of effects units that sat between the pre-amp and power amp (or in the effects loop when he was using a combined pre and power model of amp).

[Russ]

2 hours ago, Wolverinebass said:

That could be one of the most hilariously inaccurate things I've ever read. Pino never sounded anything like Entwistle. Ever.

 

Pino is brilliant as a fusion player but as a rock player? Nope. His tone is way too smooth for that band.

 

Don't even get me started on Jon "iced gem hair" Button. He plays even more sparsely than Pino did. Which just doesn't work.

 

The band died in 2002 with Entwistle. 

He said so himself in an interview - the Jag was the only active fretted 4-string he had at the time, so that's what he used on the gig to start with. Remember, he only had a few days to prepare!

 

He got the custom P's with the Thunderbird pickups later.

 

I agree he didn't sound like Entwistle, but he'd have sounded even less like him had he played his Fiesta Red P with flats!