Zak Starkey Was Asked to Tour with Oasis Before Exiting The Who

Zak Starkey could’ve been on tour with Oasis or The Who if the past few months went a bit differently.

In a new interview with The Telegraph, the drummer reflected on allegedly getting fired from touring with The Who twice this year and revealed he turned down an offer to join Oasis on the road before the whole ordeal.

Starkey, 59, who’s toured with Oasis in the past, announced he was parting ways with The Who in April after 29 years of drumming with the band. Later that week, however, Pete Townshend announced Starkey would remain in the group following “some communication issues.”

The following month, The Who once again announced the departure of the drummer and son of Sir Ringo Starr. Starkey later claimed he was not only fired but asked to lie about his exit.

“What happened was I got it right and Roger [Daltrey] got it wrong,” Starkey told The Telegraph, referencing the band’s rare performance of “The Song Is Over” at London’s Royal Albert Hall in April.

At the time, there were back-and-forth comments and news reports alleging the band wasn’t happy with Starkey’s onstage performance.

He claimed to The Telegraph that the band members “hate rehearsing” and rarely perform “The Song Is Over,” a 6-minute-plus-long track lead singer and guitarist Daltrey “took a bit out” of for the show.

According to Starkey, “Roger [came] in a bar early.”

One week after the gig, he recalled getting a call from the band’s manager, Bill Curbishley: “He says, ‘It’s my unfortunate duty to inform you’ — it’s like Porridge or something — ‘that you won’t be needed from now on. Roger says you dropped some beats.'”

Starkey added, “I watched the show and I can’t find any dropped beats. Then Pete had to go along with it because Pete’s had 60 years of arguing with Roger.”

Following a couple phone calls with Townshend, Starkey admittedly wanted back in the band. The other members decided to welcome him back, though he allegedly needed to admit to dropping “two beats” in the performance.

“Two weeks later it was like, ‘Roger says he can’t work with you no more, and we’d like you to issue another statement saying you’re leaving to do your other projects’ and I just didn’t do it because I wasn’t leaving [of my own volition],” said Starkey, noting “they didn’t specify” the reason for his second exit.

Despite leaving The Who, Starkey still considers the band his “family” and doesn’t hold a grudge. “I don’t blame anyone. I blame The Who because they’re unpredictable, aggressive and f—— insane,” he said, with the outlet noting those are reasons he “loves” the band.

Starkey ultimately admitted he’d rejoin the group. I spoke to Roger last week and he said, ‘Don’t take your drums out of [The Who’s] warehouse yet in case we need you,'” he revealed. “I said, ‘Best let me know.’”

However, if he weren’t in The Who to begin with, he told The Telegraph that he’d “of course” have toured with Oasis.