The Who and their drummer Zak Starkey have seemingly parted ways… again.
After initially announcing their separation last month, only to bring Starkey back days later, The Who’s guitarist-songwriter, Pete Townshend, shared on Instagram Sunday that the son of The Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr has split from the band for a second time.
“After many years of great work on drums from Zak the time has come for a change,” Townshend wrote. “A poignant time. Zak has lots of new projects in hand and I wish him the best.”
However, Starkey, who had been the drummer for The Who since 1996’s Quadrophenia tour, took to his social media shortly after, claiming that he was asked to say it was his decision to quit the rock band this time, but that “this would be a lie.”
“I was fired two weeks after reinstatement and asked to make a statement saying I had quit the who to pursue my other musical endeavors this would be a lie,” Starkey wrote on his Instagram. “I love the who and would never had quit. So I didn’t make the statement ….quitting the who would also have let down the countless amazing people who stood up for me (thank you all a million times over and more) thru the weeks of mayhem of me going ‘in an out an in an out an in an out like a bleedin squeezebox.”
In mid-April, The Who announced that Starkey was no longer with the band following a disagreement during their show at Royal Albert Hall in March, with their rep calling it a “collective decision to part ways.”
A few days later, Townshend took to his Instagram to share that Starkey was back. “There have been some communication issues, personal and private on all sides, that needed to be dealt with, and these have been aired happily,” he wrote at the time. “Roger and I would like Zak to tighten up his latest evolved drumming style to accommodate our non-orchestral line up and he has readily agreed. I take responsibility for some of the confusion.” However, the drummer’s return clearly didn’t last long.
