Zak Starkey says The Who ‘have an addiction to friction’

Zak Starkey has been through a lot since April, when he was fired, then rehired, then fired again from The Who. 

Despite losing the gig, he tells the U.K.’s The Independent that Roger Daltrey has told him to leave his drum kit in The Who’s storage — just in case. And Starkey doesn’t seem surprised by all the drama.

“The thing is, this is The Who, man. The most unpredictable, aggressive, arrogant people, lovely people who are my family, but you never know what’s gonna happen, and that’s why it’s The Who,” he says. “They have an addiction to friction.”

Starkey calls The Who “the oddest, maddest group there is,” but doesn’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.

“If you look at The Who through the years, all the way back, there’s four completely opposite people. One of them writes all the songs and thinks the other three are an art installation. And they don’t know what that means,” he tells the paper. “They are the craziest, weirdest group there’s ever been. That’s what’s great, isn’t it, that they’re so untraditional with everything that they’ve ever done.”

Problems arose between The Who and Starkey during The Who’s Teenage Cancer Trust shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall in March, with Daltrey calling out Starkey’s playing during “The Song is Over.” He was fired in April, but then rehired by the band, only for The Who to announce in May he was once again let go.