A POPULAR rock star has pulled out of his band’s 25th anniversary tour – after his wife’s death.
Greg Tribbett, 56, is the lead guitarist and a founding member of Mudvayne.
4
Greg Tribbett is Mudvayne’s lead guitarist and a founding memberCredit: Getty
4
The US rock star recently lost his wife DebbieCredit: Instagram/@thetribbs
4
Mudvayne first formed back in 1996Credit: Getty
Writing on social media, Greg’s bandmates confirmed his absence from their 25th anniversary tour following his wife Debbie’s passing.
They penned on social media: “Tour starts today!
“We are going to miss our brother Greg on this tour, sending him and his family all the love.
“- Chad, Matt, Ryan, & Mudvayne crew.”
Mudvayne’s tour began on September 11 and will continue until October 26.
According to a GoFundMe campaign, Debbie had been diagnosed with Angiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer.
Meanwhile, a fan page wrote on social media earlier this week: “With the heaviest of hearts we mourn the loss of our dearest most beautiful friend Debbie Tribbett.
“Anyone who has been here from the start of the Mob family knows she was a huge integral part of this page and the family she did take a step back once she needed to but was still watching and sharing as she always did.
“She was fiercely supportive of MUDVAYNE and her loving husband Greg always so proud!
“I thank her for bringing her love and light to so many of us who were lucky enough to connect with her.
Rock star devastated as he’s diagnosed with ‘very aggressive’ cancer and shares snap from hospital bed
“We miss you beautiful sweet friend more than words can say god bless you and may your family be blessed with strength.”
One person commented: “Ah man this is so sad to hear. Praying for Greg and the children. This is tough.”
Another added: “I heard the news yesterday and cried my eyes out. Makes my heart hurt for her babies.”
Mudvayne formed in 1996 with Greg, vocalist Chad Gray, drummer Matthew McDonough and bassist Shawn Barclay.
Ryan Martinie joined the group a year later, to replace Barclay as bassist.
Mudvayne went on hiatus in 2010 before returning to the stage in 2021.
4
Fans shared their sympathies to Greg for his lossCredit: Getty
Hurricane Erin was expected to bring tropical storm conditions to North Carolina on Wednesday evening and Virginia on Thursday. Photo courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Aug. 20 (UPI) — The outer bands of Hurricane Erin neared North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Wednesday evening, prompting the National Hurricane Center to issue warnings against swimming at most East Coast beaches.
The Category 2 storm, described as “large” by the NHC, had maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, just shy of a Category 3 hurricane. The eye of the storm was located about 490 miles west of Bermuda and 245 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and was moving north at 14 mph, according to the NHC’s 8 p.m. update.
A storm surge warning was in effect for from Cape Lookout to Duck, N.C., while a tropical storm warning was in effect for Beaufort Inlet, N.C., to Chincoteague, Va., including Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds.
Bermuda was under a tropical storm watch.
“Erin is expected to produce life-threatening surf and rip currents along the beaches of the Bahamas, much of the east coast of the U.S., Bermuda and Atlantic Canada during the next several days,” the NHC said. “Beachgoers in those areas should follow advice from lifeguards, local authorities and beach warning flags.”
Forecasters warned weather conditions were expected to deteriorate along the Outer Banks late Wednesday into Thursday. Storm surge and large waves could cause beach erosion and make some roads impassible.
Tropical storm conditions were expected to reach the Virginia coast Thursday and farther north through early Friday.
The season’s first Atlantic hurricane reached Category 5 status Saturday morning, the highest classification, after rapidly intensifying overnight Friday, when it became a Category 1 hurricane, the year’s fifth named storm.
Erin dropped to a Category 4 and then a 3 overnight into Sunday, but regained Category 4 strength late Sunday before again losing strength.
There have been four named storms so far this season in the Atlantic. Tropical Storm Chantal caused major flooding in North Carolina but has been the only one of the four to make landfall in the United States this year.
The Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1 and ends on Nov. 30. The peak hurricane season runs from mid-August through September and into mid-October.
Ninety-three percent of hurricane landfalls along the U.S. Gulf Coast and the East Coast have occurred from August through October, the Weather Channel reported, citing data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Last year at this time, there had also been five named storms.
Theo Leggett at the wheel of the oldest Ford Transit still in existence
Climbing into a 1965 Ford Transit is like stepping into a time capsule on wheels.
Forget your modern high-tech nicknacks like satnavs and touchscreens. All you get here is a steering wheel, a big chrome-lined speedometer dial and a chunky heater control. There isn’t even a radio.
Out on the road, it rattles and bangs and occasionally jumps out of gear.
Disconcertingly, there’s no seatbelt, the seat itself has an alarming tendency to move around, and the brakes don’t seem to do very much at all.
Beautiful as it is, it’s hard to imagine that this elderly machine was ever state of the art.
Yet when the original Transit first rolled off the production line at Ford’s plant in Langley, Berkshire, on 9 August 1965, it was a revelation.
By the standards of the day, it was remarkably spacious, powerful and practical. It was comfortable, had sharp handling, and put existing vans such as the Morris J4 firmly in the shade.
Sixty years later, the Transit has been redesigned many times, but the brand itself is still going strong. It remains a staple for many small businesses, even in an age when “white vans” are ten a penny, and the market is rife with competition.
It is the world’s best-selling van – and more than 13 million have been built so far.
“There are lots of iconic cars: the Morris Minor, the Mini, the Land Rover, the VW Beetle, but there’s only one iconic van, and that’s the Transit,” says Edmund King, president of the AA.
“It’s probably the only van that people really know”.
Erica Echenberg via Getty Images
Punk ban The Damned were one of the groups to use Ford Transit’s on tour, seen here in 1977
Originally a collaboration between Ford’s engineers in the UK and Germany, and primarily aimed at the British and European markets, the Transit was designed to be as versatile as possible.
It rapidly became a staple for tradespeople, including builders, carpenters, electricians and delivery drivers.
But it also appealed to others looking for spacious, cheap transport – including aspiring rock bands. It was almost a rite of passage. Among those who spent time on the road in one were Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, the Small Faces and Slade.
“It was the freedom to go where you want, when you want. Petrol was a lot cheaper than it is now,” says Peter Lee, founder of the Transit Van Club.
“I ended up in Spain, lived in one for 13 months as a hippy on a strawberry farm, then came back and started a business. Before you know it, I had 180 workers in 28 Transit vans driving around London.”
‘Britain’s most wanted van’
The Transit’s speed and loading space also appealed to people on the wrong side of the law.
In 1972, so the story goes, a Metropolitan Police spokesman claimed Transits were being used in 95% of bank raids, adding that its speed and loading space meant it had become the perfect getaway vehicle. This, he commented drily, made it “Britain’s most wanted van”.
Meanwhile the stereotype of the bullying “white van man”,defined by Sunday Times reporter Jonathan Leake in 1997 as “a tattooed species, often with a cigarette in his mouth, who is prone to flashing his lights as he descends on his prey”, did not specifically target Transit drivers.
But given how many of them were on the road by then, it is a fair bet they were implicated.
Made in Turkey
For nearly half a century, Transits were built in Britain – first at Langley, then at a factory just outside Southampton. But this closed in 2013, as Ford removed production to Turkey, where it said costs were “significantly lower”. It was a controversial move that put hundreds of employees out of work. It was described by unions as a ‘betrayal’.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Ford Transit production moved to Turkey in 2013
Today, Ford continues to highlight both the Transit’s British heritage and the work that still takes place here, especially at its UK headquarters in Dunton, Essex.
“Dunton is the home of the Transit,” insists Ford of Britain’s managing director, Lisa Brankin
“It’s where we manage all the engineering and design work for the new vans. But we also build our diesel engines in Dagenham, just down the road, and we make power packs for electric vans in Halewood, near Liverpool.”
Most of the company’s European production remains in Turkey, and that looks unlikely to change.
“It’s about efficiency and just centring manufacturing into one place, rather than having multiple sites across Europe,” Ms Brankin explains.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Ford promotes its electric vans at commercial vehicle fairs around the world
Much of the activity at Dunton now is focused on what the next generation of Transit vans will bring. But will there ever be another radical game-changer like the original model?
“We’re working on it,” says director of commercial vehicle development Seamus McDermott, when I ask him that question.
He believes that what customers want from a van has not really changed in 60 years. It is still all about having a reliable set of wheels that is versatile and cheap to run. But the way that goal is achieved is now very different.
“Electric vehicles are cheaper to run and cheaper to repair,” he says.
“Also, when we bring in more software defined, ‘smarter’ vehicles, the ability to manage fleets remotely will help bring down costs as well. So the revolution will be about propulsion and software.”
But while the Transit brand has already endured for 60 years, today it is heading into an uncertain future, according to AA president Edmund King.
“In the 60s, 70s and 80s, if someone’s father had a Transit, they would get a Transit,” he says.
“I think that’s changing now. There’s more competition across the van market, and therefore brand loyalty is certainly not as strong as it used to be.”
The first Ford Transit was built at Langley, Berks, an old Hawker Hurricane factory, on August 9, 1965. It cost £542 and had a 610g payload
15
If the Pepsi van was not spectacular enough from the outside, the interior featured a mirrored cocktail bar with luxury seats and disco lights. It was the 70s, man
15
Wills and Kate had a transit on Anglesey to avoid getting spotted
But when it comes to vehicles, it’s not even a debate.
Greatest Of All Transit.
The humble Ford Transit has been Britain’s best-selling van since day one – August 9, 1965.
That’s like Liverpool winning the Prem for 60 years on the bounce. Everyone else might as well give up and go home.
To celebrate Transit’s 60th, we’ve peppered today’s column with quirky facts, as well as hearing from owners with a cherished van from each decade.
Ford’s famous Backbone Of Britain telly ad from the Eighties was genius marketing. Yet also 100 per cent true. Transit keeps this country ticking.
Everything we see and touch was transported in a van.
15
Every rock band travelled to gigs in a van, here’s Slade with their Transit
15
Two baby elephants once hitched a ride at London’s Regent’s Park Zoo
15
Boxing legend Henry Cooper drove a Transit pick-up, delivering fruit and veg
One reason Transit is successful is that Ford engineers sit with owners to find ways of making the next model even more useful.
Like the bloke who shoved a lump of wood through the bottom of the steering wheel to make a lunch table.
The latest Transit Custom has a tilt-up steering wheel with a tray for his quinoa tuna salad. Bosh.
Ford’s insane V8 1971 Transit Supervan
Retired builder Peter Lee, founder of the Transit Van Club, said: “Transit is like a forklift with two doors.
“Built to work. They’re good honest vans that will do the job.”
The OG and still the best. 3 MILLION UK sales and counting. Always available in white.
15
Even Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was built on a Transit chassis
15
Dinky produced 104 toy vans with 1,000,000 Transit stickers on the sides for factory execs
15
Capital Radio circled the new M25 for seven days and nights in 1986
15
A stuntman jumped over 15 cars in a Transit in 1985 to raise money for cancer research
15
Gamers can drive an Mk1 Transit in Forza Horizon 4
15
Today’s Transit can power your work tools and lights
15
A 15-metre, 1.5-ton Cetiosaurus was driven from Kent to Scotland on a Transit
15
The Monster Transit was mounted on axles from a US military vehicle
15
Supervan 4.2 won Goodwood’s 2024 King of the Hill shootout against some pretty senior race cars
FORD TRANSIT FACTS
Ford took £33million of orders before production had even started
The Transit is nudging 3 million UK sales and 13 million worldwide
The largest 2t Transit can swallow 236,000 ping pong balls
There are 1,300 variations of the 2t Transit – before picking a colour
Greg Saunier already had reasons to be wary of Spotify. The founder of the acclaimed Bay Area band Deerhoof was well acquainted with the service’s meager payouts to artists and songwriters, often estimated around $3 per thousand streams. He was unnerved by the service’s splashy pivots into AI and podcasting, where right-wing, conspiracy-peddling hosts like Joe Rogan got multimillion-dollar contracts while working musicians struggled.
But Saunier hit his breaking point in June, when Spotify’s Chief Executive Daniel Ek announced that he’d led a funding round of nearly $700 million (through his personal investment firm, Prima Materia) into the European defense firm Helsing. That company, which Ek now chairs, specializes in AI software integrated into fighter aircraft like its HX-2 AI Strike Drone. “Helsing is uniquely positioned with its AI leadership to deliver these critical capabilities in all-domain defence innovation,” Ek said in a statement about the funding round.
In response, Deerhoof pulled its catalog from Spotify. “Every time someone listens to our music on Spotify, does that mean another dollar siphoned off to make all that we’ve seen in Gaza more frequent and profitable?” Saunier said, in an interview with The Times. “It didn’t take us long to decide as a band that if Daniel Ek is going harder on AI warfare, we should get off Spotify. It’s not even that big of a sacrifice in our case.”
A small band yanking its catalog won’t make much impact on Spotify’s estimated quarterly revenues of $4.8 billion. But it seemed to inspire others: several influential acts subsequently left the service, lambasting Ek for investing his personal fortune into an AI weapons firm.
Spotify did not return request for comment about Ek’s Helsing investments.
This small exodus is unlikely to sway Ek, or dislodge Spotify from dominating the record economy. But it may further sour young music fans on Spotify, as many are outraged about wars in Gaza and elsewhere.
“There must be hundreds of bands right now at least as big as ours who are thinking of leaving,” Saunier said. “I thought we’d be fools not to leave, the risk would be in staying. How can you generate good feelings between fans when musical success is intimately associated with AI drones going around the globe murdering people?”
Swedish mogul Ek, with an estimated wealth around $9 billion, may seem an unlikely new player in the global defense industry. But his interest in Helsing goes back to 2021, when Ek invested nearly $115 million from Prima Materia and joined the company’s board. [Helsing, based in Germany, says it was founded to “help protect our democratic values and open societies” and puts “ethics at the core of defense technology development.”]
With his investment, Ek joined tech moguls Jeff Bezos and Palmer Luckey in pivoting from nerdier cultural pursuits (like online bookselling and virtual reality) into defense. The Union of Musicians and Allied Workers said then that Ek’s actions “prove once again that Ek views Spotify and the wealth he has pillaged from artists merely as a means to further his own wealth.”
A range of anti-Spotify protests followed later, like a songwriters’ rally in West Hollywood in 2022 and a boycott of Spotify’s 2025 Grammy party, after Spotify cut $150 million from songwriter royalties. Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their catalogs in response to Rogan spreading misinformation about COVID-19.
Yet eventually, both relented. “Apple and Amazon have started serving the same disinformation podcast features I had opposed at Spotify,” Young said in a pithy note in 2022. “I hope all you millions of Spotify users enjoy my songs! They will now all be there for you except for the full sound we created.”
Daniel Ek, founder and CEO of Spotify, in 2023.
(Noam Galai / Getty Images for Spotify)
Ek’s latest investment seems to have struck a nerve though, especially in the corners of music where Spotify slashed income to the point where artists have little to lose by leaving.
After Deerhoof’s announcement, the influential avant-garde band Xiu Xiu announced a similar move. “We are currently working to take all of our music off of garbage hole violent armageddon portal Spotify,” they wrote. “Please cancel your subscription.”
The Amsterdam electronic label Kalahari Oyster Cult had similar reasoning: “We don’t want our music contributing to or benefiting a platform led by someone backing tools of war, surveillance and violence,” they posted.
Most significantly, the Australian rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — an enormously popular group that will headline the Hollywood Bowl Aug. 10. — said last week that it would pull its dozens of albums from Spotify as well. “A PSA to those unaware: Spotify CEO Daniel Ek invests millions in AI military drone technology,” the band wrote, announcing its departure. “We just removed our music from the platform. Can we put pressure on these Dr. Evil tech bros to do better?”
“We’ve been saying ‘f— Spotify’ for years. In our circle of musicians, that’s what people say all the time for well-documented reasons,” the band’s singer Stu Mackenzie said in an interview. “I don’t consider myself an activist, but this feels like a decision staying true to ourselves. We saw other bands we admire leaving, and we realized we don’t want our music to be there right now.”
Ek’s moves with Prima Materia come as no surprise to Glenn McDonald, a former data analyst at Spotify who became well known for identifying trends in listener habits. McDonald was laid off in 2023, and has mixed feelings about the company’s priorities today. It’s both the arbiter of the record industry and a mercurial tech giant that only became profitable last year while spinning off enormous wealth for Ek.
“It’s well documented that Spotify was only a music business because that was an open niche,” McDonald said. “I’m never surprised by billionaires doing billionaire things. Google or Apple or Amazon investing in a company that did military technology wouldn’t surprise me. Spotify subscribers should feel dismayed that this is happening, but not responsibility, because all the major streamers are about the same in moral corporate terms.”
McDonald said the company’s push toward Discovery Mode — where artists accept a lower royalty rate in exchange for better placement in its algorithm — added to the sense that Spotify is antagonistic to working artists’ values. More recently, Spotify rankled progressives when it sponsored a Washington, D.C., brunch with Rogan and Ben Shapiro celebrating President Trump’s return to the White House, and raised $150,000 for Trump’s inauguration (Apple and Amazon also donated to the inauguration).
While Ek’s investments in Helsing are not directly tied to Spotify, the money does come from personal wealth built through his ownership of Spotify’s stock. Fans are right to make a moral connection between them, McDonald said.
“Ek represents Spotify publicly, and thus its commitment to music. Him putting money into an AI drone company isn’t representing that,” McDonald said. “He can do whatever he wants with his money, but he is the face of a company as controversial and culturally important as Spotify. So yeah, people want to hold him to a less neutral standard.”
For artists looking to leave the service, the actual process of getting off Spotify varies. For King Gizzard, which releases its catalog on its own record labels, it was easy to remove everything quickly. Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu needed time to clear the move with several labels and former band members who receive royalties.
Being a smaller, autonomous band enabled Saunier to act according to his values, even at the cost of some meaningful slice of income. He has considered that, by torching his band’s relationship with Spotify, Deerhoof’s music could slip from away from some fans.
“Everyone I know hates Spotify, but we’ve been conditioned to believe that there is no other option,” he said. “But underground music is filled with so many beautiful examples of a mom-and-pop business mentality. I don’t need to dominate the world, I don’t need to be Taylor Swift to be counted as a success. I don’t need a global reach, I just need to provide myself a good life.”
Yet the only artists that might genuinely sway Ek’s investments would be ones with a global reach on the caliber of Swift. She has pulled her catalog from Spotify before, in 2014 just after releasing her smash album “1989.”
“Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for,” she said, before eventually returning to Spotify in 2017.
It’s hard to imagine her, or other comparable pop acts, taking a similar stand today, especially as the major labels’ fortunes are so bound up in Spotify revenues. Spotify reported a $10 billion payout to rights holders in 2024, roughly a quarter of the entire global recorded music business. Its stock has surged 120% over the last year, but in the second quarter of 2025, the firm missed earnings targets and dropped 11% this week, for the stock’s worst day in two years. “While I’m unhappy with where we are today, I remain confident in the ambitions we laid out for this business,” Ek said in an earnings call.
This recent, small exodus most likely didn’t contribute to that. But it might add to a creeping sense among young listeners that Spotify is not a morally-aligned place for fans to enjoy beloved songs.
“I actually think Spotify will eventually go the way of MySpace. It’s just a get-rich-quick scheme that will pass, become uncool, one that had its day and is probably in decline,” Saunier said. “They wrote an email to me seemingly to do face saving, which makes me think they’re more desperate than we think.”
Acts like Kneecap, Bob Vylan and others have been outspoken around the war on Gaza, at real risk to their careers — proof that young fans care deeply about these issues. While Ek would argue that Helsing helps Ukraine and Europe defend itself, others may not trust his judgment.
“Maybe it’s silly to expect cultural or moral leadership from Daniel Ek, but I don’t want it to be silly,” McDonald said. He thinks fans and artists can morally stay on Spotify, but hopes they build toward a more ethical record industry.
“It’s hard to see what ‘stay and fight’ consists of, but if everyone leaves, nothing gets better,” he said. “If we’re going to get a better music business, it’s going to come from somebody starting over from scratch without major labels, and somehow building to a point where we have enough leverage to change the power dynamic.”
King Gizzard’s Mackenzie looks forward to finding out how that might work. “I don’t expect Daniel Ek to pay attention to us, though it would be cool if he did,” Mackenzie said. “We’ve made a lot of experimental moves in music and releasing records. People who listen to our music have been conditioned to have trust and faith to go on the ride together. I feel grateful to have that trust, and this feels like an experiment to me. Let’s just go away from Spotify and see what happens.”
Foo Fighters are celebrating the anniversary of an old album with the release of a new song.
Nearly 30 years to the day after Dave Grohl’s stadium-filling rock band dropped its self-titled debut on July 4, 1995, the group on Wednesday revealed “Today’s Song,” its first piece of original material since 2023’s “But Here We Are” LP, which itself followed the death of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins in 2022.
“I woke today screaming for change / I knew that I must,” Grohl sings over a subdued organ part, “So here lies the shadow / Ashes to ashes, dust into dust.” Later, the frontman sings about “waiting for someone to repair you” as the song explodes with the band’s signature guitar theatrics and bludgeoning drums.
In a statement, Grohl, 56, said, “Over the years, we’ve had moments of unbridled joy, and moments of devastating heartbreak. Moments of beautiful victory, and moments of painful defeat. We have mended broken bones and broken hearts. But we have followed this road together, with each other, for each other, no matter what. Because in life, you just can’t go it alone.”
Referring to former members of the band, he added, “It should go without saying that without the boundless energy of William Goldsmith, the seasoned wisdom of Franz Stahl, and the thunderous wizardry of Josh Freese, this story would be incomplete, so we extend our heartfelt gratitude for the time, music, and memories that we shared with each of them over the years. Thank you, gentlemen.” (Freese, who took over as drummer following Hawkins’ death, was fired from the band in May for reasons he’s said remain unknown to him.)
“And… Taylor,” Grohl continued. “Your name is spoken every day, sometimes with tears, sometimes with a smile, but you are still in everything we do, everywhere we go, forever. The enormity of your beautiful soul is only rivaled by the infinite longing we feel in your absence. We all miss you beyond words. Foo Fighters will forever include Taylor Hawkins in every note that we play, until we do finally reach our destination.”
A spokesperson for Foo Fighters declined to specify who played drums on “Today’s Song,” though the playing recalls Grohl’s work on the band’s debut, which he recorded as a one-man band, and as the drummer of Nirvana. Earlier this week, Foo Fighters released a cover of Minor Threat’s early-’80s hardcore classic “I Don’t Wanna Hear It,” which the band said combined music recorded in 1995 with vocals recorded in 2025.
“Today’s Song” comes less than a year after Grohl — who has three daughters with his wife, Jordyn Blum — wrote in an Instagram post that he’d fathered a daughter with a woman outside of his marriage.
“I plan to be a loving and supportive parent to her,” he wrote. “I love my wife and my children, and I am doing everything I can to regain their trust and earn their forgiveness.” Grohl’s oldest daughter, 19-year-old Violet, performed Nirvana’s “All Apologies” with Nirvana’s surviving members at January’s FireAid concert; his second-oldest daughter, Harper, designed the single artwork for “Today’s Song.”
Foo Fighters are scheduled to play a series of concerts in Asia in October before headlining Mexico City’s Corona Capital festival in November.
For British drummer Zak Starkey, the last few months with rock band the Who have been quite the whirlwind.
Starkey, who the band fired in April and reinstated days later after “some communication issues,” announced Sunday the “Baba O’Riley” group had fired him again. The veteran drummer, son of Ringo Starr, shared his side of the split on Instagram and disputed the band’s separate announcement about his departure.
The Who, in a joint Instagram post with guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend, said Sunday, “after many years of great work on drums from Zak the time has come for a change.”
“Zak has lots of new projects in hand and I wish him the best,” the post said, before adding that drummer Scott Devours would fill his seat for the band’s remaining farewell shows.
Starkey, 59, added his own text atop the band’s statement for his post. In his caption, he claimed he “was asked” to share his own announcement that he would leave the Who to pursue other projects. “This would be a lie,” he wrote. “I love The Who and would never had quit.”
He added: “So I didn’t make the statement…quitting The Who would also have let down the countless amazing people who stood up for me…thru the weeks of mayhem.”
Starkey, who has played with Oasis and the Icicle Works, among other acts, began performing with the Who in the mid-1990s and said he rarely faced conflict juggling his duties with the band and other endeavors. He also noted that the group has, for the most part, “been sporadic or minimalist in touring.”
“None of this has ever interfered with The Who and was never a problem for them,” he continued in his caption, which offered a timeline of his various musical commitments. “The lie is or would have been that I quit The Who — I didn’t. I love The Who and everyone in it.”
A representative for the Who did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
In a second Instagram post Sunday, the band noted that it is “heading for retirement” and their now-ex-drummer is younger and must “devote all his energy into making” new endeavors a success.
When the Who announced Starkey’s reinstatement, Townshend said in a blog post to the band’s website the drummer needed “to tighten up his latest evolved drumming style to accommodate our non-orchestral line up and he has readily agreed” and shared more details about the sound issues that seemingly led up to Starkey’s initial firing.
“Maybe we didn’t put enough time into sound checks, giving us problems on stage. The sound in the centre of the stage is always the most difficult to work with,” Townshend wrote. “[The Who co-founder] Roger [Daltrey] did nothing wrong but fiddle with his in-ear monitors. Zak made a few mistakes and he has apologised . Albeit with a rubber duck drummer.”
He added: “We are a family, this blew up very quickly and got too much oxygen. It’s over. We move forward now with optimism and fire in our bellies.”
The Who embarks on its Song Is Over North America Farewell tour in August. The group will make two stops at the Hollywood Bowl on Sept. 17 and 19.
