Zak Starkey says he’s ‘gutted’ not to be drumming in Oasis reunion

Zak Starkey has said he is “gutted” to not be drumming for Oasis on their 2025 reunion tour.

Starkey was the drummer for the Britpop icons between 2004-2008 when he replaced Alan White behind the kit, lending his efforts to the band’s live shows and drumming on the albums Don’t Believe the Truth and Dig Out Your Soul.

It was speculated that he could return for the huge 2025 dates, but he was tight-lipped when asked by Rolling Stone UK whether he would be behind the kit for the tour.

Now, after the line-up for the tour was revealed with Joey Waronker on drums, Starkey has made his feelings on the choice clear.

“I texted them and said, ‘Why am I not in it?’” he told BBC Breakfast, while adding of the choice of Waronker: “You know, if you get a new drummer, you get comfortable, don’t you? You get comfortable with new musicians and I think that’s what’s happened and I’m alright with that.”

Despite this, Starkey called Oasis the “greatest rock and roll band of my generation,” and Liam Gallagher the “greatest rock and roll singer of my generation.”

The new comments come after an elongated saga with Starkey’s other band, The Who. Earlier this month, ahead of the band’s farewell tour, Pete Townshend announced that the band had parted ways with Starkey, before re-hiring him.

Almost immediately, he left the band again, with Roger Daltrey saying the drummer was ‘retired’ not ‘fired’.

Starkey said: “I was fired two weeks after reinstatement and asked to make a statement saying I had quit the who to pursue my other musical endevours this would be a lie. 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 x.”