Zak Starkey - Balancing Acts

Balancing Acts

During 2004 Starkey joined the Britpop band Oasis and was featured on two tracks included on the Who's biographic album, The Who: Then and Now. In May 2005, Noel Gallagher revealed to the BBC that Starkey had participated in the recording sessions for Don't Believe the Truth. Starkey had recorded all but one track of the sessions originally called "Mucky Fingers". In an official promotional video for the album, Starkey commented on Oasis their band and the sessions, stating: It was amazing. They're all singers, they're all guitar players, they're all songwriters, they're all producers... and they're all f* drummers. He traveled as a sideman on the year long Oasis tour which followed and appeared in promotional videos for the associated singles. Still, Starkey wasn't an official member of the band, he rarely appeared with the rest of the band in other promotions. In April 2005 Noel Gallagher confirmed that Starkey was invited to be Oasis' official drummer, but that couldn't materialize before his current working engagements with The Who were completed in mid 2007.

Starkey was not available to record Endless Wire (2006) with The Who as he was on the road with Oasis at the time. He was available for the subsequent tour in support of the album however; The Who Tour 2006-2007, during which they appeared at Glastonbury Festival in 2007. The tour finished at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland on 9 July 2007. Pete Townshend's official web site, stated that Starkey was invited to become a full member of The Who after this tour, stating that "Some of you may have noticed in one of my recent diary postings that I welcomed Zak into the Who as a permanent member. This is something he doesn't feel he needs or wants. Let's just say that the door is always open to this amazing musician and whenever we can, we will always try to make it possible for Zak to work with the Who in the future." Starkey declined the invitation from Townshend, however.

On 14 February 2007, Starkey appeared with Oasis when they received the BRIT Award for Outstanding contribution to music. In 2007, Starkey featured on Paul Weller's single "This Old Town" along with Blur guitarist Graham Coxon and bassist Mani. On 12 July 2008 Starkey drummed for The Who at the 3rd annual VH1 Rock Honors, celebrating the band's long career.

His participation in the making of the Oasis album Dig Out Your Soul was confirmed on 11 December 2007, when the official Oasis website published a picture of him with the other band members However, it was announced that Starkey would not perform on the Dig Out Your Soul Tour, and he drummed for The Who during their tour of Australia and New Zealand in 2008.