Moons and Starrs: How Uncle Keith Inspired Zak’s Rock Dreams

Dana Spiardi — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 19:30:07 +0000

Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr was so determined that his eldest son NOT follow in his footsteps that he gave the kid but one drum lesson in his entire life. Zak Starkey, who turns 48 today, would have to master the skill all by himself…with a little help from his dad’s good mate, Keith Moon of The Who. The legendary “patent British exploding drummer” bought his godson his first drum kit at age 8 and encouraged the lad’s rock dreams. (The kit was later auctioned at Sotheby’s for £12,000, or roughly $19,000.) Little Zak began playing in pubs at 12 and unassumingly worked his way up the rock-n-roll food chain, eventually playing with groups like Oasis and The Waterboys, as well as his dad’s All-Starr Band.

But little did he know that one day, long after Uncle Keith’s demise, he would fill his idol’s seat as the beat-keeper of his favorite band. He’s been drumming with The Who since 1996, most recently on their “Quadrophenia” tour of 2012/13. Who guitarist Pete Townshend considers him the karmic Keith Moon. “I am not a rock ’n’ roll star,” Zak told Ken Micallef of Modern Drummer magazine in 2006. “I’m not famous, I suppose. But I am a very successful musician.” Zak’s younger brother Jason, also a drummer, hasn’t been nearly as fortunate. Through the years he’s been in and out of court on theft and drug charges. He once said, “Being Ringo Starr’s son is the biggest drag of my life. It’s a total pain.”

Here’s Zak, channeling Keith Moon (the two are pictured above). Let’s hope he didn’t pick up his idol’s talent for blowing up hotel toilets.

© Dana Spiardi, Sept 13, 2013

Is There a Drummer in the House?

Dana Spiardi — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 04:00:20 +0000

Oh that zany Keith Moon! His outrageous antics are legendary — from driving a Lincoln Continental into a Holiday Inn swimming pool, to flushing cherry bombs down hotel toilets. (He was eventually banned for life from all Holiday Inns, Sheraton and Hilton hotels, and many others.)

But one of my favorite stories involves the night of November 23, 1973, when the chemically induced clown/drummer mixed one too many horse tranquilizers with brandy, causing him to pass out twice during the band’s performance at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. The roadies managed to revive him after his first tumble from the drum kit, tossing him into the shower and administering a shot of cortisone (which no rock band medical kit was ever without in those days).

But after the second episode, it was obvious he wasn’t coming back on stage. Who guitarist Pete Townsend might have asked if there was a doctor in the house, but instead he shouted out to the crowd: “Can anybody play the drums? I mean, somebody good?” It just so happened that a local drummer, 19-year-old Scot Halpin (pictured), came to the rescue and played on the three remaining numbers of the show. Rolling Stone magazine named him “Pick-Up Player of the Year” in 1973. The now-deceased Halpin managed to have his 15 minutes of fame, thanks to a comatose Moon.

Keith would have turned 67 today if he hadn’t died in 1978 from swallowing 32 tablets of Heminevrin, a sedative he was taking to help him with alcohol withdrawal symptoms. And that’s why they called him Moon the Loon.

Here’s a clip of the evening’s events:

drummers – The Hip Quotient

Moons and Starrs: How Uncle Keith Inspired Zak’s Rock Dreams

Is There a Drummer in the House?