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Zak Starkey - Moon In Spirit

When writer Robyn Flans asked Zak Starkey (Modern Drummer, July 1997)
what he liked about Keith Moon, Zak replied, "God, *everything.*  The drums
are so at the forefront of that music, & there's so much going on with them.  It
was so aggressive & so nasty, & that's what I was into."

Following in the footsteps of Moon & of his father, Ringo Starr, Starkey had
no formal training on drums.  At age seven, Zak discovered The Who's early
single compilation MEATY BEATY BIG & BOUNCY.  A few years later, 
he was playing along to LIVE AT LEEDS, WHO'S NEXT, & QUADRO-
PHENIA.  By age sixteen, he had attracted the attention of John Entwistle, &
at nineteen he was working with Roger Daltrey.  

The logical next step was The Who.  Zak took over the drum chair in 1996 for 
the world-premiere live performance of QUADROPHENIA in London's Hyde
Park.  That was the gateway to an enjoyable phase of his life, interpreting the
music on which Moon had left his indelible stamp.

"I don't play what Keith played note-for-note on everything," Zak told Flans.
Probably 70% of the parts are changed.  But there are certain things within
every song that Keith did that have to be there."

Zak depicted The Who as "the ultimate drumming gig, because it's really a 
jazz gig.  Obviously it's not jazz, but I can go out & play anything I want.
There's no other gig where you can do that.  It's very free-form.  Everybody is 
throwing in stuff every night, which is what keeps it fresh & alive.  Once you
start going through the motions, you're dead."

Which pretty much echoes Moon's statement, "You can run into the danger of
becoming an automaton if you do everything exactly the same each night."  
It would seem that in Zak, The Who has found Moon in spirit, if not flesh.
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- SCHRADE in Akron

Creationists make it sound as though a 'theory' is something you dreamt up 
after being drunk all night. 
     - Isaac Asimov