“The weight of this responsibility is enormous and I am feeling every ounce of it”: The Who’s new drummer announces himself to fans

The Who have a new drummer. He is Scott Devours, a 58-year-old American who has played in Roger Daltrey’s solo band for over 16 years.

Devours replaces Zak Starkey, who according to Pete Townshend quit last week to concentrate on ‘new projects’, before Starkey, very publicly, made it clear that he had been sacked, saying: “I love The Who and would never have quit and let down so many amazing people who stood up for me through all this madness.”

Anyway, Devours seems to be chuffed to have been promoted. In an emotional Instagram post, he wrote: “It’s hard to express the tsunami of emotions that I’m processing since that incredible news.

"The amount of positivity thrown my way has been overwhelming, I truly thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Also, please don’t ask me for tickets, lol.”

Devours acknowledged that many fans will have been “gutted” at the departure of Starkey, who served as Who drummer for almost 30 years, far longer than even Keith Moon.

“As a huge fan myself, there is a part of me that’s processing this loss with a heavy heart too,” he said. “It really is a strange contradiction of emotions to have the greatest moment of my professional career also be one framed with some sadness and shadowed by someone else’s loss. It’s tough to put into words actually, but I know it’s there and it’s real.”

Thus ends one of the odder episodes in The Who’s long history. Starkey was originally sacked back on April 16, reputedly because they were unhappy with the standard of his performance at a gig at the Royal Albert Hall.

Three days later he was back in. “We are a family, this blew up very quickly and got too much oxygen,” Pete Townshend wrote to fans by way of an explanation. “It’s over. We move forward now with optimism and fire in our bellies.”

The peace lasted until last week when Starkey quit or was fired, depending on who you believe. Now The Who go into what they’re saying will be their final US tour with their fifth drummer. “In my world, there are no bigger shoes to fill than those behind Pete and Roger,” Devours wrote on Instagram. “The weight of this responsibility is enormous and I am feeling every ounce of it. What I want to say to all of the fans is that I will do everything I can to honour the legacy of The Who, Zak, Kenney Jones, Simon Phillips and the memory of the great Keith Moon.”

He concluded, with much sincerity: “But this tour isn’t about me or anyone other than The Who, which IS Pete and Roger. I will give them everything I have. Thank you for reading this. Now I’m going to go throw up, lol.”