Three sons of The Beatles members have worked together on a new track as Sean Ono Lennon and James McCartney have collaborated with Zak Starkey’s band Mantra Of The Cosmos.
Starkey, son of Ringo Starr, formed the supergroup in 2023, alongside former Oasis bassist Andy Bell, Happy Mondays members Shaun Ryder and Mark “Bez” Berry. The band have had guest contributors on previous singles, such as Noel Gallagher on recent release ‘Domino Bones (Gets Dangerous)’.
On Starkey’s Instagram page, he shared a lengthy section of the track, titled ‘Rip-Off’, with images of the band members as well as The Beatles, with scrolling text emphasising that the song is not meant to be an echo the past.
This reflects Starkey’s comments about the track during a June 13 interview with The Telegraph, where he said: “No, it’s not (like a Beatles song)… It’s like Mantra of the Cosmos with them in it. It’s Sean of the Cosmos and James of the Cosmos, it’s still my band”.
Starkey previously distanced himself from forming a band made of Beatles offspring in 2023, when a photo of himself and Sean Ono Lennon led fans to make the suggestion.
“If we had spent 3 years sleeping on flea infested mattresses in the back room of a Hamburg club it might have chemistry,” he replied in the comments. “But we have been swaddled in silken robes in houses so big that it’s too far to go and make a piece of toast – seen?”
‘Rip-Off’ is the second time that the younger Lennon and McCartney, sons of the legendary songwriting duo John Lennon and Paul McCartney, have worked together recently. In April of last year, they wrote and released ‘Primrose Hill’, a tender acoustic song about spending time with a loved one at the popular London location, which is also featured on the cover art. While both artists wrote the song, McCartney sings it.
On June 11, Mantra Of The Cosmos released ‘Domino Bones (Gets Dangerous)’, featuring Noel Gallagher. In an interview with The Times, the Oasis legend described the song as follows: “It’s Dylan, Dali, Ginsberg and a bit of cosmic jibber-jabber. Add in Bez, who dances on the tunes like Zak plays the drums and Andy Bell plays all things stringed, and you have it”.
You can listen to the track below.
Zak Starkey has made headlines recently regarding his status with The Who. Over several weeks, a series of contradictory reports emerged about Starkey’s status with the band, whom he had played with since 1996. In April, the drummer appeared to publicly confirm that he had been let go, only for Pete Townshend to later deny it.
On May 18, Starkey officially parted ways with the band, with Townshend writing in an Instagram post: “After many years of great work on drums from Zak the time has come for a change. A poignant time. Zak has lots of new projects in hand and I wish him the best”.
On May 19, the sticksman replied with his own version of the situation, writing on Instagram: “I was fired two weeks after reinstatement and asked to make a statement saying I had quit The Who to pursue my other musical (endeavours). This would be a lie”.
In late May, Starkey said that he was “gutted” to not be asked to be part of the forthcoming Oasis reunion. He played with the Manchester legends from 2004 to 2008.
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