 A commonly cited story of how Moon joined the Who is that he appeared at a show shortly after Sandom 's departure , where a session drummer was used . Dressed in ginger clothes and with his hair dyed ginger ( future bandmate Pete Townshend later described him as a " ginger vision " ) , he claimed to his would @-@ be bandmates that he could play better ; he played in the set 's second half , nearly demolishing the drum kit in the process . In the words of the drummer , " they said go ahead , and I got behind this other guy 's drums and did one <unk> ' Road Runner . ' I 'd several drinks to get me courage up and when I got onstage I went <unk> on the drums , broke the bass drum pedal and two skins , and got off . I figured that was it . I was scared to death . Afterwards I was sitting at the bar and Pete came over . He said : ' You ... come ' ere . ' I said , mild as you please : ' Yes , yes ? ' And Roger , who was the spokesman then , said : ' What are you doing next Monday ? ' I said : ' Nothing . ' I was working during the day , selling plaster . He said : ' You 'll have to give up work ... there 's this gig on Monday . If you want to come , we 'll pick you up in the van . ' I said : ' Right . ' And that was it . " Moon later claimed that he was never formally invited to join the Who permanently ; when Ringo Starr asked how he had joined the band , he said he had " just been filling in for the last fifteen years . " 
