Getting Notions

The Notions Tour

Reporter:
The Notions tour was one of the most infamous debuts in rock and roll history. The most remarkable thing about it was the the fact that Weavers of Fate weren't even the headlining act. The band opened for Led Zeppelin and took the world by storm.

Jay Selby:
No one could believe it. To this day, I haven't a clue how Mike managed to swing it. We had one record, which was only starting to take off, and we were opening for Zeppelin.

Sandie Stevens:
We joined them on their 5th UK tour, and when that was done, there was talk of us joining them on their first world tour. It seemed kind of wrong for us to steal their thunder like that, so I was quite shocked to find out that Robert [Plant] had suggested it.

Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin Frontman):
The Weavers were a beautiful little band. Fabulous. I loved everything about them, their energy, their sound. They were doing something different, something completely new, and people noticed that. Eimear O'Rouke turned heads. She was this tiny scrap of a girl, then she got on stage and she had this huge presence. The crowds loved her. So, I spoke to the others, and they agreed to let them join us on the next leg of the tour.

Mike Wayne:
Then there was the whole ordeal of figuring out how to market this new tour. Working with musicians is a finicky business, they get so worked up over the slightest things. I mean, I worked with Mötley Crüe in the 80s, and they were a handful, to put it mildly. You couldn't keep the name "Led Zeppelin featuring special guests Weavers of Fate" because no doubt Silver would throw a fit, and there was no way I could get away with a clever name for the tour without using their names, either. Silver never cut me any slack. He knew this was my first real management job, and he liked to push back when he could, make me doubt myself.

Raymond Silver:
I earned the title of the band's diva during that first tour. In hindsight, I was pretty rude at times, but I wasn't going to be pushed around either. I was a stickler for everything being on time, still am. Because if there's one thing I hate, its a band showing up late because they feel like it. I've been the guy standing in a crowd, waiting for a band to go on, and its a shitty feeling, knowing they couldn't care less about you. Its your fans that make or break you, so you have to give them the respect they deserve.

Mike Wayne:
In all fairness, I do think Raymond made me a better manager because of it.

Jay Selby:
Ray was wound tight as a duck's arse on that tour. Everything had to be just right. Mike came to me after we played Manchester, and told me about the world tour.

Mike Wayne:
I didn't want to tell Silver, because he would've had a nervous breakdown. Jay was the most level headed of the four of them, you could trust him not to blow a fuse. I told him,
"Zeppelin want you on the next leg of the tour. What do you think it should be called?"

Jay Selby:
"Led Zeppelin and Weavers of Fate, World Tour."

There was no point in beating around the bush.  Sometimes the solution is the easiest answer, and if Silver wasn't happy, fuck him. We're going on a world tour.

Sandie Stevens:
Part of the reason Ray was so wound up was because Zeppelin were more used to the whole idea of touring. We were still so new to it all, and they were so nonchalant about everything. There were crowds of groupies backstage, and we were used to seeing maybe one or two. And there were drugs everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Silver didn't want Eimear to be exposed to too much of it, so he ran himself ragged trying to clear a path for her, so to speak. We would step off the bus, and while we're blinded from all the cameras flashing in our faces, someone would press a bag of coke into your hand.

Jay Selby:
Eimear absolutely hated Silver babysitting her so much. She started to get sneaky with her drugs then. She would wear these massive overcoats, with heaps of hidden pockets, and stash her pills in those. She spent a lot more time with John [Bonham] and Jimmy [Page], and from what I know, they'd use together.