Getting Notions

The Return

Reporter:
The Weavers of Fate went on hiatus in 1977, shortly after they teased the release for Flash in the Pan, and the reasons as to why were never openly revealed by the members. All four members disappeared completely off the radar at what appeared to be the height of their success, and their controversies.

Finally, we know for certain what happened in those 15 months.

Jay Selby:
I was so damn tired of it all. The label had us move out of Ray's uncle's place, to 'somewhere much more befitting of the biggest band in the world'. Their words, not mine. It was a mansion of a place. There were too many rooms, and far too many windows. There was at least one random person with a camera pressed up to the glass at least somewhere in the house.

Sandie Stevens:
Jay hated the townhouse. Due to the fact that the four of us being great friends was one of our selling points, Island Records made every attempt to keep us inseparable. None of us were allowed to be seen outside on our own. Jay's big on keeping his personal life separate from the mess of everything else.

Jay Selby:
I like being able to come down from a show in my own way. Fame is tough, but I like to think of myself as just a regular bloke. I'm not some God of the 4-String, no matter what anyone says. Besides, I was seeing someone, and I couldn't see her in public.

Raymond Silver:
The townhouse was Hell. It was Indulgent. There was a cellar absolutely full of any type of liquor you can think of. There was a note on top of the phonebook, with the dealers number written out on it. I could pretend to cope, in my Uncle's house. I could get sober, knowing that there was nothing to drink. Not at the Townhouse.

Sandie Stevens:
Eimear rarely left the Townhouse. It was far too overstimulating for her. I mean, the rooms were huge, and had all these priceless fur rugs, antique paintings, and that pristine furniture that you were too scared to touch, because you'd fuck it up. We took our daily walk, to a coffee shop, or something, to keep Mike off our arses. She had this massive walk-in wardrobe, full of clothes from Dior, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, you name it. Shit she was too scared to wear. I know she stuffed coke into the pockets of some of those.

I tried to joke with her one time, that if moths got in there, she'd have to deal with these monstrous coke-fuelled flying missiles. I only made things worse. She got one of those electric swatter thingys, and spent days in there, crying, swiping at nothing. And she wasn't ever frightened of moths before. She never used to let me kill any I found. She was one of those people who were real humane to bugs, and that sort of thing.

The others never knew, but that was my breaking point. It had nothing to do with that night with the Pistols. Just something as small as Eimear killing moths. I went straight to Mike, didn't even ring him beforehand. I told him,

"If you don't let Eimear and Ray get the fuckin' help they need, I'm walking away right this second."

Mike Wayne:
Weavers was my one chance at success. I couldn't let it fall apart. I did everything to get them where they were, and that meant a lot of hard work on their part. I understand that they needed a chance to decompress, but that was time I didn't have. I told Sandie,

"You're a drummer, you're replaceable."

Sandie Stevens:
"Fuck you. You're killing them. Why can't you fuckin' see that? They die, and the band is done. Eimear's not fucking replaceable. She's a wreck!"

Mike Wayne:
She left that night, and Selby phoned me about an hour later. 

Jay Selby:
Ray had had another episode. It was real bad. I found him choking on his own puke. I managed to get him breathing again, and conscious. It took too long. I thought I had lost him. When he woke, he started calling for his Dad. I hadn't the heart to tell him he had been dead for years. It hurt, pretending to be his father, all while he wept about how much he hated what he was doing to himself. And what he was doing to the rest of us. I just couldn't take it.