MORE TOTALLY IDLE, BASELESS SPECULATION
I reckon Dylan was given his papers
before the Roundhouse gigs.
Having looked at a lot more footage now, , he's not just annoyed or irritated, he's also fairly listless and uninvested. It looks like he's giving it the bare minimum he can get away with, really, until the majority of the set is done. It
is a bit hard for me to imagine that someone in the Sisters would get that agitated about a bad sound mix, to be fair. It's not exactly uncharted territory for them is it.
That may indicate that it he'd recently been advised "these are your last gigs" or "this is your last year in the band" or similar, perhaps without expecting it (doesn't Von have form for short-notice firings?). The Roundhouse gigs are the first ones back following a month off, so it's possible he was informed somewhere in that time.
How's this for a possible version of events:
- Von and Chris work out a timeline for his return to the band (to be fair, people have long suggested this was in the works, or that they were collaborating on something); let's say arbitrarily "the start of next year"
- The band settles down for a month after doing European festivals in August; rather tell Dylan he's fired and risk him quitting before Chris is ready to return, thus forcing a search for a fill-in guitarist in a month, Von instead keeps shtum about his intentions.
- At the last possible moment, where it's more likely that Dylan will stick it out for financial reasons, he's informed that it's his last year (or whatever) with the band. We know Von can be ruthless like this.
- Dylan attempts to play the shows through gritted teeth because, c'mon, it's not so lucrative a gig that he makes enough money from it that he can afford to quit partway through a touring commitment
- No idea whether Cref's 'carer's leave' was known in advance or due to an emergency, but Chris is drafted in as nurse, at least in the short term, because he knows the ropes and is available
- I'd previously rejected the idea that Dylan felt 'insecure' or whatnot by Chris's presence , and I still think it would be bizarre if he was unaware of the ongoing friendship with Eldritch there. I also doubt that he would object to Chris as nurse under ordinary circumstances - as I said earlier, a guitarist would probably want a former Sisters guitarist nursing, if Ravey's not there. BUT maybe the thing that caused him to throw his toys out of the pram, consequences be damned, is that he felt that he lost a final bit of leverage: "they can't do it without me right now" is out the window, so he might have just said, bugger this.
My prediction:
- Continue with one guitarist for the show's they'd hoped to retain Dylan for, with variously Chris or Ravey as nurse. Don't think we'll see Chris on guitar before then, if he will be returning to that role at all; I think if Chris were able to commit to that, they'd have sacked Dylan, got Chris back, and found someone else to act as replacement nurse.
- Chris Catalyst returns to the band during the next break between gigs - the Christo/Smith/Eldritch songs will be interesting with him on them. Alternatively, they bring a new guitarist in instead. I don't really think they'll continue indefinitely with only one guitarist, unless it proves to be an astounding success. Would be nice if this prompted Von to complete a few more songs with a songwriting credit for Chris/whoever, as a means of giving the new guitarist some a performance royalty income stream.
- Dylan either tells everyone who will listen the circumstances or his departure or tells them that Von made him sign an NDA or something.
If any of this absolutely made-up guessing turns out to be true, my questions are:
- Did Ben know in advance? We know he and Dylan are dear friends from way back, has he been blindsided by the exit too?
- Is Ravey's absence really temporary? Even the reasons there are hearsay aren't they? Has he quit/been fired too? Is Dylan's departure related to Ravey's absence?
You can tell I've been in a lot of bands with murky interpersonal politics, can't you.
