With new bassist John Wetton, the band released the album "Return to Fantasy" in 1975. The recording of the follow-up "High and Mighty" was not completed before the European tour, which reached the Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen on February 14, 1976. Just under six months later, David Byron was fired and Wetton quit.
KEN HENSLEY: You wouldn't believe this is a band about to crash. What a magical live photo from Tivoli! John Wetton with his bass in front of Mick Box, joking around like they used to. David is sprawled out on the floor and his usual attitude. I'm pounding away on my Hammond B3 and Lee is banging on his drums. This was what we did best.
Unfortunately, this was no longer with us every day, it changed from day to day and it was so sad. A lot of it was due to alcohol, lack of interest and our manager and producer Gerry Bron having new interests. His empire was growing and his airline was growing. We were no longer a high priority for him.
Could any outsider see that there were problems within the band?
No, they seemed incapable of it. Besides, we were still selling a lot of records, so one of them could turn around and say: "What's wrong? You're selling millions of records, what's there to worry about?" To me, it was about much more than that. "Where is our credibility? Where is our integrity? ... Anyone can sell a million records, but then they're here today and gone tomorrow. We've been around for so long and this is what we should do to stay around a little longer.
I realize that may sound a bit twisted, but I've always looked at it from that point of view.
I felt the same way when I joined Spice in 1969. For me, it was such an amazing opportunity to finally fulfill my dreams. By the end of 1971, we had done it and were on our way to the top. We got our first gold record and did our first tour in the US, selling out arenas, even as a support act. We were the band that didn't care about anything else but the band. We made sure we gave people what they had come to expect from us.
To be completely honest, we lost all of that. We got caught up in our stardom. In my case, drugs came into play and later alcohol became a very, very big problem in the band. It was almost like the lifestyle thing became more important than what had gotten us there. That's why I got worried about it and complained about it.
I'm not going to absolve myself of responsibility. I'm as guilty as anyone of getting sucked into the rock'n'roll lifestyle. But at the same time, at the very core of my being, I was always the guy who said: Look at what we've done, look at what we've accomplished. Let's not screw it up, let's not throw it away!
Translated to English from Sweden Rock Magazine #11, 2020