How do band members get "fired"?

Probably not - I think it was her boyfriend Chris Stein who was the pothead back then :slight_smile:. That was at least a little bit of the problem apparently. I’ve honestly never heard an interview or read a piece where Stein has come off as an asshole. I own his book of New Wave era photography and he was even friendly with Johnny Ramone of all people (apparently he was the one other Ramones would go too to get Johnny’s phone number which Johnny apparently wasn’t in the habit of giving out to mere bandmates :laughing: ).

However, he seems to have had a chip on his shoulder about Infante, who was originally brought in as a bassist, then switched to 2nd guitar when Harrison came on board. Stein had been the sole guitarist, but in the studio producers were pushing him aside because Infante was a pro in-studio. He could lay down quality tracks quickly and accurately. Stein apparently was always muffing his parts during recording and the pot-smoking didn’t help. So even though Stein was cast (or regarded himself) as the “lead” guitarist, Infante actually recorded most or all of the solo and lead lines on at least Parallel Lines and Eat to the Beat. Also Harry at least implied Infante was a little more of an old school rocker than he was a New Wave hipster and didn’t quite mesh culturally.

Beyond that it was apparently just a somewhat dysfunctional group period. Aside from Harry and Stein who were a couple and called the shots, at the time it seemed everyone else at least mildly disliked to hated everyone else in the band.