It was not to be, however. For reasons that remain ill-defined to this day, Lane and McLagan were now more opposed than ever to Frampton joining the group. As a result, Marriott's efforts to put a band together from scratch for Frampton became more concerted, and Greg Ridley and Jerry Shirley were successfully auditioned. An increasingly-frustrated Marriott consequently stormed offstage during a Small Faces live performance with Alexis Korner at the Alexandra Palace on New Years's Eve, and backstage he duly announced to his bandmates that he was leaving. He then approached Frampton with a view to joining him in the band he had helped to form for him.