| www.slayed.co.uk | Noddy Holder | James Whild Lea | Don Powell | Dave Hill |
COLLECTED SLADE INTERVIEWS -
With grateful acknowledgement to Mickey Parker, Chris Selby and others who have unearthed them for this site.
THE SLADE NEWS INTERVIEWS' : DON POWELL from JANUARY - FEBRUARY 1979 ISSUE.
DAVE KEMP
It was a cold Saturday afternoon when we arrived at Don's plush London flat. After we had defrosted, by sitting front
of the fire and watching American football on the television, we moved to Don's dining room, and the interview commenced.
S. N. : Don, what do you think about playing the night-club dates, rather than the concert halls, when you go on the road again?
Don. : Well it's the best thing really. Because we were away for so long in the states, we couldn't really expect to go back
to the big concert halls, because we wouldn't fill them. So we went back to doing small places - we knew we could fill
those, and thus start to build ourselves up again.
S. N. : Have you made a lot of fans through the night-club dates?
Don: Well what has happened really is that certain nights there have been much older crowds, and people have come
up and said they used to follow us five years ago. They even mention certain places we played, and I don't remember
half of them: Then they have to rush off, to get back home to look after their kids:
S.N. : Which audiences would you say were the best, the Southern ones, or the Northern ones?
Don : It's hard to say really, as far as I'm concerned it's all the same. Obviously in certain areas there are different songs
the audiences like, but as far as saying which one is the best, say South or North, I don’t see how you can really answer
that.
S.N. : Are you aware though of what the audience reaction is like when you are playing?
Don: Personally myself, not really. I can't see much, and I can't hear a lot, because the guitars are so loud - but I can
maybe see a few things when the lights go up, and I can see out to the audience, otherwise I can't see anything.
S.N. : At Reading University on the last tour there was a crash barrier, and it started to collapse, and nobody seemed
to notice.
Don ; You'll find that those crash barriers cause, more problems than what they are made to stop. Even when you get bouncers down the front, if they weren't there I'm sure that there would be no problems, it's when they are there that the problems are caused, There is no particular need for them, because Nod can handle the crowd anyway:
S.N. : What happened at Porthcawl though was when Noddy told the bouncers to get lost, the fans weren't sensible
enough to stand back, and they all got on stage.
Don; That wasn't really the kids fault. Even the particular bouncer that hopped Nod one wasn't employed by the club
that night, he just took it on his own back to go down there and stand in line with the rest of them. So when Nod
cleared the bouncers out of the Way, he took offence, which is stupid, and he waited for Nod afterwards, and bopped
him.
S. N. : How did you feel about that yourself when it happened?
Don: That was weird. We were walking round backstage and this guy" came up shouting, we took no notice of him
and the next minute Nod was laying on the floor!
S.,N. : Has Nod taken any legal action at all?
Don : The bloke has been prosecuted, Nod and Chas travelled down to Porthcawl last week to press charges. He
was on line anyway for another case to be put against him.
S.N. : Have you got any plans for the next tour, any new songs?
Don : We will be doing some new ones, we started rehearsing this week, but it's mainly for new recording material.
We go into the studio next day, I think, obviously though we will be adding new material to the live show. As far as the
show goes as yet we don't know, we haven't really planned it.
S. N. : What sort of songs will be on the new album and when will it be released?
Don. : Then again I can't really say. We've got a lot of stuff recorded but I can't really say. l don't even know myself yet!
S. N. : Have you seen Jim and Louise's baby yet?
Don : No, I haven’t seen it - I bought it some liquorice-allsorts, but I just gave them to Jim, I haven't seen the nipper yet.
Oh, but on Boxing Night I went to a party at Charlie, our sound-mixer's, house, and they brought the baby along there.
It was in a carry-cot, all covered up, all I could see was two eyes, a nose and a mouth!
S. N. : Do you have any plans to have any kids then?
Don : No, not as far as I know!
S. N. : Do you plan to go abroad again soon?
Don: Believe it or not, there are some plans to go back to Poland in February. Can you imagine February in Poland,
it'll be about six foot deep in snow! I think there are some European dates planned - we've had dates in Germany and Scandinavia offered to us but they are just offers, we haven't gone into them yet and had a look to see what's what.
S. N. : What was it like in Poland when you went there last year?
Don : Great. The concerts were amazing, we did 18 shows in 21 day’s. It was really funny because a lot of them were
open-air, like in big parks. I used to stand backstage watching the kids coming in - you'd see lots of mums and dads
coming and sitting with their kids. They'd have shopping bags with them, and they'd bring out their sandwiches!
S. N. : Are you going back to America?
Don : There's no plans at the moment because we'd rather work in England and Europe.
With that relieving news in mind for all English and European fans, we decided to call the interview to a close. We made arrangements to return to Don later in the week to take photos for the next issue.
'THE SLADE NEWS INTERVIEWS : JIMMY LEA
(MARCH - APRIL 1979 ISSUE)
DAVE KEMP
We made our way backstage before the Friday Watford concert with the promise of an interview with Dave Hill.
Dave arrived to the gig late, and had to tune his guitar. As we waited Jim Lea offered to do the interview instead,
we gladly accepted and entered the dressing room. After we found some seats in the corner we asked our first
question ...
S.N. : Jim, you've played three tours in the last year, how do you rate this one, as compared to the others?
Jim : We were offered to come back to do these Baileys clubs. We didn't want to do them in the first place, but we've
returned and drawn twice as many people than the first time we appeared here. Playing here for a week, in Watford
alone, means we are going to play to 14,000 people. Whereas if we did a one-nighter at the college we would only
play to 1,000, even if it was sold out!
S.N. : What has the reaction been like on the tour?
Jim : You can't really count the reaction in this type of place, because the idea is to get over to people who wouldn't
see us normally. So if they are sitting in the audience, they don't know anything about Rock n Roll concerts - and we're
just using this gig as a gig, we're not trying to be The Three Degrees. So we bring all our PA and amplifiers in, and
do our show. People can walk out and say that it was too loud and they hated it, or they can sit there and enjoy us,
and hopefully get off on it at the end, and go and tell their mates : "I had a great time last night, I went to see Slade.”
This is obviously what has been happening, as the attendance is so much up on last time - the managers are really
freaking out!
S.N. : Is it going to be a regular thing, playing the Baileys clubs on every tour?
Jim : I don't think so. But what ever way you look at it you're playing to people. If you wanted to be a martyr to yourself }
you can go and play at the regular concert gig up the road, and play to only a thousand people, or how ever many turn up.
S.N. : What's the best club that you've played on this tour?
Jim : It depends. At Blackburn they reckoned that there were a hundred tables smashed or damaged. I mean that was
a good night!
S.N. : On to the new album. What kind of songs will be on it?
Jim : It's a mixture. It's nothing like “Whatever Happened To Slade”. I can't really say yet though, as we went into the
studios for 11 days and did 12 tracks. {The group plan to record about 20 songs in all, then choose the best 10 or 11
to put on the album)
S.N. : You seem to have returned to the old style type Slade music, rather than stay “heavy” as you were with
“Whatever Happened To Slade”. Do you think that this has worked well?
Jim : Yeah. The releases after “W.H.T.S." are the songs that got played on the radio. Like “My Baby Left Me”, which was
a near miss. But it got played on the radio - which is better than it being completely obscure isn't it?
S.N. : "Rock n Roll Bolero", which was a really catchy song, didn't do so well. Why not?
Jim : The comment on "Rock n Roll Bolero" is that it was different for Slade, but it was ordinary compared to everything
else that was going around at the time. But I really dig the record myself!
S.N. : With singles do you intend to make better B sides, as have been on the last couple of records, rather than
use the “Don't Blame Me" type time-filler kind of song?
Jim : When we come to the B sides, we don't particularly think that we have got to make a strong B side. It's just the
case of using whatever tracks are going. But we’re lucky in the way that every song we write has got something going
for it. You could say that “Don’t Blame Me” was a time-filler, I think that it was created as that. When it was used as a
B side we didn't even know it was being used, it was chosen by the offices. We were in America recording the
Christmas single, there was a rush to choose what to put on the back of it, and that track happened to be used.
S.N. : What's the reaction of the press like towards Slade now?
Jim : Well a guy came in here, after last night's show, who was from one of the music papers, and he said that he
really enjoyed the show, and that our old numbers sounded really fresh and that they could have been written yesterday.
He sat there not knowing whether to believe him, because the press always tend to put barriers up against us because
we haven't had a hit record for three years. If we get another couple of hits under our belts though that will all change.
S.N. : Sheila Prophet was different though, she liked the group.
Jim : But like you said, we have gone back to doing more of the old sort of thing, and she's into that.
You see, when
we walk on stage we can rip the arse off straight rock, but we can't do the same with "Rock n Roll Bolero". It's great
on record, but it's us thinking, it's not us being ourselves. I was talking to this bloke the other day that saw us in 1967,
and he said we were different to other groups even then. I asked him what he meant by "different", and he said that we
would play a Tamla Motown number, and it wouldn't be like the Four Tops, or whoever, doing it. He said other bands
would play this stuff and try to get it to sound like the actual record, but we were never like that. But the thing is we were
always trying to sound like the records but when we played it never came out like that. He said our music came out like
a ton of bricks, but we never intended that. It's just this thing we've got between us in the group. We were onstage during
a sound-check and Frank (Jim's brother) thought that we were rehearsing but we were only mucking around, and he was
really getting off on it.
S.N. : Do you think that you're going to make it with your next single “Ginny Come And Get It While You Can”?
Jim : It's very catchy, and we're going to make it, yeah. Our writing is returning to a more concise format. I mean songs
like "Be" are hardly concise, they're clever, but hardly the sing-along down at the pub type song.
S.N. : Why do you tend to have more male, rather than female, fans?
Jim : We've always had more male fans. Even during the height people would say we were a teeny-bop band, and also
that the Rollers and Marc Bolan were teeny-bop artists. Well it was all birds going to see the Rollers, and it was all birds
going to see Marc - but it was all mad headed blokes coming to see us, ripping the halls up!
At this point a jovial Dave Hill entered the room, making a quip that Slade had so many male fans "because they are all
queer". Jim had to leave to tune his bass guitar, so Dave sat down and gave us an extensive interview that we will print
in the next issue.
NODDY HOLDER INTERVIEW FROM SLADE NEWS ISSUE 5 - SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1979
DAVE KEMP
At Last ..... The NODDY HOLDER Interview......
We haven't been able to talk to Noddy ourselves, but due to approximately
70 letters saying “Where was the interview with Noddy that should have been in issue 4?” we have decided to print an interview that Noddy did with Maggie Norden of Capital Radio in 1976 (Slade had returned from America for a short
period to promote the “Let’s Call It Quits” single that had just been released on Polydor at that time).
M.N. Getting us off to a rocking start is Noddy Holder, back on Hullabaloo again, one of our old friends with “When
The Chips Are Down.” Who wrote this one Noddy?
Noddy: Me and Jimmy wrote it.
M.N. And where did you write it, because you are always around everywhere!
Noddy: We wrote it in America. I’ve wrote a lot of stuff while we were over there. Last year we did about 20 songs
while we were on the road, that was one of them, Lets Cal1 It Quits was one of them, and all of the new album
which will be out in a couple of weeks time we wrote over there as well.
M.N. Tell us something about the album, as I believe there is something historical about the cover.
Noddy: We did the album in New York, and we spent six weeks recording it. The album is going to be called
"Nobody' s Fools", and the picture on the front is in the same stance as we were on our very first album "Play It Loud",
but it' s sort of a picture that is six years on though.
M.N. In fact we are all very sad because you will be leaving us for an indefinite period, when are you going to
the States:
Noddy: We' re going in a couple of weeks time, we' re waiting for the date of the album release in the States, then
we’re going over to promote it and tour there.
M.N. Will you go all over the States, or are going to stay in one particular place?
Noddy: Everywhere. We don' t like staying in one place for a long time because we get a bit bored, we love going out
on the road and playing live - so we cover all the ground while we're there.
M.N. Do you have any idea why Slade, and Sweet, are doing so well in the States at the moment?
Noddy: It's difficult to say. I think that the next generation of listeners are coming up in America now. We're not getting
the radio exposure that we need to get the really big hits yet. We've got big hopes for the next album. But on live concerts
it's been really good.
There is a sort of new audience coming along now, and we've been playing with bands like ZZ
Top and Kiss, who are new groups coming up in the States at the moment - and they're pulling in a new generation,
which is great for us, as you don't have to preach to the people who are a bit blasé. This new generation of fans have
their minds wide open to listen to what's going on now.
M.N. What' s the stage act like? Do you do all the old numbers and some new ones, or just the new ones?
Noddy: It's a pretty new act over there, we still do "Gudbuy T' Jane" and "Mama Weer All Crazee", also "Get Down And
Get With It" - because they know those songs, but all the rest of the act is new stuff.
M.N. What about my favourite, "Thanks For The Memory" - is that in the act?
Noddy: Yeah, we do that sometimes, it's one of my favourites actually!
M.N. Will you be sorry saying goodbye to Britain, because it must be very nasty not knowing when you're coming back.
Noddy: It's weird. What we wanted to do was to break fresh ground and get new ideas - that's why we've been spending
so much time in America. I think that it's benefiting us as a group, and it will benefit the fans here in the long run, because
we' re going to come up with fresh ideas and fresh material. We don't like staying out of Britain, but it's a case of having
to at the moment.
M.N. Can you fill us in about the tax situation, because everyone has an opinion of the nasty tax man following you all
the way to Heathrow airport, and then you fly away and it's no longer a problem.
Noddy: It's always a problem. In our case we didn't go to America for tax reasons, we want to get new ideas, and to
tour constantly and get a new stage act together. From the tax point of view, everyone has been hit by it, It's not just
people in this business, everybody is being hit. But the problem is that all the artistic people such as groups, and film directors, only have a short lived career - when you look at it from a doctor's or lawyer's point of view. You earn a lot of
money in a short space of time, but the tax man always forgets about the years you were struggling before and never
earned any money and. the years you may be struggling later on in life. They just tax you on what you earn in that short
space of time, which isn't really fair. That's why most people are having to skip the country, nobody wants to, it's just a
case of trying to keep a little bit of the money that you have worked hard for.
M.N. Do you ever look into the future and think what you will do once you've stopped being the singer Noddy Holder
Noddy: I always want to be on stage. I always want to be involved in the business. Obviously I'm not still going to be
singing "Mama Weer All Crazee” when I'm forty - but maybe I will, I don't know. But! I don' t think that I will!
M.N. Looking back on the film "Flame", does it whet your appetite to do more film work?
Noddy: We've had offers to do more films, but that film took so long out of our career last year. In all we must have
spent 9 months on the film, 2 or 3 months shooting it, 5 weeks doing the album soundtrack, then there was all the
dubbing to be done, then we spent 3 months promoting it all over England, Scotland and Europe. It just took such a
big chunk out of our career, we didn't tour for a long time, we were not able to record for a long time, or write, and we
don't want to get in this situation again too soon.
M.N. Would you like to write your own script for another film?
Noddy: Basically with "Flame" we chipped our ideas in. The basic story was there, the screenplay writer just added
to it. That's an idea that we'll have to look into in the future, there are lots of ideas kicking around.
DAVE HILL TALKS'
An interview conducted by Dave Kemp at the Top Rank Club in Reading on 25th February 1981.
This was at the point where 'We'll bring the house down' was at number 13 in the UK singles charts.
From the March / April 1981 Slade Supporters Club magazine.
DAVE KEMP (DK)
You've just started the second part of the tour. How has it been going?
DAVE HILL (DH)
It started last Thursday and it's now Wednesday..... so we're just a week into the tour. Every night has been a sell
out. All of them being large gigs. It was really nice playing at Hanley. I don't think we've done Hanley since we were
last in the top 20, about six years ago. It was a magic night on account of that, because there were a lot of old fans
turned up there, and a heck of a lot of new ones once again!
After that we did the Newcastle Mayfair and Sunderland.... excellent gigs. The Newcastle Mayfair was especially
excellent as it's mainly a hard rock audience with leather coats and all the bit!
We had a funny incident on stage there that had never happened before, where a group of birds got up with us and
started looning about, dancing and swinging their heads. It was at the end of the show, when we do 'I'm a rocker'
and 'Whole lotta lovin'. Jim was at one side of the drum riser and I was on the other. This chick got up and put her
two hands on Jim's knee and started swinging her head like an old-fashioned gogo dancer!
It looked hilarious, in actual fact it looked like we'd paid someone to do it! They were pretty gropey type birds and it
looked great during 'Whole lotta lovin', as one was holding onto Nod!
What have the crowds been like then, more heavy metal?
Yeah it seems like it's getting more that way. But it depends on where you play. If you play in a town hall you tend to
get a mixed audience, but if you play clubs, like the Newcastle Mayfair, you tend to get hard-rockish crowds.
To sum up the tour, I would say that more than 50% of the crowds would be into heavy music and the rest would be
mixed.
Will you keep playing the Universities now?
It seems like we are caught in them at the moment, as they were booked some time ago. Also you've got to look
at it like this; why should we ignore them now, when they were the ones that were giving us work when we were
down the nick?
Admittedly, we had to work at it though, because when we first asked for bookings from them, they weren't all going
to have us straight away because they wanted to see us. And once they had done, and we'd been through that trip,
they had us back.
We have had a heck of a lot of dates come through for later in the year, which we are now having to consider. The
group's personal plans at the moment are that we want to finish this tour, take a week or more off and then go in
the studio and record a new lot of material. Then on the next tour we can start changing the act. We have stuck to
the same act for the moment on account of the new people that are coming to see us, who have never seen the
act anyway.
I know that it must be boring for old fans, who have seen the same act so many times. But hopefully they will see
our point of view, which I'm sure they will, that the new fans that are giving us that success, have got to see the act
the way it is - and the way that the old fans have been seeing it.
We are quite looking forward to changing the whole situation after this tour. We're not going to change the whole
act... just get a few new numbers in. We'll have to drop some old songs and there'll always be some die-hard fans
saying 'What have you dropped that for? It was the best number in the act!' It was like when we dropped 'Hear me
calling', we got loads of people saying 'What have you done that for?', but they don't mention it now!
For me, I'd love to keep changing things, but if you change them too quickly, it's like batting an eyelid - as a bunch of
people could have totally missed it.
What's it like with your wife just having a new son before you had to start out on the road again?
It's been a bit of a pressure really. It'snice having a son and all that - after all that's what every bloke wants, someone
to follow on. It seems you are working for something more then. All in all it's a bit of pressure that I could have done
without. I would have preferred my son to be born after the tour.
What name are you going to call your son?
Well, it's very difficult, this. At the moment it keeps going in the press that it's going to be called Sammy. We haven't
finalised the thing though, but there's been a strong reaction for that name! That is, unless I can come up with
something better over the next three days......... which if I do, I'll let you know!
You've been talking of some more concert dates. When will they be set for?
Well, we've got a gig booked already. It's on May 31st and it's the Wolverhampton Fiesta. The Fiesta is part of a Wolverhampton Festival. At the big open-air show, there'll be us playing, with a few bands supporting us. It will be a
one-off siuation, but we will want to do one or two warm-up gigs before it.
Now that you've made it in Britain again, how about trying to make it in Europe and get the record released?
It's got to follow on. What we suffer from at the moment is that we haven't sorted out a record deal abroad. There's
only Belgium where we have actually got something sorted out - and we have had a bit of success there already,
as you know. I think over the next few weeks, we have got to be very seriously sorting something out for Europe.
I mean, we want to be big as far away as Australia, as we used to be. We want to get everything sussed out there.
I'd love to go back there for a couple of weeks for a short tour, just to re-kindle the fire. It would need a lot of finance though...........
You've got a new album coming out soon called 'We'll bring the house down. It's going to have some old numbers
on it, isn't it?
Obviously a lot of the fans that have bought 'Return to base', 'Six of the best' and one or two other things - they are
going to have a lot of this material. But it is a compilation LP of a lot of the material that we have recorded over the
last 18 months, which as the fans know, the majority of the public have never even heard. It's really for the benefit
of the new fans that are coming along and who are in the fan club and have none of the old material.
It won't be the same as 'Return to base' as it will have a lot of the tracks pulled out and other numbers such as 'Dizzy
mama' and 'Night starvation' and 'When I'm dancin' added, making up a more rocky album. It will basically consist of
the live act at the moment, so anyone who's into the live act should like the album. But for the benefit of the old fans,
new material is in the pipeline. After this tour we shall be making a new single and a new album.
Will they be released to go with the May dates?
Yes they should be... if not the they will be out for the Autumn tour. We are going to try to plan the singles. We don't want
to be wham-bamming them out like something stupid. We want to actually bring out numbers that we really like as
singles. We don't want to be throwing them out right on the door of the last one.
So how does it feel to be 'back on the map' again, now that the single is in the chart?
It's funny really, but we still think we're striving. People are coming up to us and saying great things, which is nice,
but the reality of the group is that we don't sit on that pedestal. We always still think that there is a lot more that we've
got to do. We don't think that we're home and dry! we seem to be looked upon as though we are, and we seem to be
becoming prett big. But from the point of view of the fans, we will never be above the level of talking to them. we'll
never be above any of that, because we're still the same as when they were coming to see us at the flea pits and the
clubs.
You've got the hit though, but nothing seems to have changed...
Nothing has changed at all! The only thing that is different is the way people deal towards us. I don't mean the record company people - it's the press and others who we get a different kind of feeling from now.
How did you enjoy doing Tiswas?
It was alright. I avoided the pies! We had the chance to do the show and get the video shown, so we did it.
Will you be making more videos for the TV from now on?
We want to do videos, but it still all lies in the hands of what the TV companies want. If we get another single out,
Top of the Pops may still want us appearing on the show live again, rather than showiing the video. Anyway, I thought
that the Top of the Pops performance that we did live was good anyway. The reaction to it was that we were fresh air
to the show.
Jim Lea (chipping in)
I never thought I'd hear the day when we were described as fresh air!!
A NODDY HOLDER INTERVIEW with Dave Kemp, from the Slade Supporters Club's November / December 1981
newsletter, in which he gets very, very enthusiastic (AND WHY NOT!!!) about their then new album 'Til deaf do us
part'.
Dave : Nod, could you go through the running order of the tracks on the new album and tell us what some of the
numbers are about?
NOD : The album’s going to be called Till Deaf Do Us Part and we have spent the last month recording it. We’ve
based all the tracks around the title, so that they’ve all got a tongue-in-cheek religious feel about them.
The opener on the album is The Rock ‘n’ Roll Preacher. It features some of the gimmick things that we do onstage
already, with lots of hallelujah’s. Then we go into Lock Up Your Daughters, which is the current single.
Then the next track is Till Deaf Do Us Part and that’s all about concerts and what the crowds get up to. There’s lines
in it like – Hanging from the ceiling, the balconies are gonna break – and other lines that depict what the crowds do
at gigs.
The next song is called Ruby Red. It’s a number that we’ve had around for a long time. Me and Jim wrote it maybe
two or three years ago. We tried to record it before but we never managed to get it down how we actually wanted it.
We recorded it here first when Chas was producing us. Then, recently, when we were looking through the songs that
we’d got for the album, we remembered that we’d never been able to get Ruby Red down on tape properly, but that it
was a good, strong, commercial sound. So we added some new riffs to it and got it down and it’s a good commercial
song. It might be in line for the next single.
After Ruby Red there’s a track called She Brings Out The Devil In Me, which is all dead filth! It’s a song about a block
and a chick…. And that’s the end of the first side.
The second side opens with A Night to Remember, which is an out-and-out rock track, in the Dizzy Mama vein. It’s all
solid rock riffs and a bit of a boogie number. We’ll be doing this one onstage for sure. It’s a number about a guy waiting
to see his chick again – there’s no real story to it, it’s basically a quickly knocked off thing with rock riffs and a good beat
to it.
The next track is an instrumental piece that Dave wrote called M’hat M’coat, which is dedicated to his guru! It’s an eerie number with all guitars and synthesisers on it.
Then there’s It’s Your Body Not Your Mind – all about a schoolgirl! It’s got all double meanings about things at school.
Let the Rock Roll Outa Control comes next. This is all about audiences, the punters who come to the gigs and the stageshow type gigs.
The next track is That Was No Lady, That Was My Wife. It’s about all the Flash Harrys that go down the discos – a type of ’oldest swinger in town’ thing. This one is especially based around Haden Donovan!
Then the last track is Knuckle Sandwich Nancy. But we go into a little piece again of Till Deaf Do Us Part, which is the
running theme through the whole of the album.
Dave : In recording the album, did you use any different techniques, as the single out at the moment has a different
style to it?
NOD : We’ve used a lot of organ on the album, which is used on the single as well. That’s basically the only difference.
We think that it’s a much better sound than we’ve ever had before. It’s a solid rock album from start to finish, except
for the instrumental piece – which is a slowish theme, but all the others are fast and solid rock. There’s no acoustic
rock on the album like songs such as Don’t Waste Your Time and Sign of the Times, which we have had on previous
LPs.
Dave : Have any dates been added to the tour?
NOD: The tour now starts on December 3rd. We’ll be doing three warm-up dates at West Runton, Loughborough
and Keele – then we start the tour proper at Sheffield Lyceum. We’ve now had to pull out from the Lancaster University
gig because Princess Alexandra is going there that day to give out diplomas and they need to use the hall that we are supposed to be playing in, so we’ve added a date in Edinburgh which is the only Scottish gig that we have been able
to fit in.
Dave : How many new songs are you hoping to bring in on the tour?
NOD : We’re hoping to bring four or five in, but we haven’t decided yet. There will be some changes though – we’re
going to have a new lighting rig.
Dave : How are things going abroad at the moment?
NOD : We’ve just done a TV show in Holland. The record is just breaking over there. It has come in the charts at
number 50, after one week of release. The TV show that we’ve been on is the biggest pop show out there so the
record company are hoping that it will jump up next week.
Dave : Will the latest single be released in Scandinavia?
NOD : Yes – it should be coming out there in a couple of weeks and in Germany too. We’ve got to go back to Germany to record an insert for Lock Up Your Daughters for the Christmas edition of the Music Laden show. That’ll be in November.
The rest of the month will be spent on rehearsing for the tour and promotion of the new album. I’m doing Round Table
next Friday from Bristol.
Dave : How about next year, have you made plans that far ahead yet?
NOD : We haven’t made any definite plans yet. We’re now getting in some offers to go to America and Australia.
But we’re hoping that the first thing we can do early next year is go on a European tour, visiting Germany and Holland.
We’ll go to America to do a short tour if we can get a record deal out there and get the album released.
Dave : How did you come up with the title of the album Till Deaf Do Us Part?
NOD : It came about because everyone always says how loud we are. We based the album around volume, all
the tracks are rock and it is a loud album. The track Till Deaf Do Us Part is all about bending your ear and being
deafened.
Dave : Can you tell us any more about the split with Chas?
NOD : Basically, the reason that we split with Chas was because he could no longer give us any more of his
experience – everything that he had to teach us we’d learnt over the number of years that we were with him.
Plus, we decided that we’ve got to start doing things for ourselves; going and meeting the record company
people and getting our own ideas across as to how we want things done. The only way to get our own ideas
across is by doing it ourselves – as every time that you go through a third party your ideas get changed a bit.
By the direct link that we now have we get our ideas done as near as damn it to the way we want. Have you seen
the new album cover?
Dave : I saw it the other day.
NOD : Well, the emblem on the front cover is going to be used for our merchandise on the tour.
Dave : When you compose a song how do you actually go about doing it?
NOD : It varies from song to song. With most of the songs Jim tends to have a bench of chorus melodies. I’ll go
over to his place and we’ll sort out which choruses fit together best with the verses that we have. We’ll work out
which songs need a middle eight or not. Then I’ll go away and work out the lyrics for each song. Next we’ll get
together again, sift through the numbers and often change them around a little – sometimes we’ll just totally scrap
ones that don’t work, but use choruses from them on new songs that we might be working on. There’s no said
pattern, but most of the composition works like that.
Dave : How do you remember parts of songs when you work on them?
NOD : With the lyrics. If I get a line for a song in my head or a title for the number, I’ll write it down straightaway in a
book. But with the melodies we put these down on tape. Then, when I try to write the lyrics the idea is that I play
back the tapes and try and fit my lyrics in with the melodies. Sometimes this comes dead easy, but other times it
is really difficult. If you have a complicated melody, it’s harder to get the lyrics – as they have to roll off the tongue
and fit into the awkward timing. Your hook lines have to be memorable too, so that they stick in the audience’s mind.
How we worked out the songs for the new album was by all the group rehearsing them in stages. We’d rehearse
two or three songs at a time in Wolverhampton then come down to London and record them – rather than record
twelve all in one go. Thus, as we record the numbers, if we feel that one or two of them don’t fit in with the mood
of the album, then we put them to one side and leave them for a later date. Next, we’ll sometimes whip up a couple
of numbers quickly that do fit in with the mood of the album, and record them.
With this album, therefore, we have recorded about twelve tracks, not all of which will be used. We’ve got a few
songs floating about that we’ve recorded but never put out. The time comes though when, as with Ruby Red,
which we basically recorded yonks ago, that we hit on the right arrangements for the numbers and they now fit
the group’s style and we can record them again.
Dave : Do you ever record any numbers spontaneously in the studio?
NOD : Yes, we have done. I’m a Rocker was like that. We’d been tatting about with it at rehearsals for some time,
then once when we’d got into the studio about 10 o’clock at night, after being over at the pub, and we put it down
with just us playing the number and me singing it, and it turned into a really good song.
There’s a song on the new album called She Brings Out the Devil in Me, which just came out of a lick that we used
to jam at sound checks. I put a melody and words to it, and we have a song. Dizzy Mama came about the same way. Sometimes things that you jam at sound checks have a natural feel to them and they go down well on record. Often
things that rise like this go down better than when you sit down and try and write a song – maybe it’s better to just let
them come naturally on occasions.
Dave : Would you like Flame shown on TV soon?
NOD : We’ve been talking about having Flame shown for ages. The film cannot be shown on Tv till five years after it
has been released, by law. This would make the first possible time that the film could get shown 1980. It’s only in
the last year that we have crossed that five year barrier and we have started to consider it being shown.
Dave : Do you think that the film being shown would give you the right sort of image nowadays?
NOD : I don’t think it would. You’ve got to be very careful with things like this. We filmed the movie some six years ago
and it may not be the right thing for it to come on the television now – as it doesn’t really fit in with what the band are
doing at the moment. For our image I don’t think the film being shown would do it much good. But you never know,
films on TV are a different kettle of fish. We’d be getting people watching it of all ages, and from all walks of life – and
to them it would be just a film on telly. It would be like seeing Hard Days Night at Christmas – as you don’t think that
bears any relation to what the Beatles are doing now. It’s just a piece of nostalgia – hopefully they would take our film
like that.
Dave : Did you see the letter in Record Mirror the other week from the bloke saying that over the last few years he’d
bought all the Slade releases – but he’d only received a few new songs as you had duplicated lots of the numbers
on different albums and singles?
NOD : I saw it. The material that we have been using for B-sides and things has been the numbers we released
when we weren’t getting hits. You have got to remember that the number of copies that these records sold was
negligible. They would only sell one or two thousand copies here or there. We released things like Sign of the
Times as an A-side single but it was withdrawn after only a week as we decided that we didn’t want it out as most
of the radio stations refused to play it. It only sold a few hundred copies. People that didn’t buy that single or the
Return To Base album, which only sold a couple of thousand would never have heard that song. That is the reason
that we decided to put it out a the B-side of the current single With the Reading EP we decided to put on things like
When I’m Dancin’ and Night Starvation simply because loads of people had never heard these songs before – they
were only previously ever released on the Six of the Best record which did nothing at all when it came out. After we
played Reading and we have the radio broadcast, everyone was saying for us to release a live EP of the show –
which we did. Anybody who had bought the Six of the Best record wouldn’t have had live versions of those records!
Also, when we had We’ll Bring the House Down in the charts and we started playing really big gigs again and getting
over to a new audience, we released the We’ll Bring the House Down LP which was a compilation of numbers we’d
released in the past couple of years. The reason that it charted was because the album contained all the numbers
from our stage set and the new fans wanted these, so they bought it. They couldn’t have bought the old records they
were released on because they were no longer available!
We can’t win. When we put some of the old numbers out as B-sides on the We’ll Bring the House Down album the
old fans complain that they’ve already got these songs. If we don’t do this we get letter of complaint from the new fans
saying they can’t get hold of the old material! Look at how many letters you’ve had at the fan club from new fans says
‘where can I get hold of such and such a track?’. They can’t get hold of them anywhere unless we put them out as
B-sides to our new songs!
The B-side of the next single that we bring out will be a new song and won’t be pulled from the album. The track’s
going to be Funk, Punk and Junk. It’s a track that we left off the album because it’s just not the same style of material
as the album tracks.
There’s been lots of our old material that has been bypassed though. There’s numbers like Burning in the Heat,
Give Us a Goal and Rock ‘n’ Roll Bolero that we haven’t put out again.
All our career we’ve had people complaining to us telling us that we’ve been putting out the wrong material. I remember
you complaining to us that we shouldn’t have put Dizzy Mama as a B-side and that I should’ve been a single!
In the end we’ve decided that we can never win. We’ve decided to make our own decisions and hopefully at the
end of the day these will be the ones that will please the most amount of people!
INTERVIEW WITH DAVE HILL (conducted by Trevor Slaughter and Jenny Gamble) FROM THE MARCH - MAY
1986 ISSUE OF 'PERCY'
We recently met Dave Hill at some recording studios in Birmingham, where he was putting the final touches
to some demos that he will be putting forward for consideration on the next Slade LP.
"M'hat M'coat was the only track I have ever had on a Slade album. I have never really pushed myself, or pushed
anything forward, 'cos Nod and Jim write such excellent songs. It was 'M'hat M'coat' that stimulated me to write
more things, because the fans had said that they liked it and that I ought to write more. If I hadn't had any reaction
to that tune, I would never have written another thing, 'cos I wouldn't have had the confidence."
We asked Dave why he is using this 16-track studio in Birmingham, as opposed to Portland?
"I felt I could come here and try what I wanted to try, without any scrutinising. I find that when you work with a syndrome
of people for years and years, they know you so well that you are unlikely to do or try certain things."
"I recently spoke to Nod and said 'Do you fancy doing one of my songs, just for the heck of it?' So I decided to get Nod
over here one day, and we had a jam round the piano, and it was a bit of fun. I then said 'Let's go into Bob's studio and
we'll put it down."
We discussed with Dave a little about exactly what a demo is, and how it differs from what we hear on vinyl.
"Basically, a demo is a rough copy, or a rough mix of something which might, or might not get used. It is not the same
quality as the fiinished product, but it will give an indication of a tune. On the back the 12" version of 'Myzsterious Myzster
Jones', we put the demo version of 'My oh my' It's Nod singing with the piano, isn't it? Nod sang it real good and that told
RCA what the song was like. What I've being doing here has been done on a Linn drum. Don came up and pushed a few
buttons to let the drum beat go. Nod sang over the top of that. I played the guitars and that was basically the tune."
Where does Dave get his ideas from and has he ever considered doing a solo album of his own?
"I am going to do a solo album. That will probably be done here as the basic thing. I use a girl singer, who I found years
ago when Nod and all of us started up. She has got a very powerful voice and also has a weird range as well. I am
possibly going to try her on this stuff I have done with Nod."
"You see, I like a lot of strange music - like Sade or Lionel Ritchie. I am probably the one to write a jazz tune, which
wouldn't be used in Slade, but would be used in my own venture."
When the Slade LP comes out, Dave is hoping to have one of his songs on it, or maybe two.
"Jim and Nod are in Portland over the next two weeks preparing demos for about eight of their own songs. I have
now done four. It's a situation of 'carry on, Nod and Jim, but try this too, 'cos it might add something to the album to
make it that bit different'."
Slade have now been off the road for the past few years, so we asked Dave how he feels about this situation.
"Nothing would make me happier than to walk on stage and play 'Mama weer all crazee now' right now. It's 'cos I
want to play it and because I want to hear it again. I think if we go on stage again, we'd be vibrant. It would be a new
show. I think we need a new show. I think we should get together all the hits and whatever new stuff we have and get
out there and do it, just for the heck of it - for this year. What I say to all the fans out there is : 'we've got some new stuff,
we'll have a new LP out later this year, so let's pull those waysiders back in and go in with some action'. Crikey. If we
ain't on the road in a year's time, I'm going to be complaining personally to the others, 'cos I think it's wrong. I am
obviously going to be pushing for a tour. . . "
We enquired about how much disruption a tour would cause to Dave's family life.
"Nobody wants to live out of a suitcase, but a four or five week tour is nothing. I wouldn't mind it at all. It's like a drop
in the ocean. The family would put up with that. I mean, it's not that I would be strictly away from home all that much.
I would probably be drifting back. America is the problem for me, because I've got three kids. If you've seen them,
you'd know what I'd be missing. It's difficult, but nothing's perfect, is it?"
Things have been fairly quiet recently, for Slade. We asked Dave if he could explain why he thinks this is.
"To sort of put things in perspective, there is a lull in the band. Nothing to be concerned about, 'cos there has always
been lulls. There was a struggling lull, although we were touring - in the late seventies - nobody wanted to know us
except the fans who remained loyal to us. What we are seeing now is a lack of a 'single' success. Over the last year
there hasn't been a hit. The last hit was 'All join hands'. I suspect a certain 'too much connection to Christmas' with us.
I suspect that it might be nice to avoid that, certainly at the end of this year - and let 'Merry Xmas Everybody' take up
on its own role, as it does every year.
"We had a lull between 'Lock up your daughters' and 'My oh my', didn't we? So we've seen the lull before. I think it is
a bit more quiet because of the lack of touring."
Dave has always been fond of the fans and is often heard making mention of them in the various interviews
he does.
"I've always mentioned the fans, because I feel concern about the people who follow us. The fans like us to be
successful and although we ain't touring it doesn't matter to them for as long as they can see us. That's what a
fan is, isn't it? You know there is no one person who doesn't care about the fans. It's one big happy family."
We eventually started talking about the Reading Festival in 1980, which marked the turning point in Slade's
fortunes. It must have been a great experience for Dave that day . .
"One heck of an experience, 'cos I wasn't going to do that gig. Chas Chandler talked me into it, which I will always
say was one of the best things he ever did for me. I thought we were going to get booed off, and I was any way
getting involved with this wedding business. I remember Tommy Vance came into the dressing room and said
'You're going to go down great'. We said, 'Well we hope to do OK', 'cos we're not the sort of band that pre-judges
things, although we do have an inner confidence in ourselves."
"We walked on stage and there was this roar from the crowd. I thought 'that's pretty good'. Anyway, we went into
the first number (Dizzy Mama) and I could see the reporters looking at us. I was dreading the end of the first number,
as that is the point at which we can usually tell how a show is going to go. As it happens, I think we went straight into
'My baby left me', so we didn't really wait or a reaction. The confidence came when there was a reaction, as it built and
built, sort of got bigger and bigger. I mean getting that lot to sing 'Merry Xmas' was like, amazing. I could see Chas at
the side grinning. Tommy Vance played the recording of Slade at Reading the other week and I thought that was great.
I got excited listening to that. I was lying in bed listening to it and going 'crikey, there's bits out of tune, there's bits of
fun and it sounds great'. I took my mind into Reading and imagined us playing"
Many fans have written in asking whether Slade will produce a video of one of their concerts one day. What
does Dave think of the idea?
"I'd like for NOBODY to have a video of us live, 'cos I think there is something special about us live, so it should
never be on tape. It should always remain that way. I mean I'll probably be ruled out on that. Maybe if we pack up,
there ought to be a video of the last show for the fans to keep. At this moment, as we haven't stopped touring,
I feel we should keep our live show off video and make the night the night."
As Slade are now working on a new album, we thought we'd talk a little bit about the 'Rogues Gallery album'
and what Dave could remember about the making of it.
"There were very mixed opinions of the last album, from 'I like it' to 'I don't like it' - very, very bizarre. I personally
think it lacked something. I mean it was a good sounding LP, but maybe it had a bit too much quality. I think it
lacked a certain amount of soul, or maybe guts. It wasn't a particularly enjoyable event for me personally. That
wasn't anybody's particular fault in the band, it was just the process of things. Maybe it took too long. Perhaps it
should have been much easier.
"I enjoyed making the tracks for 'Crackers' a lot more than those for 'Rogues Gallery'. The basic tracks for 'Crackers
were done in Portland which is sort of a 'beer and skittles' place - sort of 'pint of beer and then record the next number'.
It is hardly the big scene, like Air or the other places. Jim likes Portland a lot and tends to do a lot of his own stuff there.
He's got the place sussed. I think that maybe too many of the songs on 'Rogues Gallery' sounded like pop hits, so the
album began to lean too much to being regarded as a sort of 'poppy' album, and there is nothing worse than that for me."
A few years ago, Dave got involved with driving a couple of brides to their wedding, which was an event organised
by Keith Altham. Many of you will have seen the photos of this in the various newspapers which covered it. Did
Dave think (on that day) that he could have been doing that as a full time job if the Reading Festival hadn't been
offered to Slade in 1980?
"No I didn't actually. I was just thinking what a laugh it was. I'd just bought this top hat and that white suit that I was
going to use for 'All join hands'. I was looking like some bizarre bloke out of a circus, driving a Rolls Royce and
these silly guys were getting off on it. I was just enjoying being 'the silly Dave Hill' for that moment in time."
It seems that Dave always lives this sort of lifestyle, whereby one minute he is Dave Hill, 'the pop star' and the
next he is Dave Hill, the family man.
"Yeah, that's right. I could be changing the baby's nappy one day or doing the washing up, and then I could be
putting my hat on and being me. I have a bizarre life like that. I have a life of extremes. . . one thing goes to another.
I do like being Dave Hill, but I have to control the ego - apart from when I walk on stage and I know what I'm doing.
I try not to have any ego whatsoever when I'm out with people. I try to make people feel at home with me. I like to go
down to the pub occasionally and have a drink without being hassled."
"As a person, I like Wordsworth's poetry. I am deep thinking about a lot of things, but nobody knows these things
about me, because hey only see me as this bloke who plays lead guitar. They just see this bloke onstage who is
very flash, very cocky and thinks he's a right clever- dick. In fact I think I'm not that smart, but I do know how to put a
smile on a person's face. That's something I've used ever since I knew I'd got it. When I walked onstage with my
very first group, who were called The Young Ones, after the Cliff Richard film, I grinned at an audience and I found
that I'd got something which I never knew I'd got."
"I also do jogging quite a lot, which is something I find quite stimulating. I just go over the fields and get a sweat
going. I think it reminds me of when I'm playing, 'cos when you're on stage you get extreme temperatures of heat.
You sweat a lot, you jump up and down, you come off and you feel wonderful - because, therapeutically, you've had
an audience going bananas, as most of our audiences do. You know, I think I can honestly say that, even during the
rough years, we have never had a duff night in our lives. We have always gone out and done the business."
The interview continued, with a leaning towards finding out more about 1975 and the 'Flame' film era :
Slade's first single in 1975 was 'How does it feel' and was the title track [Played over the intro] of the film 'Flame'. Although the single only reached #15 in the UK charts, it was totally different to anything they had done previously
and seemed to be a pointer towards some of what Slade have recorded subsequently. . .
"Yeah, it was. But, you see we were capable of that sort of thing before, though Chas used to keep us clear from that.
Keeping the stimulus of the right type of music for the right people. Trying to be 'too clever' was considered at the time
to be going in another direction. Whether it has helped us in the long run is questionable. We were maybe cleverer
in those early years, which could have introduced us to new things. But it never happened, apart from 'how does it feel'. 'Nobody's Fools' was a bit different wasn't it? That was recorded in America, but it didn't happen over there."
We asked Dave about what he would say to the new fans who are trying to imagine what was happening with
Slade in a particular year?
"From the point of view of the new people looking into us, they can get a gist of a lot of it by listening to the old
stuff. If they can think along the lines of 'a lot of the songs were written on the audiences flavouring'. 'Cum on
feel the noize' was based around audiences and things that were happening to us. 'Far far away' was written
about being abroad, wasn't it? 'Yellow lights go down the Mississippi' and all that, being in the States and wanting
to come home. They were just experiences. Obviously, when you're on the road, you are writing about being on the
road. You're writing about what's going on."
We enquired as to whether 'How does it feel' was written with the idea in mind that it would ultimately become
the title track of the movie?
"No, it was just a coincidence really. It was already written and it just happened to fit in with the film. It wasn't a huge
hit, unfortunately, but I thought it was a good idea."
Slade did a farewell type of tour in 1975, just before they went to America. Radio One followed part of this tour
as an 'Insight Special' [broadcast in two one hour parts - one part documentary, one part a live concert from
The Victoria theatre in London]. We asked Dave what he could remember of this tour.
"I think we were swanning around in the black Rolls, as I remember. No, I don't remember a fat lot about it. It was
Stuart Grundy who did that Insight special, wasn't it? Gosh, he's got some weird stuff on me! I hope he never puts
that out! It was in the days of me getting smashed in the car. I remember one day, when I was sitting in the front
of the car, yapping away like nobody's business . . . and he was recording it all! I think I was talking about my
school days. That's a story on its own, that is. Of course he was saying 'Oh, it's wonderful stuff' and I thought
'Oh no he's probably got all that on tape, later released when I'm an old man or something!"
Slade have always said that on looking back at the experience of making and promoting 'Flame' that it seems
to represent 'a big hole' in their career. We asked Dave what he thought of the idea of making another movie.
"I think if we did another one it would be different anyway. If we do a tour and get another album away . . . If things
work out this time, we would probably have time to do another film. I'd like to do something extremely funny. We
were in fact offered one about a year ago with the late Leonard Rossiter. It didn't come off because they didn't get
the money together. The parts in it were great. They actually wanted an older group to play the part. It was a spy film
with Ronnie Corbett in it. It was really funny. I fancied it, though it didn't come off. You never know it might crop up again."
Slade also brought out 'Thanks for the memory' as a single in 1975, which was followed up by another single
called 'In for a penny', which was from their forthcoming album 'Nobody's fools'.
"Yeah. That seemed a mistake! When we came back and released that, I think a lot of fans were disappointed,
though I personally liked the track. They thought we'd come back with something heavy, so it may have seemed
lightweight to them. It was recorded at The Record Plant in New York as part of the 'Nobody's fools' / America project."
The 'Nobody's fools' album was released eventually in March 1976 and coincided with the release of the track
'Nobody's fool' as a single. The album featured female backing vocals that were supplied by Tasha Thomas.
Did Dave think that this had anything to do with the fact that the album only reached #14 in the UK charts (a
total flop by Slade's standards at the time)?
"Yeah. I think that had a bit of a negative vibe with some of the fans. I think they didn't like women singing on our
records. As much as we were enjoying the idea, it had a bit of a negative response. We quite liked the sound of
some of the black singers over there, you see. When you're successful, people pick on things."
We wondered whether Dave felt that in 1975, the band were beginning to lose control of their own destiny;
that they were beginning o be channelled into what Chas and Polydor thought Slade were, rather than what
the band thought?
"Well, I think Chas always had ideas and discussed them with us. Some things needed decisions made on them,
or had to be channelled, otherwise you do nothing. Some of the decisions I remember thinking were pretty naff.
I think it was all part of the process of the group."
NODDY HOLDER INTERVIEW CONDUCTED IN LONDON 5th JUNE 1986
by Trevor Slaughter and Paul Lythe - FROM THE JUNE - AUGUST 1986 EDITION OF PERCY.
We recently met Noddy Holder at the hotel in London he uses when Slade are recording, Nod having spent
the past few days laying down some new tracks for the next Slade LP. The band are currently using Readan
Recording Studios, so we thought we'd ask Nod if he could explain the change from Portland?
"As far as I know, the doors are closed at Portland. We'd just arrived there one morning to find the bailiffs clearing
out all the equipment, including ours. They thought ours was studio gear, so we had to send for Mick to come down
and get our gear out. For the time being we are using Readan studios, where we are now finishing off the first six tracks."
Over the past few years there have been several changes on the production side of Slade's recordings.
We enquired about who will be producing this current batch of songs?
"Well at the moment Jim is producing the album, but we haven't started on the singles material yet because
RCA want us to get a producer in for them. We have sent out the demos to five or six producers, but we haven't
heard anything definite back from any of them yet. We have been waiting for weeks now for answers, but some
of those producers are already working. We'll have to see how these first six turn out and go from there."
We enquired about whether the LP is expected to be released in the USA?
"We are still under contract to CBS in the States and were in fact due to deliver this LP on December 31st. If we
hadn't done the 'Crackers' album, then this LP would probably have been delivered on time. They have got the
option on the 'Crackers' material, like 'Let's dance', but that is not the sort of material that is likely to be released
out there."
Many of you have written to us, saying that a particular album track would make a good single, so we thought
we'd ask Nod how much say the band have on record releases?
"Well, basically we are under contract to deliver so many albums in a certain period of time. On average, we have
to do about one album per year. We can put our ideas to the record company, and they'll tell us why we shouldn't
do a certain thing, like why we shouldn't release a single straight away. We weigh up the pros and cons and either
agree or disagree with them. For example, we all felt that there should have been a single out on the back of 'Run
runaway'. The album 'The amazing Kamikaze syndrome' was our first big success in America, it was top 5 all over
Europe and no 1 in Scandinavia for months. Britain was the only place it wasn't a big album. We could have,
theoretically, had another single off it. It would have been a hit. There was plenty of good stuff on that album."
"It's no good us going in and insisting that we want a new single out, because if you know they're not keen on it,
they're not going to push it. I used to go up there myself for four years between the time we split with Chas and
when Colin took over our business affairs. I was virtually managing the band for four years and had to go up there
and go though all this crap. I had to argue with them week after week, saying these things to them. I mean it's not
just us - every artist has the same problem. If I had the choice, 'Walking on water' would have been released as a
single between 'Myzster Jones' and 'Miracles', but I was the only one who thought so. RCA and the other band
members weren't keen, so obviously it didn't get released. Everybody I spoke to on the streets loved that bloody
song, and felt that it should have been the single."
We asked Nod if he could tell us a little bit more about this latest batch of recordings?
"It will be a mixed bag of songs by the time they're finished. This time we've got to choose from the biggest
selection of songs we've ever had. Me and Jim have probably put 16 or 17 demos alone on new songs and
Dave's put 4 forward, so we're talking 20 - 21 songs to choose from for this album. It's going to be a hard job
to choose which ones to do and which not to do. All the stuff will eventually be recorded and used. With the thing
of 12" singles today you have to put extra tracks on, so we'd rather keep some in hand, so we're not taking b-sides
off the album. I am not saying that we have 21 amazing songs or 21 hit singles, but we like them all."
When does Nod expect another Slade record to be released?
"I can't see the album getting released until September or October. Hopefully we'll have a single out before
then though. We've got 5 or 6 tracks that are possible singles which we haven't even started recording yet."
We asked Nod if he would be prepared to describe a few of the songs as a taster of what to expect?
"I think it would be better if we wait until we decide which are going to be the singles and what's going to go
on the album. I might be describing three tracks now that might not end up on it. There's rockers, there's
mid-tempo, there's poppy types and a couple of really good ballads. I mean, there's one really strong ballad
that everybody from the record company down thinks is a great song and is a possible future single. Everybody
likes that one."
We asked Nod if he would tell us more about the 'Knights and Emeralds' songs?
"Well, they have already been completed and delivered to the film people. They might be on the album as well.
They'll definitely be on the soundtrack album of the movie, which is out in September. They have already had
three preview showings of the film around the country with the music in, and an audience reaction questionnaire
was completed. They phoned and told us a couple of weeks ago that the slower song, 'We won't give in' has
effectively been voted the best song of the movie. That track will be used over the end of the film. The other
track, which is a rocker called 'Wild wild party', will be played on the jukebox in a sort of 'disco in a working
men's club' scene. It's a real party record - a big stomping rocker. The film is in fact set in Wolverhampton
and the Midlands, which we never realised until we went to see the film. All the areas were around where we
were born. The band as such do not appear in the film."
With the new album coming out in the Autumn, we wondered whether Slade had any plans to promote
it with any live work?
"I don't know. I really can't answer that. I suppose you do know it is basically me that won't go on tour. There
are lots of reasons for it, mainly of a personal nature. It's nothing to do with my voice or confidence, or anything
like that. I understand that everybody is thinking that about me. I should have taken a break from touring two
years earlier and it would have probably saved my marriage and a lot of other things. It didn't and I left it too late."
"You know, it's not a case of me not wanting to do it. It's just that with my present circumstances, I've got to put
my priorities in the right order now. I've given the band 20 years of priority and now I can't. I've got to give my
kids priority because I don't see them that often. It was unfortunate that it happened at a time when we'd had a
big flush of success with 'My oh my' and 'Run runaway' I can't say that there will definitely be a tour before the
end of the year, and I can't say that there won't. My attitude might change in a couple of months time and I might
say 'Let's go and do it'. I'm just leaving my options open. There's no way anyway that Slade can go on the road
at the moment because of our recording commitments."
(The Percy Editor then invited fans to write in to give Nod reasons why the band should tour. We all now
know they didn't work)
There appears to have been some confusion over the last few Slade tours, especially the European tour
(Autumn 1984) and the UK tour (Spring 1985), both of which were originally planned to promote the 'Rogues
Gallery' album, and both of which were cancelled. We asked Nod to clarify this.
"The Scandinavian dates had sold great, but in West Germany we just weren't selling the tickets. When we were
supposed to have gone out there, there were 80 bands trying to do the same thing. We'd have lost a fortune if we
had done it with only half the gigs selling out. We couldn't just do the three gigs in Scandinavia, so the whole tour
had to be pulled out."
"When we agreed to do that tour, we said we wanted to make sure everything was pre-planned and that tickets
would go on sale early, as we knew how many other bands were out on the road. Three or four weeks before the
tour was supposed to have started, the tickets still hadn't gone on sale at half of the gigs. They should have been
selling the tickets in June, while the band was still hot out there."
"As for the UK tour, although it was virtually me that cancelled it for the reasons already given - That tour WAS NEVER CONFIRMED. The agent and promoter started promoting it and selling the tickets, and we hadn't even confirmed that
we were going to do the tour. The tickets had already been on sale for two months and nobody bothered to tell us!"
At the end of last year, a track entitled 'My oh my (swing version)' appeared on the b-side of 'Do you believe in
miracles?' We asked Nod how this came about and who is actually playing on it?
"It came about originally because a few people asked us for demo's of songs to cover. A lot of people wanted to
cover 'My oh my'. I mean 'middle of the road' sort of people. Colin actually suggested it, saying we couldn't send
them our own version, because they've all heard that. Anyway, we had people like Frank Sinatra saying that we
ought to do a 'swing version' of it. Well, we weren't going to do it, so we got a mate of ours - Monty Babson - to sing
it on the original demo, which went out to all these 'middle of the road' people. When I heard it, I really liked it, so
as an added extra on the 12", I said 'Why don't we put my voice with Monty Babson's band?' and that's what we did.
I just had a couple of drinks in the pub and went and sang with him in one take. We didn't spend any time on it or
anything. There is actually a 'swing version' of 'All join hands', which I haven't put the vocal on yet."
At that point our lost had to leave us for an important meeting, so we bade our farewells and looked forward
to the next time.
Don Powell was interviewed on 9th January 1987 by Dave Kemp and Jenny Gamble for what was the magazine of the Slade International Fan Club, 'Percy'.
We managed to interview Don Powell at his flat in London, just after Slade had finished recording the new album. We asked Don if he could give us an update on how the work is coming along.
"We finished the album yesterday, actually. We spent yesterday piecing it together and sorting out the running order.
We know exactly which tracks will be on the album - all of which is new material. The new single 'Still the same' is
also on it as well. The title of the album is 'You boyz make big noize'. When we were recording with Roy Thomas
Baker in Wessex studios, the tea lady there made the comment 'You boys make big noise' and I think we've sort
of kept it from then. I don't know when the album is coming out yet as we are still deciding on the cover design. RCA
will probably wait to see how the single does. The album has taken us a long time to record, especially the tracks that
John [Punter] and Roy produced. we spent the first two days with Roy just trying to get the drum sound as he wanted it.
He had forty odd mikes over my kit, and it sounded like thunder in the studios. The album is more of a sing-a-long one,
as opposed to a heavy metal album. On most of the album it is Nod singing, though on one track Jim sings the first part
with Nod joining in later.
We next moved on to talking about the new house that Don and Joan bought recently in East Sussex. We learned
that Don has spent the last few months redecorating it.
"Yeah. We've done some decorating. There's a conservatory part which we've decorated and cleaned up a bit. Joan
is an antiques dealer, so we've bought a number of antiques for the new place. The guy we bought the house from
is building another house next door. At the moment he is living in a caravan at the bottom of his garden. Joan and
I feel a bit embarrassed about this, as we are away from the house quite a lot, working. We sometimes see his kids
faces at the window of the caravan, and that makes us feel a bit guilty about the way we've redecorated what used
to be their bedrooms. One room had pictures of cars on the wallpaper, which we have now painted over in white.
We feel tempted to offer the use of the house to them when we're not there."
The conversation next moved to the fact that Don has started driving again and has recently bought himself
a new Ford Orion.
"The first time I started driving again was when I went up to Bradford to Joan's parents for a long weekend buying
antiques. We had planned to look around the Yorkshire Dales, so I hired a car, and whilst nobody was around, I
started driving again. I hadn't reckoned on some heavy snow up there though. I managed to have another prang
up on the motorway going up to Bradford just recently. It was in some icy conditions again, and I skidded into the
bloke in front of me on the slow lane of the M1."
"I had a bad experience in Nottingham, not so long ago in a hired car. I pulled into a self-service station and filled
up, and then suddenly realised I'd put diesel into it. The guy in the kiosk watched me do it. I had to try to drive it with
the wrong fuel in it to another station to get it drained off. When we got there there were half a dozen cars who had
done exactly the same thing at the same station."
Don and Joan also do some recording together, and recently put some music forward for the theme to the recent
TV series 'Executive Stress'.
"Yeah we did, but that didn't come off as Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, who are a bigger name than us, got it
instead. It was George Layton who actually wrote the series. He used to go to school with Joan in Bradford. we went
out to dinner with him one evening and he mentioned the new series and asked us to write the theme tune for it.
Sadly though, the Producer had already commissioned Andrew Lloyd Webber, so he got the job."
In the Jun - Aug (1986) issue of the mag, we mentioned that Don had done a solo recording of the 1961 hit single
'Let there be drums'. We asked Don what the present state of play is with this recording.
"Well, what we have now done is to change it around a bit. Joan and myself have written a new melody, and we've
called it 'Amnesia'. That's not finished yet - we've still got some more things to do. What with moving house and the
new Slade recording coming along, we've had to shelve it for a while. Hopefully we can get back to finishing this
recording off soon, now the new Slade album is completed.
As Don is now getting more involved with writing again, he has had to find some new studios for recording his
demos.
"Yeah, that's right. the demo we did for George Layton was recorded at Jona Lewie's house - you remember the
guy who did 'Stop the cavalry'? Well, he's got a 48 track studio within his house. It was totally relaxed there and a
lot of fun. I've also been up to Birmingham to help Dave with some of his solo work."
As many of you probably know, Don's wife, Joan Komlosey, is a rock journalist. We were interested to learn
that she once had the pleasure of reviewing a Slade concert at the London Marquee in 1980.
"Yeah she did, and she really slagged us off. I later did another interview with her for the World Service, and the
other members of the band couldn't believe it - especially when I started going out with her. I've never held it
against Joan, though she never lets me forget that she got a nosebleed at The Marquee that night! Talking about
The Marquee, I remember they had to totally shut off Wardour Street, so that we could get our lorry down there."
It now seems a long time since Slade were playing the clubs, so we asked Don if he misses that scene now.
"There is a certain kind of atmosphere that the small clubs have got, which is missing in a big arena. I remember
having great fun in the clubs when we first came back from America. When we returned to playing the larger shows
in 1981, we found that was better than the clubs from the point of view that you can put on a much better show with
lights and a stage setting. In the clubs we really couldn't do anything like that. It was only those at the front who could
see us properly."
Some of you have written in with some questions about the kit that Don uses on stage and in the studios. Don
told us a little bit more.
"Well, I use exactly the same kit in the studios as I do on stage, which is the chrome coloured Ludwig kit. The
bass drum is 26" and the tom toms are 14" 16" 18" and 20". I use 15" hi-hats, 18" china cymbal, 16" crash and
20" ride cymbals. The skins I use are Reno oilskins, which I use both onstage and in the studios. Also in the
studios, I use what is called a Linn drum. This is a machine which allows me to program in drum patterns by
pressing a load of buttons. Some bands are even able to use a Linn drum as part of their stage presentation,
but if you program a drum pattern into a Linn drum, you have to play to that. If you go out of time, it becomes
very obvious to the audience, whereas when I use the Ludwig kit, I can usually change the speed I'm playing
slightly to rescue the situation. As we are a rock band, I don't think we could sensibly use it on stage."
Questions for Don Powell:
Do you practice drumming when you are not on tour or recording?
"No, I never practice when I'm not on tour. I couldn't have the drums in the flat. I have never practiced at home."
Do you enjoy making videos and do you think a bad video can kill a song?
"It can be boring. You get there early in the morning and you spend all day doing it. It seems like such a long
day for nothing really. At the end of it there is only two and a half or three and a half minutes of film, . . just. . . the
duration of the single. It was the same with the 'Flame' movie. It only took about eight weeks which is not a lot in
terms of making movies, nut it seemed like forever to us. We were up at 5.30 in the morning and we worked all
through the day. It was about 8 - 10 hours a day for about 2 - 3 minutes on screen."
"Some months ago a certain record had a lot of radio play, but as soon as the video was shown on TV it completely
killed the record. The record took a dive because of the awful video, but I can't remember who it was. I think videos
do help really. There are so many these days."
"The basic ideas for Slade videos come from within the band. We have the basic idea and then it is given to the video company and they come up with a story and pass it to us to see if we agree to it. We do have quite a say."
Do you think that records demoed by Slade and not released my be released on a compilation album in the future?
"I doubt it. We tend to use everything that we demo. The reason that we started demoing was because we started
using producers. It was for them to listen to so that they would know the songs before coming to the studios with us.
When we did it ourselves, we used to go straight into the studios and do it. Demos are really only for producers to
listen to. We do have quite a few complete recordings that have not been included on the latest album."
Where do you keep your gold and silver discs?
"I keep all my gold and silver discs in the TV room. They are hanging on the wall."
Don had another appointment to attend, so at this point, we had to draw the interview to a close.
Dave Hill was interviewed on 27.3.87 at Music Works studio by Trevor Slaughter and Nomis. This interview
was first printed in the April - June 1987 issue of Percy.
We interviewed Dave Hill on 27th March 1987 at Music Works Recording Studios, where Slade were recording
a new song - potentially a future single. We'll come to that later, but to begin with, we discussed the last single
'Still the same' and the possible reasons why it didn't get higher in the UK charts.
"Yeah, 'Still the same' is basically being regarded as a flop in terms of what was expected of it. I think the record
company were mostly disappointed as it was them rather than the group who chose it. It was always up for a single
though, right from the demo stage. We have a situation at Radio One at the moment where they now run this playlist.
There have also been a few changes in the people who run the programmes. We brought this record out, not in the
usual Christmas period, which on the face of it seemed to me to be a feasible idea as an attempt to get away from
the 'Slade only exist at Christmas time' situation."
"On listening to opinion though, it seems to have been regarded as another 'My oh my' type song, which perhaps
should have come out at Christmas. Everyone can say what they like now, and if it was a hit, they'll all be saying
what a great idea it was. When 'My oh my' was released, it was just as slow to take off, but as soon as we got the
radio play, it rocketed. 'Still the same' did virtually the same as 'My oh my' chart-wise in its first few weeks, but at the
point where 'My oh my' picked up radio play, 'Still the same' was dropped completely, especially by Radio One."
Over the past year or so, Slade have probably appeared to many of you as though they have no common objective anymore. It has been nearly three and a half years since Slade played live in the UK and nearly four and a half years
since they played Hammersmith and Birmingham Odeon. Rumours have been flying around the press that they
are about to split, and as there was over a year's gap between the release of 'Miracles' and 'Still the same', many
of the public probably believed these rumours. We asked Dave if he could explain how things have changed over
the last year, and the band's hopes for the future.
"Fans might be feeling a little left out and a bit disappointed, but they've got to understand that 21 years now IS a long
time to stay together as a group. We are a little older and we are still trying. I think that deep-seatedly within the group,
every one of us would play live, but what we are searching for is a way to take us to another stage of success, and it's a
hard route that we're trying. We're trying not to go out and do the Odeons and the regular gigs, getting the violin out and
doing exactly the same as we did before. We want to go out and look a bit different and try something, but the point when
we want to go out is when our current musical success will make the public ready and waiting."
"We don't just want to go out and have people say we did a tour just to say we're around. Although the fans will be there
and love it, the public at large will have an attitude of 'let's go and see how old Slade is, cos they're good for a laugh'. To
try and put ourselves in a better category, I would like to see us up at the NEC and sell it out. So that we're not just doing
the rounds for the rounds sake, we want to show our fans that we're not simply trying to stay together. We haven't reached
the market that Dire Straits have captured and they've never been as exciting as us. If you think about us, we really ought
to be in that level, shouldn't we?"
"We could announce a tour now, but caution tells us that we'd do better to announce one on the back of a hit. We haven't called it a day on the touring and if luck would have it, we could be touring after this LP."
We moved on to the next album and the next single. We asked Dave if he could update us on the present position regarding these.
"Well, the album was supposed to be released towards the end of April, but in view of the fact that 'Still the same' wasn't
a hit, RCA may wait a little longer until the next single peaks before releasing the album. As you know, Roy Thomas
Baker has produced two songs, 'Love is like a rock' and 'That's what friends are for'. 'That's what friends are for' looks
to be the next single, mainly because there's a certain person at RCA who is going wally over it. We are, however doing
a new song here now which is a sort of 'rock rap' thing with a Beastie Boys feel to it. This track is provisionally called
'You boyz make big noize'."
We asked Dave if he could talk us through the songs on the album to give us an idea of what we might expect
and what some of the songs are about:
LOVE IS LIKE A ROCK : "This track, which Roy Thomas Baker produced, is a cover of an American song which
Jim thought sounded a bit like us in its original format. Jim suggested that it would fit in nicely to the current mould
of Bon Jovi / Europe. Roy also liked the song, so we got him to produce it. It's got an up-tempo American feel to it."
THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR : "Another track produced by Roy Thomas Baker. This is a 'scarf waver' type of
number, which now looks fairly definite for the next single."
STILL THE SAME : "The last single, which in my view deserved to go a lot higher in the charts than it did."
FOOLS GO CRAZY : "This song is a very up-tempo rocker, which sounds very 'Slade'. I think this one is going to be
liked by the fans."
SHE'S HEAVY : "This song is all about a big fat heavy bird who's got a heart of gold. A humorous track, though not
about anyone in particular. The production is pretty heavy as well."
WE WON'T GIVE IN : "This was thought by many people to be a good one for a single when it came out last year
on the film soundtrack. [Knights and Emeralds] The film company wanted it out as a single, but RCA, who owned
the rights said no. This is the last track on side one."
WON'T YOU ROCK WITH ME : "A good sounding track to open side two. The verses remind me a bit of a Genesis
song from a few years ago called 'Mama'. The chorus is much more like us though. The song is laid back while
still heavy."
OOH LA LA IN L.A. : "This is my favourite track on the album. There is something about the chorus on this one,
which to me would make it a hit if it was released as a single. It is a very different sort of song for Slade. the lyric
is very autobiographical - about the time we spent in Los Angeles a few years ago. One verse is about Don (George
in the lyric) being pissed all the time. There is mention of the Marquee, which refers to 'The Sunset Marquee', where
a lot of bands stay. there are trees in its garden with fairy lights hanging from them. There is a verse about 'Barney's
Beanery', where we used to play pool all the time. This song was in fact written originally for the 'Rogue's Gallery'
album and is based on the last time we were in L.A, promoting 'Run runaway."
ME AND THE BOYS : "This is a laid back heavy song with a lot of chant in it."
SING SHOUT : "A very up-tempo song with a live party feel to it."
THE ROARING SILENCE : "This song wasn't originally going to go on the album, but it was put on instead of 'Don't
talk to me about love' because it sounded so good.
IT'S HARD HAVING FUN NOWADAYS : "Another laid back heavy song and the last track on side two. we started this
song with Roy Thomas Baker, but in the end itwas taking too long and cost a lot, so we got Jim to finish it off."
You will remember last time we interviewed Dave, he had been working on a solo album and had also put forward
four demos for the new Slade album. We asked Dave whether this had progressed any further?
"Well, I've got a girl singer called Jenny Darren, but I've also got someone else interested in covering one of my
songs - Sinnita, who recently got into the charts with 'So Macho' and also starred with David Essex in the 'Mutiny'
musical. I don't know for definite about this yet, though, but she's definitely interested."
"The four demos I did with Nod have been put on ice for the time being. There was a track called 'Love is said',
a ballad called 'Wild nights', a ZZ TOP sounding one called 'My motor's burning again' and another one which
sounds a bit like 'Born to be wild'. As for my solo album, I've been so intermingled with what Slade have been
doing that I'm still in the process of recording it."
Since we last interviewed Dave, many of you will have noticed that Dave has now shaved off his beard. Dave
told us some more about this . . .
"Yeah, it wasn't long after that last interview I did with you that I shaved it off. I think it was my wife again who suggested
it. I hadn't seen the other band members for a while, and they didn't even notice. Nod thought I'd had my hair cut or something. He couldn't quite suss out what it was."
We wondered what Dave thinks of the idea of Chas Chandler coming back to produce one or two tracks - for old times
sake.
"Well you'd better ask Jim about that! The only real problem in my view about Chas producing a few Slade songs is
that I feel that he may have lost a lot of ground on the production side over recent years. I think he did want to do another
one with us a few years ago, but that was lost by the by . . . "
We asked Dave about where he getting his stage clothes from these days and we learned that he doesn't go to any
specific shop anymore . . .
"I usually wander around Kensington and the usual High Street type of outlets. Ever since punk came in, I've been
able to pick up most of my stage clothes off the peg. I think that is what most other artists do these days as well."
QUESTIONS FOR DAVE HILL :
WHERE DID YOU GET THE GANGSTERS GEAR FROM THAT WAS USED IN THE MYSZTERIOUS MISZTER JONES VIDEO?
"We hired it for the occasion. It was all organised by Philip Davey."
AS JIM AND DON HAVE INVOLVED THEIR WIVES ON THEIR SOLO PROJECTS, HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF
INVOLVING JAN?
"No, I haven't really, though she did fancy playing the tambourine once! I'll tell you what, she's a lot more attractive
than some of the girls who have offered their services for my recordings!"
WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE SINGLE SO FAR, AND WHY?
"Although I didn't like 'My oh my' when I first heard it, by the time I started playing on it and promoting it, I discovered
a certain magic and hidden power in it. I would say 'My oh my' is my favourite to date."
AS THIS IS THE 25th ANNIVERSARY OF THE READING ROCK FESTIVAL, WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE SLADE PLAY
READING AGAIN THIS YEAR TO FOLLOW UP THEIR 1980 TRIUMPH?
"Well, I think it would probably be a mistake to try to return to trodden ground to try to rekindle past success. We would
probably end up being compared by the press to [us in] 1980. Because of the situation on the live front we haven't really
considered any festivals this year."
HAVE SLADE THOUGHT OF WRITING ANY ORCHESTRAL ARRANGEMENTS TO GO AROUND ANY OF THEIR SONGS IN
THE WAY THAT DEEP PURPLE OR QUEEN HAVE?
"I think that this idea would probably work quite well on some of our ballads. In fact, James Last did a few orchestral arrangements to some of our songs, which sounded very arty."
MID - 1987 NODDY HOLDER INTERVIEW FROM PERCY
SLADE FAN Matt Shaughnessy managed to grab a quick interview with Noddy Holder in mid 1987.
This was published in the July - September 1992 issue of Percy.
How has Slade lasted so long together?
"It's a long time, that's for sure, but we sorted things out in the first few years. Any differences we had, we took care
of early on. As for 20, now 21 years together, we never thought that it would go on this long. One thing that has helped
is that we don't live in each other's back pockets anymore. We've realised that there is a life outside of Slade, so when
we do get back together to write, record or perform, there's a lot of excitement."
How did the band originate?
"We came together in 1966 as the 'N Betweens and after Chas Chandler (ex Animals bassist and Jim Hendrix manager) began managing us, we changed to Slade."
What was it like for the band in the early 70's?
"It was fantastic. For a time we could do no wrong, what with the 6 number ones, we couldn't ask for much more. Of
course we knew it would come to an end sooner or later, but we enjoyed it while we could."
Of course, what followed in the late seventies was your 'duff period'. How did Slade handle that?
"It was a very difficult time for us. We had pretty much saturated the UK and European markets, and for the life of
us, we couldn't crack the American scene. This left us in a precarious position of having been huge for too long
and from 1976 - 1980, we couldn't shake the apathy the British record buying public had toward us. Same with the
radio stations - we couldn't get any airplay. It was a frustrating time and by early 1980, we came close to packing it in."
Bands such as Kiss, Twisted Sister, Billy Squier, U2 and Iron Maiden, to name a few, have acknowledged that
Slade have had a profound influence on their music. Any thoughts on this?
"It came as a surprise to us. Since we were never a major factor in America our first time around, I guess we never
realised what a seed we'd sown over there. We quite like the idea that Quiet Riot went to number one with 'Cum on
feel the noize'. It shows that Slade's songs have stood the test of time. We really appreciate knowing we've helped
influence other bands. You know, we finally met up with Gene Simmons and he told us that 'Rock and roll all nite'
was Kiss' 'Mama weer all crazee now'. We thought that was great.
Any special plans for your anniversary?
"We don't have any special plans, other than the new album. We've finally got it finished and feel we have some of
the best songs we've ever written."
Speaking of songwriting, Slade has had 23 top 40 hits in the UK, second only to The Beatles. Who does the writing?
"Well, Jim writes the music and I write the lyrics. It's worked that way from the outset, and we used to kid within the
band that me and Jim wrote 'em and Don and Dave sold 'em!"
Do you think Slade will be around in 2006?
"Bloody 'ell! I hope not! Like I said, I never thought it'd last this long. All I can say is that as long as we're having fun
and people want to hear us we'll keep doing it!"
NODDY HOLDER INTERVIEW (24.6.87) FROM PERCY
Trevor Slaughter and Jenny Gamble manage to track Noddy Holder down in a bar?
We managed to track down Noddy Holder on 24.6.87 at the Crest Hotel, Walsall. Evidently, Nod had spent the
previous two days at Bob Lamb's studios in Birmingham, helping Dave Hill with some vocals on one of his
songs. With the latest Slade album released throughout Europe and a release date for the USA soon to follow,
we asked Nod what sort of a reaction he'd had from the media.
"Well, we've had some good reviews and a couple of so-so reviews. The reviews we've had in the press have
been on the whole very favourable. We've had good feedback from Europe as well, particularly Germany and
Scandinavia. It's not coming out in the States until July or August, but CBS certainly like it. CBS are going to
put out 'Ooh la la in LA' as the first single out there. In Germany at the moment, 'Ooh la la' is at no 2 on the radio
play list and 'Still the same' is at no 4, so things certainly seem to be going well over there."
Nod explained to us that in the UK, RCA don't want to bring another Slade single out in the foreseeable future.
This doesn't mean that there won't be another Slade single in the UK for a long time as Slade were making
arrangements to independently release the track 'You boyz make big noize' on a new label called 'Perseverance
Records Ltd'.
"Well, the situation here is that, although all the members of Slade really like this new song and want to see it
released as the next single, RCA don't want to release it themselves. They have, however, given us the option
to release it independently on our own label, with RCA distributing it. Our deal is not up yet at RCA, they've just
agreed to let us release this one single on our own. CBS really like the song as well, so it looks like the American
version of the album will include this song as the title track. The song is an up-tempo rock thing in the 'Beastie Boys'
sort of ilk. The B-side will probably be an instrumental version of the same song. There will also be a 12" extended
version. At the moment there are several different versions of this song with different lyrics, so we've got to try to decide
on which one(s) we are going to use."
In the UK at the moment, Slade seem to be having some difficulty in getting their records play listed by Radio One,
which subsequently affects their airplay in certain other European countries. We learned from Nod, however, that
in the USA the promotion of a record works in an entirely different way . . .
"You basically have pluggers, the same as you do here, but their national charts are not based just on sales. For
example, you can have a number 1 in America that's not selling as well as the number 5. What they do is amalgamate
the sales with the amount of airplay it receives on the primary radio stations on a sort of points basis. The record doesn't
have to sell very well, but if it picks up a lot of radio play, it will chart. Within each state, each radio station is rated A, B
or C depending on the number of people who listen to it. The A rated stations are the primary stations which pick up
the points that count towards the chart placing. Unless you are a big act out there like Madonna, who will go straight
onto the primary stations, progress in the States is very slow. In the States at the moment, our records will only be
played in certain areas - the 'rock' areas. We'll get more play in the East or the middle of the country because it is
more rock orientated. The West coast is more laid back music. Having said that though, with 'My oh my' and 'Run
runaway' it was the West coast that was really pushing us."
Many of you will have noticed over the years that a number of bands who use to support Slade on their concerts
have now gone on to be big names in their own right. Examples include Status Quo, Thin Lizzy, Suzi Quatro, Joan
Jett, Nick Van Eede (The Cutting Crew), Billy Bragg and U2. We asked Nod how he feels about this now.
"Yeah. Nearly all the support bands we had on tours went on to make it. Some of them had it easier than others. For
example, Nick Van Eede took 6 or 7 years to break through. He even went out to Canada for two or three years and
got a few minor hits out there. U2 supported us for one gig at the lyceum in 1980 and they weren't even scheduled to
play. A band called The Pirates should have played that gig, but when they couldn't, U2 were booked in literally off the streets."
Many of you have written in to us enquiring about where to obtain a compilation video of Slade's promotional films
and TV appearances. Slade are in fact looking into the possibility of this, and Nod explained the sort of difficulties
they are encountering.
"If we track down all the videos, we hope to release a compilation video at some point in the future. Polydor have
supposedly got a lot of film of us, but it is a mystery at the moment who they actually belong to. Everything we have
done since 'We'll bring the house down' is with RCA, and we know that is fairly easily available to us. I personally
have got copies of the videos for 'Let's call it quits' and 'Nobody's fool' on the original Phillips cassettes, though
I don't have the means of playing them anymore as that type of video has now become obsolete. With regard to
the Top of the Pops film, we have been told that the only one that is available is 'Coz I luv you', as apparently a lot
of the archive stuff was stolen several years ago. Supersonic have also got quite a lot of stuff on us. In view of the
difficulty in obtaining the earlier material, we will probably release a video of everything since 'We'll bring the house
down' first, and then do the Polydor stuff when we can obtain sufficient material. as we have been together as a band
for so long, there would be far too much film to cram onto one video anyway."
With there being quite a few different Slade records out this year, we got Nod to tell us about the sort of
promotion he has been involved with for those records.
"From about March 'til about two or three weeks ago, I have been doing radios and interviews solid. There have
been loads of Slade specials in different parts of the country. We also did a couple of TV's for the 'Still the same' single.
Just recently, there has been a General Election in the UK. We asked Nod whether this is something that
he takes much of an interest in.
"Well actually, when this year's General Election was on, I was away on holiday in Bournemouth. For the first
time, I stayed up all night to watch the results coming in. I never actually voted before, as I think that they all tell a
load of lies. I haven't really got any political point of view, though like most people, if I was under a legal obligation
to vote, I'd vote for whoever would appear to do the best for me personally. I remember seeing Labour's final political broadcast, with all the classical music behind Kinnock. He did a superb 'spirit of England' type of speech, and the
whole thing was done like a promotional pop video. As a piece of promotional film it was brilliant- if you believed it!"
[Nod is apparently now known to be a Tory / Conservative party voter] From a promotional point of view it was just
like promoting a record. The best thing I remember about election night though was 'Spitting Image'."
We next moved on to what Nod does to occupy himself when he isn't working on his music.
"I haven't got any real hobbies, but I do like to read a lot. I read a lot of biographies. I like watching the soaps on
TV as well as videos of the big movies. My favourite TV show at the moment is 'Moonlighting'. That is one programme
I will not miss. I used to like Dallas when that was on - that was a good comedy, that was! Eastenders is alright and
I quite like watching Coronation Street. The one I can't stand is The Colbys!"
We asked Nod what his musical tastes are at the moment.
"I like lots of different things. Of the new artistes, my current favourite is Prince. I also like Huey Lewis."
Most of you will be familiar with seeing Nod up on stage as a performer, but we also learned that Nod will also
go and see bands live as part of the audience. We asked Nod of he could tell us of some of the bands he has
seen live over the last twelve months or so.
"I've seen Queen, Status Quo, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, Marillion. I haven't seen Prince or Stevie Wonder
yet, but I would very much like to. I do go to see a lot of acts in clubs. There is a band around here that I used
to go and see a lot called the Trevor Burton Band whose bass player used to be with The Move. I go and see
The Steve Gibbons Band and Stevie Marriott - all in clubs because you get a better atmosphere. I got up on
stage and sang with The Redbeards From Texas not so long ago at the Birmingham Odeon."
At this point, we brought the interview to a close, having interviewed nod fro over four hours - the longest
interview we have ever done with a member of Slade. There were miles and miles of tape to sort through
and it was difficult for us to decode upon which parts to use in this issue.
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QUESTIONS TO NODDY HOLDER ANSWERED IN THE PERCY MAG THAT MONTH:
How do you feel about the idea of recording a new studio version of 'Born to be wild' and releasing it as a single?
"No we would not do that, it's going back on the past again."
What are your favourite Slade single and album?
My favourite single is 'Far far away', I have always liked that one. In fact I heard 'Run runaway' on the radio the
other day and it really knocked me out. My favourite Slade album would be 'Nobody's fools'. That is the only one
I can really sit down at home and listen to from start to finish."
Do you have a complete collection of all Slade records?
"No, I've never been one for actually having a total collection. I've got most of them. I certainly think I have a
copy of every album, but I don't know of I've got every version of every single."
From the piano and vocal demo of 'My oh my' the lyrics have been changed on the finished article. Is this
a common occurrence?
"No, not usually. The record ends up the same as the demo. But sometimes it gets changed. 'My oh my' got
changed because John Punter didn't like on verse in it, so we put a new verse in. I in fact like the original demo
verse, personally!"
If the next Slade Convention could be organised for when the band had no other recording commitments,
would they all make the effort to attend themselves?
"Yes they would, definitely."
What sort of amplifiers do you use in the studio, and what sort of strings do you use on your guitar?
"Amplifiers . . . We use HiWatts and a lot of the guitars are direct injection into the board. They plug into what is
called a 'Rockman', which is a little box - it is not actually an amplifier. In the studio we use the same sort of
equipment as we do on stage on smaller versions. We all use different guitar strings, but mainly Rotosound
and Ernie Ball."
When you first started to sing, did anyone ever tell you that you could not sing?
"Oh yeah, everybody. I mean all the band's parents used to say you'll never get anywhere with that singer, he
just shouts all the time! I have always sung right from when I was a kid. I used to sing in Working Mens Clubs
when I was about six."
JIM LEA gave an interview on 30.9.87 at The Dover Castle, in London to Trevor Slaughter, Jenny Gamble
and Dave Kemp. This interview was originally printed in the Oct - Dec 1987 issue of Percy.
We met Jim on 30.9.87 at a pub in London called 'The Dover Castle', which is situated directly behind wha
t used to be Portland Studios. It was the pub the band always used to use when they recorded at Portland,
though sadly the studios closed down last year. We caught Jim in one of his philosophical moods and found
ourselves talking about many subjects that have very little to do with Slade - some of which is reproduced in the magazine.
To start with, we talked about the situation in America at the moment. In the last magazine we heard that Slade
were going to be flying to the States to record a video for 'Ooh la la in L.A.'
"Well, when you are dealing with record companies, it all comes down to money, power strokes and the way they
think a record is going to go. CBS deliberately held back on doing the video because, although they could see it
picking up a few heavyweight stations, they wanted to wait to see if it picked up any more. It actually did pick up one
or two more, but then suddenly tailed off, so the video idea was scrapped. It got to the stage when there was this
small matter of many tens of thousands of pounds and who was going to pay? It is a bit different in the States in
that the record companies are totally ruled by the business affairs people, whereas over here the A&R men run things."
In August, Slade appeared live on the Saturday morning show 'Get Fresh', and performed the songs 'Ooh la la
in LA' and 'You boyz make big noize'. Jim told me a bit more about this TV, the filming of which took place in
Carlisle.
"It is actually a bit difficult to mime to material, having never played it on stage before. To start off with, we had all
forgotten how 'Ooh la la in L.A.' went. You may have noticed Nod in one of the guitar breaks coming over to me as
he was running up and down the frets of his guitar. There was an expression on his face as if to say 'I don't know what
the f**k I'm doing!!' I enjoyed doing that TV and others like it, because there's no aggravation."
On the very night we were interviewing Jim, Radio One were playing the top 100 singles of the last 20 years to
celebrate 20 years of the station. Evidently, 'Merry Xmas Everybody' featured somewhere in the top 30 singles.
"Actually the Beeb phoned us up today and asked if we'd play live for them on the radio. Of course we had to turn
the offer down as we are totally unrehearsed, having not played live on stage for so long."
There has been a rumour going about recently that Slade were offered a live slot at this year's Reading festival.
We asked Jim to comment on this.
"I haven't heard anything about it being offered this year, but in 1986 we were offered a headlining slot. Unfortunately,
we had to turn it down because of Nod's problems at the time, not to mention our recording commitments. It is a bit
difficult for us to play live at the moment because the build up would be so huge that it would be totally out of proportion
to anything that could be achieved by it. We have been offered a number of one-off festival type situations over recent
years that we have had to turn down for various reasons."
Jim informed us that he has recently made a production reel of some of the recordings that he has produced
over the years.
"Yes, that's right. I put one of the Girlschool tracks on it and and it sounded completely dated by today's standards.
When I listened to 'You boyz make big noize', which is the last thing I did, I thought 'this really stands up, I can put
this on and be proud of it'. At the moment I am negotiating a production job with a girl who sounds very similar to Vicki
Leandros. She's Israeli, but she looks and sounds very Greek. If it comes off, it won't be just one track I'll be producing,
but a whole album. It would be a completely new experience for me and a great challenge."
In the early seventies, Slade were far more successful than many artists like David Bowie, Roxy Music, Rod
Stewart, etc, and yet now, despite the fact that none of them have had many hit singles recently, they all seem
to be on a higher level now than Slade are. We asked Jim why he thinks that this has happened.
"I think that in the early seventies we were treated as a sort of fancy dress show. All of these big names, including
Slade, have used pop as a vehicle to their success. That was the way The Beatles originally made it, and also in the
late seventies, the way the Sex Pistols made it. The thing about us was that we lacked the political statement, or
perhaps the unknown bit. There was nothing about us that was mysterious and the whole image was very accessible
. With Bryan Ferry and David Bowie, there was always that mystique which seemed to give them media credibility."
At the time we interviewed Jim, the 'You boyz make big noize' single had failed to break into the UK charts and
the album had effectively flopped world-wide. We asked Jim what Slade's plan is at the moment, and what their
attitude will be for the future.
"Well, there isn't a plan at the moment. I want to release 'We won't give in' as a single this Christmas. I feel that it is
a good idea, because whichever way you look at it, we have the wind blowing behind us at that time of year. Last
Christmas we were offered five TV shows and we hadn't even got anything out. Unfortunately, at the moment, nobody
else seems to share my point of view over this and would rather keep Slade away from Christmas this year."
"There is a sort of wound-licking process going on internally within the band, which is understandable. We have
spent the past two years recording and then promoting the new album, but haven't seen any reward for our efforts
in terms of chart success. Once we have gone through that phase, and got our confidence back again, we'll doubtless
get back to all looking towards the next project, be it an album or live work, or whatever."
Before Jim started playing bass guitar, he used to play with The Staffordshire Youth Orchestra, playing a lot of
classical music. We learned from Jim that since the advent of CD's, Jim has got back into listening to classical
music.
"Yes. I'm really into Elgar in a big way. It's great to put on a classical CD when you're at home with company.
Everybody remarks about it, and you can occasionally find out interesting things by accident. For example,
I have always liked the theme music from 'The Onedin Line' and I found out that it was originally taken from
Tchaikovsky's 'Romeo and Juliet'. My favourite at the moment is 'The New World' by Anton Dvorak. Actually
on the cassette in my car at the moment is Elgar's 'Pomp and Circumstance number one' I listen to it when I
go down the pub and blast out 'Land of hope and glory'. What a great piece of music that is! I am totally intrigued
by the complexity of the production and writing that must have gone into these classical pieces."
Over the past year or so, Jim has been looking objectively at the situation the band are in at the moment,
especially with regard to the touring problem.
"The other year we met up with Quo and found that they were going through the same sort of patch that we are
now, with certain members not wanting to tour anymore. As you know it is mainly Nod who has been having
problems, which he has now hopefully resolved, but I think that it goes beyond that. People can be prone to
become totally opposed to what they were formerly. I think that as a band, for example, we are going through
a phase which has resulted in us doing no live work, and the four of us not having any common ground of late.
I don't think that it is just Nod, but all four of us have got something deeper at play. The Who, for example, hit this
phase and were never able to come out of it. With us though . . . I don't think any of us would want not to be in the band.
We finally moved onto what it is about Slade that has made them so successful as a live act in the early seventies,
and why they will always be remembered and respected for their stage reputation.
"I remember about six months ago, reading about Simply Red, who have produced some great records recently.
I read this review of one of their live gigs, and after two numbers the excitement had died down and it was crap
. In the main, that's what groups used to be like in the sixties, and then they started to get a bit more intelligent
and began to learn how to make things work. Like Nod with his personality, who eventually became 'the master'.
I remember us playing in a club in America in 1984 when we were promoting 'Run Runaway'. It was a tiny club,
probably no bigger than the pub we are in today, and suddenly the power went off! It was such a humiliating
situation, coupled with the fact that we were playing terribly - the sound was dire, and yet Nod was great, and
he handled the whole thing. I literally had to hide behind him. He really is the master of stagecraft."
At this point we concluded the interview, which we all enjoyed immensely. It was interesting to speak to Jim without being pushed for time as we normally are. . . .
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