There's living legends, and then there's Slade. One of the biggest bands of the '70s, they scored a run of hits to rival the greats, going on to influence everyone from Oasis to Kiss to Twisted Sister. It wasn't always a given however, particularly in the wake of the horrific car crash suffered by drummer Don Powell that almost ended the band; "we survived and moved on to make more records, and we carried on together until obviously, we had a massive comeback", he says almost unbelieving as we sit down for a chat. Telling us why he's continuing the band's legacy with a new tour, and forthcoming solo album, we caught up with the guitarist and singer.
Photo; Barry Plummer
Hi Dave, how are you?
I'm doing great! I've been preparing for this tour and doing lots of interviews, which I love doing. I should say that, although it's being billed as the final tour, it's not my final tour! I'm also preparing a new solo album, so I'm very busy.
You're going out on the road with your version of Slade, which isn't the original band; how did this version come to be?
I was in touch with Suzi Quatro's husband Len Tuckey about forming a band or something, and he advised me - and I'd already spoke to Nod [Noddy Holder] - and he said; "you've got to go out and use the name, Dave". He said; "everybody knows you. You and Nod are the most recognisable people in the band". Then he said; "out in Europe, in Germany and Sweden all that, there's a big demand for the '70s music. There's a big promoter over there who puts on a collection of bands, and he does massive venues - I'm talking about 20,000". So when we suddenly could go to the east of Germany, they really were starved of western music, so it was an ideal opportunity for me to go on a stage and play several number ones.
That sounds like a great reason to do it.
That's all I'd got to do. I didn't play a full set, but I played about half an hour, and it was really great fun, because he put some '60s bands on, and I'd bought their records; there were The Searchers and The Tremolos and the Hollies, lots of my favourite groups. The combination of the '60s and '70s made for a big audience.
So that's where it began.
Yes, and then I did separate tours in Sweden and Germany. Then I went to Norway, and then eventually, amazingly, I went to Australia and did six weeks! I don't know if you know this story, but 'Sgt. Pepper', The Beatles album, we outsold it with an album called 'Slade Alive', which came out in 1971. It stayed in the charts for two years in Britain and Europe, but in Australia, it sold more than 'Sgt. Pepper', which is quite an incredible thing.
Do you remember Slade's early gigs in Australia?
We had an opportunity to go there back in the '70s, and we took Status Quo with us and Caravan and Lindisfarne.
We were doing Randwick racecourse which is like, 50,000 people. It was the height of our fame in 1973 actually, and when we arrived in Melbourne, it was six o'clock in the morning, and all the cameras were outside. It was big deal, and there were crates of foster beer [laughing] - terrible! I like the British pint.
You've touched on some of the highs there, but I wanted to talk about Don Powell's car crash in 1973, which was a terrible thing; did you think then that the band might be over?
Well, it's a difficult question to answer, really, Don and was coming with me to go to Hollywood, and I was going to get married, and Don's girlfriend [Angela Morris] was going to come, and she was the girl that was in the crash, by the way. Just before, we did Earl's Court, a massive show. London was full of Slade fans, and it was fantastic. And then we went home because we were about to go away to get married, and I think I must have been at my dad's house, and I had a phone call at three in the morning, and that's not going to be good, is it? And the word was, Don's had a crash, and I thought he'd just bumped the car.
So when you got the call, you thought it was only something minor?
Yes, but then the second call was devastated. My sister was a great friend of Don's girlfriend - the one who got killed. And bear in mind, we were number one in the charts when this happened, It was 'Skweeze Me. Pleeze Me', our second number one - it was 'Cum On Feel the Noize', 'Skweeze Me. Pleeze Me', and then the Christmas song. So anyway, the manager, Chas Chandler comes up to the Midlands, goes into the hospital, and Don was all wired up, and no one knew whether he was going to make it or not. We just didn't know anything, but Chas was quite positive when he saw him. They'd shaved his hair off, and there's a dirty great scar down the top of his head, but the problems were about to unfold as the weeks went on. There was more damage.
Don famously suffered from memory loss as a result.
He did survive, and he was joking, but he totally forgot the girl who was driving, or he was driving - I don't know who was driving. He didn't even mention her, and what we didn't realise was, the memory had gone. He lost his memory. He was in shock. He couldn't remember from one day to another what he was going to do. If I I would tell him; "tomorrow we're going to so and so", he'd ring here twenty times after that to say; "what are we doing?" So he was encouraged to write a diary of his notes, of what he would do the next day.
There must have been some doubt as to whether he'd play with the band again.
As far as his playing was concerned, we had no idea whether he'd come back to play, but because we were decent and loyal - and I've known Don longer than all the rest of the band - we stood by him. It was very emotional. I did go to America, and I did get married, because Don's brother, Derek - a wonderful guy - he told me to get on with my life. He said; "Don will go into a rest place, and we'll see how it is when you come back in a few weeks", so when I came back, obviously there was a lot more conversations. It wasn't advisable that he would attempt to play or anything, because we realised he'd forgot all the songs. He'd have to have the slight inkling of how it went, and he then might pick up on it. It's something strange in the brain, but it was definitely damaged from that, but for us as a band, we worked so hard to become successful, and we stuck it out.
I gather Chas, your manager was a great support during this time.
Chas was very supportive, helping us to decide on things. We had to sort of see how it goes, so we weren't going to do any shows because we couldn't risk him. You know, you might go on stage and start one and stop. It wasn't his fault, but there were other thing that happened. He lost his smell and taste as well, and it's never returned. So I personally think, a nice guy affected by an accident, but we have to be supportive and do a bit of promotion, but the the actual coming back and him playing, was slow. So what we did, there was a situation in America, we went to New York, and the upside of this is, what we didn't realise was we were about to make the biggest Christmas song in the world.
The defining Christmas hit 'Merry Xmas Everybody'!
Jim [Lea] and Nod wrote it. Chas said; "John Lennon's got a week in the studio. I'm going to have a word with him. Let's put that Christmas song in because the record company want you to release a Christmas record because you've had all these number ones" So we said; "well, we've got this idea", so we learned it in the studio. We didn't know that Don could play it, and every so often Don would stop because he didn't know the song, and understandably. I didn't either, but bit by bit, over a few days, he started to play, but we had to do extra work on the drums. We had to get a take. Now, if you get a take, you tend to keep the drums, but we had to embellish. We had to be a bit creative with Don, like get him to pop in and do that little section again, and because we had a great engineer, it worked. And John Lennon gave us the studio time, and it's thanks to him that he give us the time to do that song, but what we came out with was extraordinary.
That's an incredible comeback.
It was almost like the rug was pulled under me, and it might have ended the four of us, or maybe Don would never come back, but that didn't happen. Helping him to get the kick going, and playing all the things he's good at, he did do that, and it made it, and I started to work guitar things out, and it it turned out to be a fantastic rock record. It's the ultimate number one, which has never died to this day. It's still ringing in everybody's ears because the song came out in a bad time in Britain. There were three day weeks, strikes, and there were problems in your country as well, no doubt; workloads, televisions were going off, power cuts, but the song, the word was from everybody including the press that this song lifted the nation in crisis, and that's true. But as I say, from something that happened, we survived and moved on to make more records, and we carried on together until obviously, we had a massive comeback in the end of the '70s, when Ozzy Osbourne pulled out of Reading.
I'm doing great! I've been preparing for this tour and doing lots of interviews, which I love doing. I should say that, although it's being billed as the final tour, it's not my final tour! I'm also preparing a new solo album, so I'm very busy.
You're going out on the road with your version of Slade, which isn't the original band; how did this version come to be?
I was in touch with Suzi Quatro's husband Len Tuckey about forming a band or something, and he advised me - and I'd already spoke to Nod [Noddy Holder] - and he said; "you've got to go out and use the name, Dave". He said; "everybody knows you. You and Nod are the most recognisable people in the band". Then he said; "out in Europe, in Germany and Sweden all that, there's a big demand for the '70s music. There's a big promoter over there who puts on a collection of bands, and he does massive venues - I'm talking about 20,000". So when we suddenly could go to the east of Germany, they really were starved of western music, so it was an ideal opportunity for me to go on a stage and play several number ones.
That sounds like a great reason to do it.
That's all I'd got to do. I didn't play a full set, but I played about half an hour, and it was really great fun, because he put some '60s bands on, and I'd bought their records; there were The Searchers and The Tremolos and the Hollies, lots of my favourite groups. The combination of the '60s and '70s made for a big audience.
So that's where it began.
Yes, and then I did separate tours in Sweden and Germany. Then I went to Norway, and then eventually, amazingly, I went to Australia and did six weeks! I don't know if you know this story, but 'Sgt. Pepper', The Beatles album, we outsold it with an album called 'Slade Alive', which came out in 1971. It stayed in the charts for two years in Britain and Europe, but in Australia, it sold more than 'Sgt. Pepper', which is quite an incredible thing.
Do you remember Slade's early gigs in Australia?
We had an opportunity to go there back in the '70s, and we took Status Quo with us and Caravan and Lindisfarne.
We were doing Randwick racecourse which is like, 50,000 people. It was the height of our fame in 1973 actually, and when we arrived in Melbourne, it was six o'clock in the morning, and all the cameras were outside. It was big deal, and there were crates of foster beer [laughing] - terrible! I like the British pint.
You've touched on some of the highs there, but I wanted to talk about Don Powell's car crash in 1973, which was a terrible thing; did you think then that the band might be over?
Well, it's a difficult question to answer, really, Don and was coming with me to go to Hollywood, and I was going to get married, and Don's girlfriend [Angela Morris] was going to come, and she was the girl that was in the crash, by the way. Just before, we did Earl's Court, a massive show. London was full of Slade fans, and it was fantastic. And then we went home because we were about to go away to get married, and I think I must have been at my dad's house, and I had a phone call at three in the morning, and that's not going to be good, is it? And the word was, Don's had a crash, and I thought he'd just bumped the car.
So when you got the call, you thought it was only something minor?
Yes, but then the second call was devastated. My sister was a great friend of Don's girlfriend - the one who got killed. And bear in mind, we were number one in the charts when this happened, It was 'Skweeze Me. Pleeze Me', our second number one - it was 'Cum On Feel the Noize', 'Skweeze Me. Pleeze Me', and then the Christmas song. So anyway, the manager, Chas Chandler comes up to the Midlands, goes into the hospital, and Don was all wired up, and no one knew whether he was going to make it or not. We just didn't know anything, but Chas was quite positive when he saw him. They'd shaved his hair off, and there's a dirty great scar down the top of his head, but the problems were about to unfold as the weeks went on. There was more damage.
Don famously suffered from memory loss as a result.
He did survive, and he was joking, but he totally forgot the girl who was driving, or he was driving - I don't know who was driving. He didn't even mention her, and what we didn't realise was, the memory had gone. He lost his memory. He was in shock. He couldn't remember from one day to another what he was going to do. If I I would tell him; "tomorrow we're going to so and so", he'd ring here twenty times after that to say; "what are we doing?" So he was encouraged to write a diary of his notes, of what he would do the next day.
There must have been some doubt as to whether he'd play with the band again.
As far as his playing was concerned, we had no idea whether he'd come back to play, but because we were decent and loyal - and I've known Don longer than all the rest of the band - we stood by him. It was very emotional. I did go to America, and I did get married, because Don's brother, Derek - a wonderful guy - he told me to get on with my life. He said; "Don will go into a rest place, and we'll see how it is when you come back in a few weeks", so when I came back, obviously there was a lot more conversations. It wasn't advisable that he would attempt to play or anything, because we realised he'd forgot all the songs. He'd have to have the slight inkling of how it went, and he then might pick up on it. It's something strange in the brain, but it was definitely damaged from that, but for us as a band, we worked so hard to become successful, and we stuck it out.
I gather Chas, your manager was a great support during this time.
Chas was very supportive, helping us to decide on things. We had to sort of see how it goes, so we weren't going to do any shows because we couldn't risk him. You know, you might go on stage and start one and stop. It wasn't his fault, but there were other thing that happened. He lost his smell and taste as well, and it's never returned. So I personally think, a nice guy affected by an accident, but we have to be supportive and do a bit of promotion, but the the actual coming back and him playing, was slow. So what we did, there was a situation in America, we went to New York, and the upside of this is, what we didn't realise was we were about to make the biggest Christmas song in the world.
The defining Christmas hit 'Merry Xmas Everybody'!
Jim [Lea] and Nod wrote it. Chas said; "John Lennon's got a week in the studio. I'm going to have a word with him. Let's put that Christmas song in because the record company want you to release a Christmas record because you've had all these number ones" So we said; "well, we've got this idea", so we learned it in the studio. We didn't know that Don could play it, and every so often Don would stop because he didn't know the song, and understandably. I didn't either, but bit by bit, over a few days, he started to play, but we had to do extra work on the drums. We had to get a take. Now, if you get a take, you tend to keep the drums, but we had to embellish. We had to be a bit creative with Don, like get him to pop in and do that little section again, and because we had a great engineer, it worked. And John Lennon gave us the studio time, and it's thanks to him that he give us the time to do that song, but what we came out with was extraordinary.
That's an incredible comeback.
It was almost like the rug was pulled under me, and it might have ended the four of us, or maybe Don would never come back, but that didn't happen. Helping him to get the kick going, and playing all the things he's good at, he did do that, and it made it, and I started to work guitar things out, and it it turned out to be a fantastic rock record. It's the ultimate number one, which has never died to this day. It's still ringing in everybody's ears because the song came out in a bad time in Britain. There were three day weeks, strikes, and there were problems in your country as well, no doubt; workloads, televisions were going off, power cuts, but the song, the word was from everybody including the press that this song lifted the nation in crisis, and that's true. But as I say, from something that happened, we survived and moved on to make more records, and we carried on together until obviously, we had a massive comeback in the end of the '70s, when Ozzy Osbourne pulled out of Reading.
From Reading, the band got a boost and you went into a more metal direction, even playing at the Monsters of Rock Festival in 1981.
We had every intention of moving into the rock field. Noddy was probably, if not, the greatest rock singer in the world. I think he was the greatest rock singer. Chas Chandler always said that about him, that his voice was like a Little Richard. Nod loved Little Richard records, they had this power, so the mixture of songs that we made in the '70s - and that includes the ballads - led us to suddenly deciding we wanted to move into leather clad rockers. We thought; "We've always done 'Born to be Wild'; I want to capture that audience". You see, when we did Reading, we were moving in that direction. The reason we stormed it is because the audience went to school when they were buying our records, so all these heavy metallers, sort of thought; "oh, Ozzy is not doing it; it's Slade. Well, they're great, aren't they? Lots of great songs", so there was a big clap when we walked on. We'd saved the situation. Ozz is a friend of mine, by the way, and I've known him a long time.
The '80s brought a rebirth.
Interestingly enough, in the '80s, when we got success from Reading, we had a hit called 'We'll Bring the House Down', and after that, 'My Oh My', 'Lock up your Daughters', 'Run, Run Away'. We had a load of big ones in Europe, so really, everything came back to us. Don was still suffering, but we learned how to be together and get through it. We did get through it, and I'm glad we did, and really, with one thing or another, you can't work it all out, but when I decided to reform the band in 1992, I spoke to Nod, and I said; "Nod, I've got three kids". Nod already had left the group. He didn't really want to tour anymore or do albums. He was going through something, as we all do, and because I'm so close to him, I can understand his feelings.
So there was no issue with you continuing on with Slade?
When you give each other the life that we gave each other, there is so much to be thankful for. In fact, on my forthcoming solo album, I wrote a song and it's all about the four in the band, Chas Chandler, all the people who helped me on the way to making it. It's called 'Thanks For the Good Times'. It's a great song. I know it's a great song, and I'm quite nostalgic. I remember when I gave the bass player, Jim Lea, his first job. He was 15, rosy cheeks, and me and Nod were 18, but what we did together was incredible. I got with Nod, and I didn't know his voice very well then, but I knew he was good at talking on the stage. Jim played bass like I'd never heard a person play bass; he played bass like Jimi Hendrix had played bass, and I thought; "he's either a great choice, or he's the worst choice!", but I chose as I thought there was something special. We rehearsed together, the four of us, and it was just natural. Something happened. It took several years before we met Chas Chandler, but when he discovered us, it was the right time for us to get it, and he absolutely loved us. He said; "I think you're a great, great band. You do different ways in rock and roll". He said; "I want to manage you, produce you", and that was it.
Just before that new version of the band, Slade had success with 'Radio Wall of Sound'.
It was a good one. It didn't do that great, but it was a very good track that Jim wrote. I know that Nod sang part of it and Jim sang part of it, but I think really, when we reached the point of that, things were changing in the group, but we got back on Top of the Pops, and we did have a bit of a hit. Jim has always been a great writer with Nod; putting those two together is like Lennon and McCartney, aren't they? I could that see when they wrote, and if you look at the work they've done, it's immense. And lyrics, I mean, one of my favourite songs is 'How Does it Feel', which is not a big hit, but it's in the movie that, by the way, got re-released, and it's been a success in our country, 'Slade in Flame'. It's worth a watch. It's been remastered, and it's brighter. We went to a big premiere in London. I felt like Tom Cruise when I walked in there! There's all people there looking autographs, and it was all security around me!
We had every intention of moving into the rock field. Noddy was probably, if not, the greatest rock singer in the world. I think he was the greatest rock singer. Chas Chandler always said that about him, that his voice was like a Little Richard. Nod loved Little Richard records, they had this power, so the mixture of songs that we made in the '70s - and that includes the ballads - led us to suddenly deciding we wanted to move into leather clad rockers. We thought; "We've always done 'Born to be Wild'; I want to capture that audience". You see, when we did Reading, we were moving in that direction. The reason we stormed it is because the audience went to school when they were buying our records, so all these heavy metallers, sort of thought; "oh, Ozzy is not doing it; it's Slade. Well, they're great, aren't they? Lots of great songs", so there was a big clap when we walked on. We'd saved the situation. Ozz is a friend of mine, by the way, and I've known him a long time.
The '80s brought a rebirth.
Interestingly enough, in the '80s, when we got success from Reading, we had a hit called 'We'll Bring the House Down', and after that, 'My Oh My', 'Lock up your Daughters', 'Run, Run Away'. We had a load of big ones in Europe, so really, everything came back to us. Don was still suffering, but we learned how to be together and get through it. We did get through it, and I'm glad we did, and really, with one thing or another, you can't work it all out, but when I decided to reform the band in 1992, I spoke to Nod, and I said; "Nod, I've got three kids". Nod already had left the group. He didn't really want to tour anymore or do albums. He was going through something, as we all do, and because I'm so close to him, I can understand his feelings.
So there was no issue with you continuing on with Slade?
When you give each other the life that we gave each other, there is so much to be thankful for. In fact, on my forthcoming solo album, I wrote a song and it's all about the four in the band, Chas Chandler, all the people who helped me on the way to making it. It's called 'Thanks For the Good Times'. It's a great song. I know it's a great song, and I'm quite nostalgic. I remember when I gave the bass player, Jim Lea, his first job. He was 15, rosy cheeks, and me and Nod were 18, but what we did together was incredible. I got with Nod, and I didn't know his voice very well then, but I knew he was good at talking on the stage. Jim played bass like I'd never heard a person play bass; he played bass like Jimi Hendrix had played bass, and I thought; "he's either a great choice, or he's the worst choice!", but I chose as I thought there was something special. We rehearsed together, the four of us, and it was just natural. Something happened. It took several years before we met Chas Chandler, but when he discovered us, it was the right time for us to get it, and he absolutely loved us. He said; "I think you're a great, great band. You do different ways in rock and roll". He said; "I want to manage you, produce you", and that was it.
Just before that new version of the band, Slade had success with 'Radio Wall of Sound'.
It was a good one. It didn't do that great, but it was a very good track that Jim wrote. I know that Nod sang part of it and Jim sang part of it, but I think really, when we reached the point of that, things were changing in the group, but we got back on Top of the Pops, and we did have a bit of a hit. Jim has always been a great writer with Nod; putting those two together is like Lennon and McCartney, aren't they? I could that see when they wrote, and if you look at the work they've done, it's immense. And lyrics, I mean, one of my favourite songs is 'How Does it Feel', which is not a big hit, but it's in the movie that, by the way, got re-released, and it's been a success in our country, 'Slade in Flame'. It's worth a watch. It's been remastered, and it's brighter. We went to a big premiere in London. I felt like Tom Cruise when I walked in there! There's all people there looking autographs, and it was all security around me!
Sticking with the '90s, and what did you make of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer's interpretation of the band?
Oh, it was so good [laughing}! When I really formed the [post-Slade} band, one of the guitar players was a '70s guy, and he got all the videos of Vic and Bob and we put them on the tour coach, and it was absolutely hilarious, especially me and Nod, because Vic and Bob got us to a tee, you know; the hairstyle, Noddy's sideboards and all, bloody brilliant! And they're a great, great pair. And it raised the bar, once again. The biggest form of flattery is to be copied, and we're one of those bands. You can copy our faces. It's a bit like Mick Jagger. You can always know what Mick Jagger looks like, and you can do a cartoon. So they were doing basically a fun thing. I mean, they got a bit of Ozzy in there as well. And I was the cook, or something stupid!
It translated brilliantly!
I think the joy of it is because, Slade, in amongst all the great songs, we had great humour. Chas believed that we followed on from the Beatles and made it our own. He feels that the root of our band, and honestly, I think why we were so big in Russia, is Russians like real groups; they don't like manufactured groups and boy bands. They liked when they found out that we were a bunch of council estate kids, and we had to work for it. They've got a thing about that in Russia. They liked the fact that we weren't whimsical; our kind of music has a punch; it hits you, like, 'Cum on Feel the Noize', which you know, a friend of mine, Noel Gallagher - I've met him several times, and I know how much he loves us - he cites watching me and Nod specifically, or the band on Top of the Pops, and him and his brother are going; "that's what we want to do".
Yeah, the Gallaghers have always cited Slade as an influence on Oasis.
He'll always say that. It was nice what he said in my book ['So Here It Is: How the Boy From Wolverhampton Rocked the World With Slade: The Autobiography', 2018], he said; "it's simple; no Slade = no Oasis". What a what a great thing to say. I went to see him in Wembley, by the way, and we had a laugh together. He's a great guy. Before Oasis, there were a lot of keyboard bands in the 80s, but when Oasis came in, they came in with guts, and they were a bit like us in many ways, you know; a powerful vocalist. I mean, Liam's got a great voice and so has Noel. But they were so good at Wembley when I saw them. Liam sounded really on the case, and so did Noel. It's nice to see that they're going back on the road to entertain the fans that love them.
And great to see that you are still on the road too.
Yeah, that's the same as us, and I'm still entertaining people. I mean, the thing my life is now, people say; "didn't you make my youth great?", and I like that line. It's a smile when people recognise me. Instantly when I walk around, I get a lot of it now, for some reason, I don't know why, but I get more now, and it happens abroad and it's quite nice, when somebody can't speak English, sees you. There's a guy who must have been collecting Slade memorabilia from when he was a kid, and he's got a big museum, and I went in there because he's a nice guy, and he's got a, like, a dummy of Noddy [laughing]!
Speaking of museums, do you still have all your gold discs and all that kind of stuff? You must have hundreds of them!
No, I gave them to my son. I just wanted him to keep them.
Looking forward, you mentioned you have a new solo album coming.
I spent a lot of time in the home studio in covid because I was isolated, two years, no work and all that, so I got stuck in and I wrote the album. Chas Chandler told me to write years ago, and I didn't do it. I should have done it, but I felt now, over the last few years, I've got something to say. As I was saying to Noel Gallagher, I'm good at writing truth, and it's not easy for a lot of artists to write truth, but my stories are like me telling you these stories. There are so many stories that surrounds us as people, and it's a bit like that Lennon song; "some are dead and some are going", you know; "there are places I remember" ['In My Life']. Well, you see, I've got loads of those memories. I was born in 1946, and I grew up in post-war Britain, in rations. I grew up in a council estate full of nice people who cared about each other. We didn't have any big Christmases. It was dead simple.
It certainly isn't Christmas without the Slade song!
Hey, it's Christmas, and I'm glad to be a big part of everybody's Christmas, because they think Christmas is not Christmas without our record! I mean, what a compliment. You see that it brings joy. The phone always goes, and Nod always gets called and somebody wants him on some TV show or something like that. It never, never, ever goes away. I think I've drawn close to Noddy in many ways because we're all getting a bit old now, but I'm still here, I'm energetic, and I'm the same guy.
And after the tour you'll be concentrating on the solo album release?
My goal now is to bring some new music that I've done myself, and I think that'll be good for the fans, because we have a massive fanbase across the world, and it's something new. I'm not making a Slade album; I'm making a Dave Hill album, so it's personal, it's biographical. I know the record business is on its knees, and it's not like the days when you played it to the the guys in the record company - they ain't even there - but the social media will give me an avenue to get heard. I think my songs, in a way, are very similar to other people's experiences.
Can you give us a hint about the sound of it?
It's upbeat, a bit of rock, a bit of reggae. I've got three albums, by the way, in my head, so first things first, I'm doing this. I'm doing it for my grandkids. My grandson Alfie, he's 10 now, but he's in my room and he's fixing the mics and everything! He's a Hill, definitely, through and through. None of the others in my family, the girls or my son are. My son's a fantastic Ferrari top technician. He's like my dad; a great, great technician, great mechanic. In those days, he followed my dad, and he's to cars like I am to guitars!
Slade 2025 Live Dates:
NOVEMBER
28 – White Rock Theatre, Hastings
29 – Dreamland, Margate
DECEMBER
10 – Picturedrome, Holmfirth
12 – O2 Academy, Liverpool
14 – O2 Academy, Bournemouth
16 – O2 Academy, Oxford
17 – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
19 – O2 City Hall, Newcastle
20 – O2 Academy2, Birmingham
22 – O2 Ritz, Manchester
Tickets available here.
Oh, it was so good [laughing}! When I really formed the [post-Slade} band, one of the guitar players was a '70s guy, and he got all the videos of Vic and Bob and we put them on the tour coach, and it was absolutely hilarious, especially me and Nod, because Vic and Bob got us to a tee, you know; the hairstyle, Noddy's sideboards and all, bloody brilliant! And they're a great, great pair. And it raised the bar, once again. The biggest form of flattery is to be copied, and we're one of those bands. You can copy our faces. It's a bit like Mick Jagger. You can always know what Mick Jagger looks like, and you can do a cartoon. So they were doing basically a fun thing. I mean, they got a bit of Ozzy in there as well. And I was the cook, or something stupid!
It translated brilliantly!
I think the joy of it is because, Slade, in amongst all the great songs, we had great humour. Chas believed that we followed on from the Beatles and made it our own. He feels that the root of our band, and honestly, I think why we were so big in Russia, is Russians like real groups; they don't like manufactured groups and boy bands. They liked when they found out that we were a bunch of council estate kids, and we had to work for it. They've got a thing about that in Russia. They liked the fact that we weren't whimsical; our kind of music has a punch; it hits you, like, 'Cum on Feel the Noize', which you know, a friend of mine, Noel Gallagher - I've met him several times, and I know how much he loves us - he cites watching me and Nod specifically, or the band on Top of the Pops, and him and his brother are going; "that's what we want to do".
Yeah, the Gallaghers have always cited Slade as an influence on Oasis.
He'll always say that. It was nice what he said in my book ['So Here It Is: How the Boy From Wolverhampton Rocked the World With Slade: The Autobiography', 2018], he said; "it's simple; no Slade = no Oasis". What a what a great thing to say. I went to see him in Wembley, by the way, and we had a laugh together. He's a great guy. Before Oasis, there were a lot of keyboard bands in the 80s, but when Oasis came in, they came in with guts, and they were a bit like us in many ways, you know; a powerful vocalist. I mean, Liam's got a great voice and so has Noel. But they were so good at Wembley when I saw them. Liam sounded really on the case, and so did Noel. It's nice to see that they're going back on the road to entertain the fans that love them.
And great to see that you are still on the road too.
Yeah, that's the same as us, and I'm still entertaining people. I mean, the thing my life is now, people say; "didn't you make my youth great?", and I like that line. It's a smile when people recognise me. Instantly when I walk around, I get a lot of it now, for some reason, I don't know why, but I get more now, and it happens abroad and it's quite nice, when somebody can't speak English, sees you. There's a guy who must have been collecting Slade memorabilia from when he was a kid, and he's got a big museum, and I went in there because he's a nice guy, and he's got a, like, a dummy of Noddy [laughing]!
Speaking of museums, do you still have all your gold discs and all that kind of stuff? You must have hundreds of them!
No, I gave them to my son. I just wanted him to keep them.
Looking forward, you mentioned you have a new solo album coming.
I spent a lot of time in the home studio in covid because I was isolated, two years, no work and all that, so I got stuck in and I wrote the album. Chas Chandler told me to write years ago, and I didn't do it. I should have done it, but I felt now, over the last few years, I've got something to say. As I was saying to Noel Gallagher, I'm good at writing truth, and it's not easy for a lot of artists to write truth, but my stories are like me telling you these stories. There are so many stories that surrounds us as people, and it's a bit like that Lennon song; "some are dead and some are going", you know; "there are places I remember" ['In My Life']. Well, you see, I've got loads of those memories. I was born in 1946, and I grew up in post-war Britain, in rations. I grew up in a council estate full of nice people who cared about each other. We didn't have any big Christmases. It was dead simple.
It certainly isn't Christmas without the Slade song!
Hey, it's Christmas, and I'm glad to be a big part of everybody's Christmas, because they think Christmas is not Christmas without our record! I mean, what a compliment. You see that it brings joy. The phone always goes, and Nod always gets called and somebody wants him on some TV show or something like that. It never, never, ever goes away. I think I've drawn close to Noddy in many ways because we're all getting a bit old now, but I'm still here, I'm energetic, and I'm the same guy.
And after the tour you'll be concentrating on the solo album release?
My goal now is to bring some new music that I've done myself, and I think that'll be good for the fans, because we have a massive fanbase across the world, and it's something new. I'm not making a Slade album; I'm making a Dave Hill album, so it's personal, it's biographical. I know the record business is on its knees, and it's not like the days when you played it to the the guys in the record company - they ain't even there - but the social media will give me an avenue to get heard. I think my songs, in a way, are very similar to other people's experiences.
Can you give us a hint about the sound of it?
It's upbeat, a bit of rock, a bit of reggae. I've got three albums, by the way, in my head, so first things first, I'm doing this. I'm doing it for my grandkids. My grandson Alfie, he's 10 now, but he's in my room and he's fixing the mics and everything! He's a Hill, definitely, through and through. None of the others in my family, the girls or my son are. My son's a fantastic Ferrari top technician. He's like my dad; a great, great technician, great mechanic. In those days, he followed my dad, and he's to cars like I am to guitars!
Slade 2025 Live Dates:
NOVEMBER
28 – White Rock Theatre, Hastings
29 – Dreamland, Margate
DECEMBER
10 – Picturedrome, Holmfirth
12 – O2 Academy, Liverpool
14 – O2 Academy, Bournemouth
16 – O2 Academy, Oxford
17 – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
19 – O2 City Hall, Newcastle
20 – O2 Academy2, Birmingham
22 – O2 Ritz, Manchester
Tickets available here.
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