An interview with Dave Hill, Slade By Linda Rhodes
SLADE – Without doubt one of the most exciting bands to come out of Great Britain in the past 50 years. With their unique blend of perfect pop-rock’n’roll, outrageous flamboyance and pure fun, and no less than 23 Top-20 singles of which 6 were No-1 smash hits…plus 6 smash albums, Slade have become a firm favourite in the hearts of pop fans all over the world.
Throughout the seventies, Slade became one of Europe’s biggest bands, touring and recording continually and making regular trips to America, Japan and other parts of the world.
At the beginning of the eighties, Slade were invited to appear at the Reading Rock Festival, a massive annual event which attracted over 100,000 people. They literally stole the show, giving some of the world’s biggest rock bands a serious run for their money whilst kindling new interest from a whole new audience.
Now in 2023, they celebrate 50 years of “Cum on Feel the Noize” & “Merry Christmas Everybody” reaching No1 in 1973!
Led by founder member Dave Hill Slade today is still one of the most exciting bands on the road, and their stage performance is a dynamic, powerful and exhilarating roller-coaster ride of pure unadulterated rock’n’roll.
John Berry who joined in 2003 is on Lead Vocals, Bass, Acoustic Guitar and Violin. John has also played Bass with Mud, The Sweet, Screaming Lord Sutch, The Tremeloes, Bay City Rollers & The Rubettes. Joining John on Lead Vocals and Keys is Russell Keefe, having played in many original bands in his early years, he has also recorded albums for Polygram & United Artists, Russell has toured with The Pretty Things and Les McKeown’s Bay City Rollers, Alex Bines now joins on Drums, Alex has toured with Wilko Johnson, The Rubettes and is also a Drum teacher.
To promote their upcoming tour Soar Valley life magazine were invited to a phone interview with Dave. At the age of 77 Dave shows no signs of slowing down and this is evident during our hour-long chat that was supposed to be half an hour, Dave is very easy to interview and loves a chat.
I started with asking Dave about some memorable moments or stories from his time with Slade that stood out in his career and he told me about a time when the band were fairly new and called ‘The N’ Betweens’ they got a gig in the Bahamas where they were treated to lush hotel accommodation, food, drinks basically a dream come true for a group of lads from Wolverhampton.
Unfortunately, this dream was crushed when they found out that the guy who booked them had done a runner with all the money. They were then under house arrest on the island cramped together in one room with four beds, a fridge and a toilet, still working until the hotel bill was paid.
However, during those three months Dave felt that it was a time that the band really bonded, he said “It was a really bizarre situation where we were cramped together, lived together which drew us close as a band and affected what we did afterwards and a year after that we made our album first album ‘Beginnings’ under our new name SLADE”.
“The 70’s were a wonderful time, but I was living it. I’m a 60s kid who wanted to make it, and I made it, but I was living the 70’s from the influences of the 60’s and therefore it took me in to a world of fame. But as a band we always kept our feet on the ground and stayed connected to the people we grew up with.”
I asked Dave about Slade’s distinctive and influential style and what had inspired his unique fashion sense and stage presence?
He said “I always loved clothes and dressing up but the transition from the 60’s to the 70’s was like a whole new world. With the 70’s came colour television I started experimenting and trying different things, I used to wear women’s boots because I wanted to look taller but the heels kept breaking. Eventually I went to London and got things made for me like proper platform boots and a long silver coat.
“I think the visual appeal of the band was as important, if not more important in some cases, in selling the music. Because it’s one thing to have good songs, another thing to have a damn good salesman. On Top of the Pops, for instance – the story that Noddy always tells everybody – I used to go in the toilet and change, and I’d come out and if they all fell on the floor laughing at me, we’ve got a winner. Cos I used to say: ‘You write ’em and I’ll sell ’em.’
Dave talked about Slade’s number one hits including ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’ in which he wore his infamous ‘Metal Nun’ outfit on Top of the pops and knocked Rod Stewart off the number one spot, ‘Skweeze Me Pleeze Me’ and the ultimate Christmas song ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ which has endured the test of time and still regularly re-enters the U.K. singles chart each holiday season – in 2017, it even peaked at an impressive No. 16.
Dave said of the track “We didn’t realise what it would do, we thought it would be a bit of a hit but not a mega hit 50 years on”.
“It was released during a time of hardship in the UK with power cuts and strikes and the press quoted that ‘Slade’s Christmas song lifted a nation’, and everyone who heard that song said ‘what the hell, look at this lot having a great time’ this is what we do at Christmas, that’s how I would describe the phenomena of that song, we never intended it would last this long and be talked about. But who could complain except that Slade is not just about Christmas its about all the rest of the great songs we’ve produced as well. “
He went on to say “That is really one of the reasons we are coming to Leicester, to celebrate 50 years of a tremendous time in music”.
“We are also attracting a younger audience now as a lot of young people have heard our music through their parents and become fans and then become parents themselves. So now we have three generations loving our music, including my grandson Alfie who is looking forward to see his grandad on stage.”
I asked Dave what he believed were the key factors that contributed to Slade’s success and enduring popularity?
He said “When people think of Slade they are usually smiling because our music wasn’t political or moaning about the government back in the day, we were always thinking about feeling the sound and the noise.”
“Nowadays I feel the music is sweeter because it was good in the first place and it’s still good now, we aren’t having to prove things now as we can sit on the satisfaction that we were a success and it’s all about making memories with people and remembering some of the good times and things from the past. Because we are in difficult times again now so it’s sometimes nice that we can call upon some good memories. “
On thoughts of retirement Dave stated “Making music is my life its not just a job and I’ll carry on doing it whilst I love it, I still get a buzz at the side of the stage whether its 500 people in a club to 20000 a night for three days in East Berlin. There is joy in the journey and the journey is still carrying on. If people ask me “Have you arrived?” I say well yes, I’ve had the success but there is always somebody new to hear your music and I think that’s the pleasantry of being in love with what you do.”
“I know when people come to Leicester, they are going to have the best we can play to them. “
Slade will be touring in December 2023 and will be in Leicester on
Friday 15th December LEICESTER – O2 Academy 2
Tickets are available from – https://www.davehillslade.com/tour-dates
/ https://www.ticketweb.uk/ and https://www.seetickets.com/ and https://premier.ticketek.co.uk/
In November 2017 Dave also published his autobiography, So Here It Is: The Autobiography. As I discovered during our interview, he is a natural storyteller and the book is honest, entertaining and informative
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