Last week I caught up with rock-and-roll legend Dave Hill ahead of Slade’s ‘Farewell Tour’ and we spoke about all things touring, fashion disasters and Christmas songs. It was fascinating to hear what he had to say about hitting the road almost sixty years after the band first formed. 

Discussing the tour Hill said, ‘I never exactly left the road… in 1992 an artist called Suzi Quatro was married to a guy in the band and they’d had a divorce – he rang me and said ‘what are you doing?’ and I was missing playing, I was only forty years of age.’ This was pivotal in Hill’s career, the rest of the band no longer wanted to play so he reformed Slade and began touring again. ‘Basically, I suddenly found myself going into Slade but with different people which was really scary. My original singer was phenomenal and you couldn’t replace his voice. I did find someone in the end, Lenny his name was, he helped me focus getting back on the road. They were good musicians and off we went and I carried on to this day; I thought it would only be two years but it’s been thirty three!’

It’s been quite an incredible second journey of being in Slade and playing to people in countries we couldn’t go to before.

Reflecting on his conversations with former band-mate Noddy Holder, Hill told him ‘It’s been quite an incredible second journey of being in Slade and playing to people in countries we couldn’t go to before. Russia, we couldn’t go there but I ended up there and played ten shows, before the trouble that is. I even did a show in Lapland at Christmas!’ In regards to the upcoming tour he explains that it’s a great opportunity for new fans to see the band, ‘For me, Slade’s music is more popular now than when it first hit the charts. The people that bought the albums are probably now nearly sixty years of age, they’ve had children, the children have heard it and in some cases, their grandchildren have heard it. The shows I’m playing aren’t just a few hundred people in a small club, they’re big!’

‘Do you know an artist called Billy Idol?’ Hill asks, ‘I did two shows with him, I did a massive show with Alice Cooper this summer. Festivals are very popular abroad.’ With a legacy like Slade’s, their discography is a huge part of so many people’s lives and Hill understands its importance better than anyone, ‘I’ve never been tired of our songs, it’s something that you’ve achieved in life and you’re not doing it for yourself, you’re doing it for the public who haven’t seen you for twelve months or more. When you walk on the stage, it’s not about me, it’s about them. It’s instantly magical, we hit them with a number one and they go for it right away and don’t stop.’

The music doesn’t die, it’s like The Beatles, you don’t get tired of The Beatles if you grew up with their songs.

With Slade’s music being so accessible now through streaming platforms and YouTube, Hill has noticed that there are a wide range of ages in the crowd, ‘There’s a lot of people as young as you! I look at someone who’s about twenty and think, they weren’t even born when our records came out! The music doesn’t die, it’s like The Beatles, you don’t get tired of The Beatles if you grew up with their songs.’ Music has been a huge part of the guitarist’s life since the beginning, ‘I knew I could play, I told my mom and dad I was sick of my office job, I just want to be a professional, I want to travel the world and go wherever music takes me.’ Since getting the band back together, Hill has had the opportunity to connect with fans all across the globe, ‘The fans in Russia like a group that work, they like that we came from working class backgrounds, they don’t like boybands or manufactured things. And, it was so cold the plane froze! My son and I stood outside and his nose froze!’

Speaking about his life as a performer, Hill describes himself somewhat as a vaudevillian, ‘The vaudeville people had to be good otherwise the audience would throw tomatoes at them! A lot of entertainers in England were sort of on the edge of vaudeville, a lot of entertainers wore bright suits and took to the stage. I had an affinity for it, these people risked themselves on stage and there was no money in it.’ During his youth, records were only beginning to gain popularity and music became a huge part of his life, ‘At school for us kids, records were ever so important. We bought records and you may have a crush or be falling in love with a girl at school and these records come out from America and it really affects you.’ Consequently, Hill combined his love for vaudeville entertainment with the emergence of records to create the foundation of the performer he is.

I cut my trousers off to the knee and covered the plaster with Bacofoil so it looked silver!

Slade are known for their bold, glitzy outfits and as he shows me a photo of himself from the 1970s, Hill explains where his fashion choices came from, ‘I went to a woman’s shop and I got this blouse and a big dicky bow and I went on stage, the guys were laughing at me. I told them ‘it won’t look bad on stage!’ and I was right. I could see people in the audience smiling and could tell they’d picked up on it. You can have a great record but you have to sell it! I went to markets in London and Freddie Mercury was working there, they made platform boots and I bought some.’

Hill’s footwear choice was soon-to-be iconic and became a real hallmark of his on-stage persona despite being a slight health and safety hazard, ‘I had these really high ones and the crowd in Liverpool was fanatical, they all started coming on to the stage. The bouncers were telling me to move but I couldn’t run in them! My foot went over and I cracked my ankle, I had to go to hospital and they put me in a plaster. We were about to go on tour and I got some silver trousers. My manager wanted me to sit on a throne and still go out there and play. I cut my trousers off to the knee and covered the plaster with Bacofoil so it looked silver!’

‘We were the biggest band in the world in 1973 and the record company needed a song to release at Christmas’ Hill says speaking about their cult-classic festive anthem ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’. ‘We didn’t know what to do. Noddy had this chorus about a guy on a rocking chair looking at the world going by and Jim Lee was in the shower and he remembered this chorus and he came up with these Christmas lyrics. The lyrics aren’t religious, it’s about what people do: coming to your house, getting booze out, some people don’t like their presents. John Lennon was in the studio originally and he gave us the time to record it and we played his harmonium on it.

Age is not a problem anymore, if you love doing something why would you stop doing it?

He came in and we played him the Christmas song and he said he liked Noddy because ‘he sounded like me’. If Lennon compliments you, it’s a good compliment because he doesn’t waste words. We didn’t realise we created a monster, we had to rush release it and Top of The Pops wanted us to come straight on! The impact of that song was unknown to us, there was hysteria about it.’ Talking about the political nature of the UK at the time, Hill explains why the song went as big as it did. ‘There were lots of power cuts, strikes and three-day weeks. People hadn’t got much money, the country was on a low. That record was cited as a terrific lift for the whole of the country, it lifted a generation. It had this undeniable impact. We came up with something so original at the right time and we had a monster.’

‘The thing about me, age is not a problem anymore, if you love doing something why would you stop doing it?’ Hill shares in conversation about the upcoming tour, ‘This tour will be all about the big songs and for the people with the memories of the songs. Nod lost his love for it but I never did. It was something in my life that helped me make something of myself, it made me very driven. There was nothing else for me, the music will always be important.’ 

Dave Hill’s Slade begins their Farewell Tour next week, tickets available here!

---

Enjoyed reading this? You might also like:

Live Review: Nell Mescal

Single Review: Queen – Who Wants To Live Forever (Stranger Things Remix)

Single Review: Charli XCX – House featuring John Cale