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On my way to work, I pass a fragile collection
of single storey post-war prefabs, surrounded by a tall grey corrugated iron
fence.
A year ago, the graffiti on it was quite fresh - the huge letters 'S - L - A
- D - E' couldn't help but be noticed. About five feet high, they were
remarkably well proportioned and were painted carefully, not hurriedly.
Today, however, the letters have long since faded. Blending in with the
fence's colour and the rust spots, they're now only vaguely discernable.
There were a few bedraggled Bay City Rollers fans standing outside the BBC's
Wood Green Television Centre, waiting in the rain to catch a glimpse of
their token idols, who were due to record their latest single (I forget its
title) for 'Top of The Pops'. Slade were slated to appear as well, playing
'In for a penny', and I had directions to meet the band in their dressing
room before the rehearsal.
Splashing through a puddle towards one of the sopping wet BCR fans, her
tartan rosette ribbon dripping with the dampness and obscuring a photo of
Les McKeown, I asked, "Are you here to see Slade?" The reaction was
interesting. She looked at me quizzically, suspiciously, muttered "Ooooo?",
then straightened her rosette and walked away. It was just as I had feared:
Slade fever no longer runs rife.
"We've been in the States since June, you see," reveals Noddy Holder in his
untarnished Brummie accent, "we've been working over there solidly. Before
now we've only ever toured America in four or five week periods. This time,
however, we're going to keep at it until we've made
an impact, until we've got some hits and we've cracked it."
You can't help but like Noddy. He's the same urchin he was three, four, even
five years ago, with those worn lavatory brushes masquerading as sideboards
and a mass of curly, unkempt hair. His manner's appealing. Despite the fact
that the band are slap-bang in the middle of a back breaking US tour and
have only popped into Britain for a few days for promotional appearances, he
doesn't look in the least jaded.
How near, I wondered are Slade to 'cracking it' in the States at present?
"Live concerts are fine," Noddy says. On this tour we've been playing on
lots of package gigs, that is, concerts alongside two other big name bands,
putting on a special show. The situation is so bad over there at the moment
that the only way to fill, say, 20,000 seater halls is to set up a package
deal with several good acts. We've been going out as second on the bill."
NEW LEASE
"We've been playing with Black Sabbath, Ten Years After, ZZ Top, Kiss,
Aerosmith - all different kinds of people all over the country. Except for
the last five weeks, that is, when we recorded our new album in New York. So
the live work's going great - but as far as record sales go, we haven't done
a fucking thing. We haven't had AM play for our singles, we've had some FM
album stuff, but nowhere near enough."
Why are the US radio stations so reluctant to play your records?
"When the band originally went over to America three years ago, our record
company put on such a great deal about us. They were saying that we were the
greatest thing to come out of Britain since the Beatles - just so much crap,
so much hype. And the American public don't like that at all, they like to
go out and see things for themselves on stage and make up their own minds.
So, when we eventually arrived over there and saw all this vast promotion,
we knew that it was just impossible to live up to. we would have had to walk
on water or something to impress them. It's only now with this long tour,
that we're managing to dispel all that. We've always done well over there
live, but now we're succeeding in living down all that pre-conceived crap by
working steadily, trying to get through to everyone. Plus - we've also got a
great new lease of life. Around a year ago, we'd become very stale. We did
the movie, toured Britain and Europe, then decided it was time for a
complete change. We re-thought a lot of things, got down to some serious
writing, did some promotion for the film, appeared on some TV chat shows and
started enjoying ourselves." |
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"Do you realise that, during the past five years
when the band peaked, we did five major tours of Britain, six tours of
Europe, two tours of Australia, two of Japan, visited the US a few times,
made a film . . . you can understand why we began to feel more than a little
jaded. We reckoned that we needed to undertake a fresh challenge to regain
the old spark. We realised that the States was the only country that we
hadn't cracked, so we decided to spend at least six months there. It's
improved us so much as a band, it's untrue. Even in our own eyes, we know
we've improved."
How would you feel if you never managed to succeed in America?
"We are going to, there's no doubt about it, " comes the confident reply.
"We don't know when, or how long it's going to take, but we'll do it, even
if it takes us 20 years."
GROW UP
Although Slade are concentrating to an exhaustive extent on the US, Noddy
doesn't feel that the band's neglecting Britain: "We're still putting out
product over here," he stresses. "People have seen us over and over again,
so there's no harm in going away for a time, as long as you keep bringing
records out."
But all the same, Slade fever, as I had noted earlier, is now well and truly
dead.
"You've got to grow up. You can't have Slade fever for the next ten years,
everybody'd be bored to tears. Every band reaches a peak, then levels out,
it's unavoidable, it's a well known fact. You look at all the great names in
showbiz history - Al Jolson, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, they all had their
heydays, then faded away, but always resurged and never completely bombed
out."
I mentioned that the new single 'In for a penny' is yet another slow, almost
reflective release. That must make three in a row . .
"The last one wasn't slow," pipes Noddy. "Thanks for the memory? - not slow
at all."
Yeah but it wasn't crazee, was it?
"There again, you can't go on playing the same music all your life. You've
got to grow up with your fans. Every single we've brought out since 'Merry
Xmas Everybody' has been different. 'Everyday' was a ballad. 'Bangin' man'
was a rock record with slide guitars, everything. 'Far far away' was a big
acoustic guitar number. 'How does it feel' was really slow. 'Thanks for the
memory was all keyboards, boogie keyboards, and this record has a laid back
sound . . . "
AMBITION
"The only reason they might sound vaguely alike is because I'm singing and
this lot is playing. I sing like I sing, they play like they play. You can't
alter that."
How about the new album you mentioned earlier? Is it as varied as you
suggest the singles are?
"It's a rock album, but it's not the old Slade rock. It's completely
influenced by being in America. We've spent a lot of time and taken a lot of
care over it. There are lots of new ideas. There are some connections with
the past, admittedly, but there's also a lot of new stuff. There's no new
space-age sound, it's just another step on. We're well pleased with it.
And to end on a sad note: Slade have no plans to tour Britain in the
foreseeable future. "all the concerts set for us in the next few months are
in
America. Whether we'll be coming back to Britain next summer to tour - who
know? It's impossible to say. Like I said at the beginning of the interview,
we're going out there to crack it, and we're going to keep at it until we
do. It's a very personal ambition for us and I think our fans will
understand."
When I left the Television Centre, there wasn't a Bay City Rollers fan in
sight. A tartan rosette ribbon was floating ion the puddle, that was all.
Fickle lot, I thought. Driving back home, I noticed that the 'S-L-A-D-E'
graffiti looked more prominent than usual. Maybe someone had given it a
fresh coat of paint. And the voice on my car radio said that 'In for a
penny' had entered the singles charts at number 27 |
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