WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS  Slade, back in the

 charts with the  raucous ‘Lock Up Your Daughters’, came close to breaking up last year after nearly 15 years of inviting people to ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’.  According to bug-eyed lead vocalist Noddy Holder the band were at their lowest ebb just before they broke through again after their storming success at last year’s Reading Festival.                                    

   ‘‘We just couldn’t see any way forward,’’ he says. ‘‘We couldn’t suss out what we were doing wrong.   We had become very unfashionable and we couldn’t get any airplay. ‘‘The day before Reading we didn’t mean a light and the day after we had jumped 10 steps up the ladder overnight!  “It’s a media thing,’’ he explains. ‘‘Like when we first got given credibility~ after the Lincoln Festival and hit the from pages of all the music papers the following week in this case Reading broke down that wall, and again it was a live show that did it,’’  Anyone who has been to a Slade concert will know that Holder, bassist Jimmy Lea, drummer Don Powell and guitarist Dave Hill are a hard core concentrate of that essence that makes rock’n’roll special. The band at their best are a celebration of vital raucous energy and at their worst are a damn good night out.  ‘We’ve had the stigma of Reading hanging over us, complains Noddy. ‘-We’ve had to show everybody that it wasn’t just a one-off and that we always go down great every time we play.

‘One of the reasons we did Castle Donnington with AC/DC, Whitesnake and Blue Oyster Cult this year was to lay the ghost of Reading and prove that that is the standard we always set ourselves.’’  So how does it feel to be back in the  limelight?  ‘‘it’s more fun’’ he beams, before letting  off one of his leery cackles. ‘It’s not as good as the first few moments of success  but we appreciate it more. We’ve probably forgotten how hard it was the first time around and it’s been even harder this time around because you ye got your old success to be compared to.’’ And what a success.  Slade have to do better than Jesus Christ’s Second Coming to beat a record that saw them have 21 Top 50 hits, six No l’s (only The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard. Abba and The Stones have had more) and the unique achievement of having three singles go straight to the No 1 slot,  ‘C um On Feel The Noize , ‘Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me’ and ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ a feat only eight other records have equalled  Noddy points out that many of the artistes from the era of Slade’s height in the early seventies enjoy a vociferous affection from the fans that other periods of rock haven’t retained. “A lot of critics slag it for the glam-rock but if you listen to the records of the early seventies, it was a bloody good period. There was a percentage of good records that compare well with the time The Beatles,  Rolling Stones. Who and Kinks were producing all their classics. You had Bolan, Sweet, Roxy, Bowie, Mud, Quatro, Gary Glitter, Hot Chocolate and us all producing fabulous singles. I think  anyone  who criticises that period are totally talking through their arses he states emphatically.                                     And who would argue with him?                           MIKE GARDNER