HEY Magazine’s EXCLUSIVE Interview with DAVE HILL!

As we approach Christmas, there are a few songs that immediately come to mind, one of which involves the lead singer shouting the lyrics “IT’S CHRISTMAS’, part way through. Of course, I’m talking about “Merry Xmas Everybody” by Slade.

You can imagine my reaction when I was presented with the opportunity for an exclusive, one-to-one chat with Dave Hill, the remaining founding member of Slade, and what a nice chap he is! He has plenty of stories to tell from his successful 6-decade career, with the unique blend of pop, rock ‘n’ roll, outrageous flamboyance, memorable hairstyles, plenty of energy and pure fun, with no less than 23 singles of which 6 were No.1 smash hits plus, 6 smash albums. Many of these tracks seem timeless, still being included today, especially in TV commercials for some of the world’s biggest companies. Tracks such as “Cum On Feel The Noise”, “Coz I Luv You”, “Far Far Away” and of course “Merry Xmas Everybody”.

I asked Dave how he got started... Dave explained that he was 13-years old and at senior school in Wolverhampton. His early influences were Elvis, Buddy Holly, The 4 Tops, Little Richard, and The Beatles. He couldn’t get into the music class; he couldn’t read music. He loved music and felt this compelling desire to play music but also felt different, like he had something in him. So, for his Christmas present that year, he picked out a guitar from the ‘Kays Catalogue’. His dad said he wouldn’t spend too much money on a guitar and paid £7.50. Then came Dave’s next challenge... you could only buy right-handed guitars, and Dave was left-handed. He tried playing it upside for a while until he started guitar lessons with his science teacher at school who told Dave that, despite being lefthanded, he needed to play a right-handed guitar.

After leaving school, Dave played in a band, ‘The Vendors’ with pal and drummer, Don Powell. Dave worked at Tarmac Limited for two years before starting ‘the best part of his life – being in a group’. Dave desperately wanted to do this, it felt like the ‘right thing’ to do so faced an ultimatum, stay with his job, or start a band. And, with the backing of his dads’ supportive words “give it a go”, Dave took the plunge. Dave formed a band called ‘The Young Ones’ with some school friends.

Then, Slade was formed in 1966 with Dave Hill, Jimmy Lea (Bass Player), Don Powell (Drummer) and Noddy Hill (singer), joining forces with former Animal’s bass guitarist and Jimi Hendrix Experience Manager, Chas Chandler. When I asked Dave about his influences and what Slade set out to do at the start, Dave explained that they had always set out to just ‘be themselves’ which, for Slade, meant being ‘different’, following their passion. They didn’t want to ‘fit-in’ or even try to ‘blend- ‘in. Yes, in the early days, they had skinhead haircuts for a short while, but their image started to form as they developed this music style very much like the ‘loud and funny music from America’ which many started to describe as ‘Glam Rock’.

Dave recalls the origin for the style of Slade being ‘colour, being alive and magic’. The grew their hair over their ears with unique cuts. When dressing for one of his first gigs, he wore a women’s blouse made of satin silk. Some didn’t think he’d get away with it but because it was shiny and glimmered on stage, the crowd loved it. They liked the ‘shiny stuff’. So, Dave then had trousers made too. One day, whilst in Kensington Market in London, Dave came across a guy selling platform shoes and Dave thought these were cool but, to be super cool, he asked him to add an extra 3-inches to them. The coat then followed… Dave chuckles as he reminisces about hanging up a long dark coat in his parents’ council house, taking a can of silver car spray paint (because this was a new colour for cars at the time) and transforming this coat into a long, shiny jacket. It wasn’t until he moved the coat that he realised he hadn’t put any paper up, that’s when he noticed the silver spray paint around the door and walls with shape of the long coat in the middle. When colour TV became available from 1969, Dave recalls colour “exploding out of the screen” when they appeared on Top Of The Pops, with glitter in his hair, and this had a big impact on their records and their popularity.

Slade achieved their first chart hit in 1971 with a Bobby Marchan song “Get Down And Get With It”, then “Coz I Luv You” was released in the same year and was the band’s first No.1 and a huge hit across Europe. 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. The band had their 6th and final No.1 hit in the UK with “Merry Xmas Everybody” earning the UK Christmas No.1 slot in December 1973. Dave remembers “Cum On Fell The Noize” releasing on a Thursday night in February 1973 when Slade would go straight in at No.1 (becoming the first to do this since The Beatles “Get Back” in 1969) and knock Rod Stewart from the top of the charts.

Accompanying the look was the originality of the music playing itself. With such compelling drive and passion to be a musician, Dave created a unique playing style including the ‘Dave Hill Wobble’. A unique sound that is closely compared to the likes of the bending notes played by ‘The Shadows’ and ‘The Beatles’. There is also the unique ‘Super Yob’ guitar that was later made famous by Dave too. Of course, there are also the unique song titles that have their own spellings such as “Take Me Bak ‘Ome” and Mama We’er All Crazee Now”.

Dave attributes their successful careers to the ‘enjoyment of doing it’ and ‘not trying to work out the ending’, just ‘doing their own thing’ and ‘enjoying the journey’. When I asked Dave about his favourite Slade song, he said “How Does It Feel” resonates with him and feels the lyrics still apply today. Dave feels that when you enjoy what you do, it keeps it fresh. For Dave, he took the time during Covid lockdown to write 3 solo albums. Dave also supports various charitable causes including the Stoke Association, after having a stroke himself during a concert in Nuremburg, and an organisation for buses and transport for SEN.

Finally, I asked Dave if he had a message that he wanted to leave for his fans and he wanted to say thank you for all your company and love and support over the years. To remember good music, support live music and come back and see him at one his gigs soon.