From Roots To Boots: The Slade Story

Myspace: 24th November 2007

Randall Vincke r.i.p.
a.k.a.
rAN63 & RANDALLiZMmusic

Ran was a musician that lived in Belgium with his girlfriend Nikki. He has an online presence under the pseudonyms of RANDALLiZM and rAN63 but most of all, he was one of the nicest guys I've ever got to know on the forums.

Ran was passionate about music and in particular, passionate about Slade. He spent many hours chatting about them on the forums and in 2006 he announced that he intended covering one of their songs. Ran had so much enthusiasm and it was contagious. I enjoyed chatting to him on MSN and longed to meet this cartoon character that made me smile so much.

Unfortunately, he never made it to Sladefest 2007, (where I was the DJ) and so I looked forward to meeting him at next years event. He spent the last year recording his own version of Slade's movie theme song, 'How Does It Feel' under the alias of G.U.M.M. (I have no idea?). Demo's of the work in progress kept appearing as he kept us up to date in his excitable way. Ran's English was 'interesting', he talked incessantly about how Slade were such a powerful rock band but also musically clever, far beyond the recognition they received. Every post would require analysing to determine exactly what the Crazy Frenchman (he wasn't French but it was a nickname that stuck with me) was trying to say?

His lack of mastery with the English language did not deter him from tackling the vocals on his cover of the Slade song though. Knowing his voice would never meet the requirement, he opted to, kind of, talk his way through the song and later got a young lady to duet with him. The end result is strange but very effective and Ran was very excited at the prospect of an accompanying video to feature on his website.

His own composition 'Redman' made an appearance on the web a few weeks back and we were all eagerly awaiting the video for 'How Does It Feel' when the tragic news came in. Ran's car had left the road, rolled down a bank and landed in a canal. His passenger survived but Ran was in a coma after being trapped under water for some time. He died a couple of days later leaving his son Billy and girlfriend Nikki.

Ran's home was, without doubt, Slade In England where he was given a hard time for being obsessive about the band. Ran was extremely loyal and would not join us at The Slade Archive Forum because he feared it might be seen as a betrayal. He loved SIE where his lists and observations brought him much ridicule. He was however, treasured by all there.

After much encouragement we talked him into joining in with us too and even though it has only been throughout the summer he has become an essential character, the forum will never be the same without him?

Ran's site at Randallizm and his My Space Randallizm63 (which features the 'How Does It Feel' track) are worth a look to get to know him better. It would be a nice gesture if you could perhaps 'play' Ran's version of 'How Does It Feel' and see how many plays we can get, it may be a comfort to his family.

Thanks for reading, I appreciate your time.