The people of Wolverhampton should celebrate; the band they nurtured 5 years ago have now, with a number one success, topped the hill littered with broken down musicians of rock bands who just didn't have the drive or determination to reach clear air. Folks, Slade are big business.
Admittedly, they've had to struggle and overcome the image bit. But who wants an easy fight?
Even so Slade are only a part of the historical phenomenon which is getting British music - and American come to that - back to bopping in the aisles and screaming fan adoration. Yes, back to good, honest, group worship - the admission that solid, pounding, simple music can turn you on and get you so het-up that you flip.
In metaphorical terms - an electric needle plunged into the vein that shuns the necessity for any other stimuli. It may be regarded as uncool to get up and rock when you feel the need and get the impulse. But it's like having a leak - it's something you shouldn't try too hard to suppress.
Slade on now riding on a wave that is sweeping the country, along with such bands as T. Rex and Mott The Hoople. Understandably, Don Powell, drummer with the band, is knocked out by their success.
"Our stage act is what we're all about," said Powell during one of many interviews before leaving for the continent. "We always found it a problem in the past trying to put a stage sound down on record. We weren't quite happy with the way things were going, but for this last record we actually played in the studio and it all came together. And we were really pleased with the live album, which we did in three days at Command Studios... it's just like we wanted it to be.
"The stage act is not actually worked out we just tried to get the crowd involved with us... make them feel part of the act, and get them jumping around and stomping around, and then it sort of like develops from there.
"The crowds really want to jump around anyway. They get fed up of this head down scene, and they really want to jump around, and that's what we tried to do, and that's what's happening now.
"For the past two years the scene has been a sort of sit down and shake your head type of thing... Our main aim is just to get everybody up to enjoy themselves. I mean, if they want to sit down they can do - we don't force them to get up. That's left to them. But we do edge them on, hoping they'll get up and have a good time."
Thus, the band try to put feel into their music, rather than technicalities.
Continued Powell,
"Who wants to know about fast paradiddles? I mean who hears them anyway? Basically, it is a live thing - everybody involved. But don't just stand there and jump around and not bother about the music, we don't neglect it completely. Basically, it's about 50% getting the audience involved and 50% music.
"And we work hard at recording anyway. You certainly can't jump around at the studio. I mean you've got to sit down and work things out."
Do Slade aim at an overall sound with plenty of feel, or a certain musical level which they have to achieve before they feel satisfied with what they are doing?
Replied Don;
"Well, as far as being satisfied goes, that's up to the individual. On certain nights we can come off stage and say 'that was a good one'. Even if the audience weren't up and raving around, you feel yourself that at least you played good, or at least you tried to put something over.
"But we don't go on and sort of worry about playing every night perfect. We're not worried about that kind of thing. We're not technically perfect, but we're good enough... obviously you're going to carry on learning all the time.
"As far as we're concerned we're going to go further and further. We've waited for ages for people to say that we were a good live act, you know. And now people are saying that about us. And we're going further. All the money we turn on the road is ploughed back into the group equipment, sound systems and different things like that.
Our system as it stands at the moment is pretty ropey it's been on the road for quite a few years the equipment is in a downhill state, and that's why we're getting new equipment. We feel that if we've got a good sound system behind us - amplifiers and everything else - that's part of the thing."
Powell admits that their volume is to increase excitement, though they have everything in perspective.
"We don't sort of like go on stage and pound away for an hour, or an hour and a half non-stop. I mean, we do slow numbers, we've got a piece with an electric violin and, as I said, we work it just as the crowd comes."
Again their success is significant in another way. Chas Chandler, their manager, has now had his first number one single to go with the number one LP he achieved with Hendrix - the man Chas brought over from the States. And says Powell, Chandler has had faith in them, and helped with their writing.
"When we first got with Chas we never sort of took writing serious, and he told us to start writing and we did, and he keeps urging us on to write all the time, which we are doing now.
"Before we went into the studio we ran out to his place and went over the numbers that we were going to record and made the different changes here and there, so when we do get into the studio there's not a couple of hours messing around with chopping the things about. We have everything basically worked out.
"As we are at the moment we're in a good writing vein. Things are coming out without being corny and we know that we will get one good single out of the batch we have to record."
Powell knows why Slade are a success - because their audience have themselves a good time. And they aim to keep it like that. He continued:
"It's nice to think that the audience are going away knowing they've had their ten bobs worth. They can go out, have a drink, pull a chicken. They're happy because they've had a good night."
He believes that the audience will not go back to the listening-only thing and sees rock going back to the style - from the point of view of audience reaction - of the 1960s.
"But it's a more grown-up type teenager than it was in the early '60s. They appreciate the music as well as raving around. And now the groups are going back to the small halls. It's one now, the group and the audience."
By Tony Stewart
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