Circus Magazine

USA, October, 1973

The interesting thing about this article is that, no mention is made of the fact that Slade are in the process of touring across the continent. I don't know when Circus came out (e.g. the December issue of Uncut mag hit the shelves at the end of October?) but if it was later then I would expect a cursory mention of how they'd played Winterland Arena or New York Academy and Powell had done good/bad or whatever. If it was earlier, "I guess we'll find out how well he's recovered next week..." anything really rather than totally ignore the tour.

Having said that, they don't seem to be aware that they are using a photo of Slade with Frank Lea, not Don Powell. I guess we should just be glad they got mentioned at all?

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Slade: When news of. Don Powell's tragic accident reached the group. Slade's triumph turned to gloom.

Auto Crash Nearly Kills Sladester

At an interview in Birmingham where Wings were wrapping up a tour, it was all Paul McCartney could talk about. And miles away on the Isle of Man, it was the only thing on the minds of several hundred fans who milled anxiously in front of the Palace Lido box office. At roughly four o'clock Wednesday Morning, Slade's drummer Don Powell and his girl friend Angela Morris had been driving down a road near Don's home in Wolverhampton. Suddenly Powell's expensive Bentley had spun out of control and hit a wall. Angela was critically injured and died after being ambulanced to a nearby hospital. Don's chances did not look much better, He had sustained severe head injuries, fractured ribs and a fractured leg. Says Slade's manager, Chas Chandler.

"I went up to Wolverbampton right away, and the doctors didn't give Don a chance."

Powell's accident happened just as Slademania in England was reaching a fever pitch. The previous Sunday Slade had gone on-stage at London's Earls Court before 20,000 yelling, cheering fans. The crowd - one of the largest in the history of British rock - had leapt to their feet, lifted their fists in a Slade salute and screamed "Yeah" after nearly every line the group sang. Concluded the music newspaper Melody Maker, 

"It was the most sensational concert of their career." 

Three day later, when news of Powell's accident reached the group, Slade's triumph abruptly turned to gloom. "I was walking about in a daze." said Chandler. The group met the afternoon of the accident at bassist Jim Lea's Wolverhampton apartment and decided not to cancel their upcoming Sunday concert on the Isle of Man. To replace Powell they drafted the plumber who was in the kitchen fixing the dishwasher - Jim Lea's 19-year-old brother Frank, who had been Powell's drum student. And the day before the Isle of Man concert. they received word that in another three months Don Powell would once again be handling his own drumsticks. Exclaimed manager Chandler, 

"When I heard he was going to pull through, I was the happiest man in the world." 

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Circus was a monthly American magazine devoted to rock music. Gerald Rothberg originally put together the magazine under the name Hullabaloo in 1966, before changing the name to Circus in 1968. In its heyday the magazine had a full-time editorial staff that included some of the biggest names in US rock journalism, including Paul Nelson, David Fricke, and Kurt Loder, outselling Creem and competing with Rolling Stone.

I'm not sure how this article came to be in my collection but I suspect I stole it from David E. Miller. I have reason to bestow thanks upon him anyway so, if it was anybody else, please let me know.

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...they were right to use a stand-in

Melody Maker, July 14th, 1973

…they were right to use a stand-in says Paul
by Dennis Detheridge

“It’s a terrible business but Slade were right to carry on with a stand-in drummer." said Paul McCartney in Birmingham last week as Wings neared the end of their British tour.

“We used a dep for Ringo in Australia,” he recalled. “I think how Slade have done it is great. They’ve done it very well.”

“It’s one of those things – either they lay off and lose momentum or they keep going with a dep, someone not as good, obviously.

“But the kids will dig it. They’ll understand. That’s the great thing about audiences. That’s the good thing about working live. That’s the kind of thing people do understand.”

“They will think it’s great of Slade to have even turned up. They’ll appreciate that they did it.”

Did an incident like the Don Powell tragedy make Paul worry about his own safety?

“No, I’ve never worried at all about driving,” He commented. “If I crash, I crash, but I’ve been lucky so far.”

.....

The rest of the article is not Slade related.

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Slade: alive and well...

Melody Maker, July 14th, 1973

Slade: alive and well…
by Chris Charlesworth

ISLE OF MAN, SUNDAY. As the strains of “Mama Weer All Crazee Now” died down, Slade manager Chas Chandler gazed into the air and whistled to himself.

“If anybody had told me on Wednesday that this concert would come off, I’d have laughed at them.” He confessed, “It’s a miracle we’re here tonight.”

It was the climax to the most tempestuous week in Slade’s career. After their gigantic show at Earls Court last weekend, tragedy struck during the week when drummer Don Powell was involved in a car crash. He was lucky to be alive and even now has not regained consciousness fully.

When news of the accident reached the Isle Of Man, thousands of fans who had bought tickets gathered around the Palace Lido at Douglas with faces as long as broomsticks. It looked certain that the concert would be cancelled.

And while the fans gathered to hear the news, the three remaining members of Slade were having a conference with Chandler at Jim Lea’s Wolverhampton flat.

Also at the flat was Jim’s 18-year old brother Frank, a plumber’s mate by trade, who was fixing the piping to a dish-washing machine. Frank overheard the discussion, dropped his spanner and volunteered to act as deputy drummer for the Isle of Man show.

On Friday he rehearsed with the group, on Saturday his picture appeared in the papers and on Sunday he was the hero of 4,000 fans who turned up to witness this historic gig. And curiously enough, I doubt whether anyone noticed the difference.

Frank Lea had been taking drumming lessons from Don Powell and travelled with the group on numerous occasions. What better man for the job? And what a reception the fans gave Frank when Noddy Holder introduced him, the cheers were almost as loud as the din that followed Holder’s announcement that Don Powell was recovering and would be back behind his kit within three months.

Nothing, it seems, can keep Slade down.

“This weekend we’re really going to enjoy ourselves.” Dave Hill told me when I arrived on Saturday.

“Now that we know Don is going to be all right, it’s like a pressure valve being released.

“For two days we thought Don had had it, but when we heard that he was being taken off the critical list and put on the severe list we knew everything was going to be all right. And we know that Don would have wanted us to go on with the concert.

“We’d be letting down lots of fans who’ve bought tickets and lots of fans who have taken their holidays on the Island to coincide with the concert.”

The only fans who didn’t make it were 2,000 from Ireland who cancelled their reservations on the ferry across when news of the car crash broke.

“We’re just seeing what happens about the future,” said Chandler. “We’re crossing every hurdle when we come to it. As it is we’ve had to postpone our next American tour, which will probably take place in October now. But really it’s a miracle that it’s happening at all.”

“On Wednesday I went up to Wolverhampton and the doctors at the hospital didn’t give Don a chance. I was walking around in a daze, but when I heard he was going to pull through I was the happiest man in the world.”

But Slade are one of those unflappable groups who can take everything in their stride. After only brief rehearsals they knew everything would run smoothly at the Isle of Man.

The show itself ran like all Slade shows – the only number they cut out was Janis Joplin’s “Move Over Baby” which features plenty of tricky drum work. The rest of the Slade ingredients were all there: football chants, suggestive remarks, the responding crowd and the deafening noise of Holder’s amazingly powerful voice.

When it was all over, the group celebrated in grand style – but as you read this spare a thought for Frank. On Tuesday morning he was due to return to plumbing again – at 7:30 a.m.

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Tuesday Scene

Daily Mirror, July 10th, 1973

SLADE: still in
the old routine

TUESDAY SCENE
by Deborah
Thomas

The heady smell of success has proved too strong for many a good pop musician. But Britains chart-topping group, Slade, have found a remedy - keep one brightly-booted foot in your own backyard.

A pop stars lifestyle is littered with fast cars, big house's, boozy parties. Groupie girls are generous with their favours, drugs suddenly become easy to obtain, champagne flows like bitter water.

But the glitter of stardom doesn't touch the derelict school hall down a back street in Wolverhampton, where I ran three members of Slade to earth while they were rehearsing with their stand-in, Frank Lea, Jim's brother.

The group, whose "Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me" is No. 1 this week, have practised here ever since they first hit the charts two years ago. The immense noise has cracked the plaster on the ceiling. And bare bulbs shake above a sea of rattling teacups as the band bash out another edition (sic) of "Take Me Bak 'Ome". No champagne here, just sweat and noise and work, work, work. There's no trace of the snarling, top-hatted Noddy Holder, we've all come to know on stage here either.

"Come on, Frank, you can do it," says Noddy.

Tragic
He and fellow members Jim Lea and Dave Hill have been hit heavily by the tragic car accident which seriously injured their affable drummer, Don Powell, and killed his girlfriend, Angela Morris. Don is more than just the group's drummer - he's their mate.

"I bet people are saying, 'hullo, what's going on here, flash cars, parties and you know' but Don is a more stable person than most." says Aitch.

(That's Slade's name for Dave Hill - and the only "aitch" they pronounce.)

"We do a lot of things together, you know. We follow each other somehow. One buys a car, another buys a car. We are very close. People don't understand when they hear us slag each other." He laughs, "We slag each other fun-wise. That way we can handle things."

Until a few months ago all four Slade boys lived at home with their parents. Now each of them has bought a house and Jim has married his childhood sweetheart, Louise. Aitch admits, somewhat shamefacedly, to living in a "snotty" area. But nothing they swear, will ever make them budge from Wolverhampton.

"Going to America has changed us in some ways - bizarre things happened there - but we still go to the same local and keep the same friends." says Noddy.

Change
Jim doesn't say much. He calls himself Mr. Non Interview. But when the others have stopped larking about he usually has the last word.
Life as a pop star would drastically change anybody, he explains, but Slade has stayed the same because they're treated like local lads in Wolverhampton.
He adds simply:

"It rains a lot but it keeps us sane."

Many thanks to Stu Rutter for supplying the hard copy.

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