Feel the Noize
We chat to Dave Hill of Slade ahead of their Toon gig
The Interrupters, live at Newcastle University, November 27 2018. IT was certainly one of those nights where good sense dictated that an evening plonked in front of the TV was in order – but for the more foolish, or those with a more hardy constitution, there was the small matter of a first appearance in Newcastle for The Interrupters to tempt them from the living room.
The torrential rain of a Newcastle autumn may be as far removed from the Californian sun as is humanly possible, but at least for a couple of hours The Interrupters brought some sizzle, fun and sun to Newcastle University.
Hot on the heels of their smash hit single She’s Kerosene, The Interrupters’ star is certainly in its ascendancy and this was a great time to catch them before bigger, less intimate venues beckon.
With the Bivona Brothers providing the music, it’s up to frontwoman Aimee Interrupter to lead the charge of top-ranking, Punk-fuelled Ska influenced by their friend and mentor, Tim Armstrong from the mighty Rancid.
Be My Friend, Divide Us and By My Side displayed a positive message in contrast to many
others of their ilk, and that positivity overflowed when the permanently smiling Aimee hit the stage. Talk about a bundle of energy, she was never static for a second and simply oozed charisma, spending much of the set against the crash barrier with the fans.
As Good Things leaned more heavily to the Punk side with Leap Of Faith one for the Ska purists, The Interrupters had enough variety to keep the pot boiling and the crowd surfers fully occupied. Operation Ivy cover, Sound System, was preceded by some cheeky teases of Metallica, Huey Lewis and Rancid before launching into the song itself, and it was this connection between band and crowd that created a great atmosphere.
MICK Burgess: You’re back on tour very soon. Are you looking forward to getting started? Dave Hill: “Getting back on the road is a continuance of the fact that I’ve never really left the road. Touring is all I’ve done and I’m still on the road but I am certainly looking forward to playing these shows in the UK again. We’ll be doing a special show in Birmingham too that we do every year that is a bit of a ritual before Christmas.”
MB: Do you still get that same buzz playing live as you did when you first started Slade?
DH: “I certainly do. We did two shows in the Czech Republic and two shows in the Ukraine recently and they were pretty moving. They were all packed out and the passion of the response to us was incredible. The audience weren’t all in their 50s either there were quite a lot of people in their 20s which is amazing. It’s what I’ve done all my life. I can’t think of anything else apart from family that gives me a greater reward.”
MB: What about the setlist. What have you got lined up for this tour?
DH: “Of course, we do all of the hits that people want to hear and we’ll do one or two treats, maybe In For A Penny which wasn’t really a big hit but I really like it as it has a guitar passage that’s quite haunting, a bit like Parisienne Walkways by Gary Moore. We’ll also probably do How Does It Feel. That always goes down well and I know that it’s Noel Gallagher’s favourite song.”
MB: You have Mal McNulty on vocals and he’s been with you since 2005. How difficult was it for you to find someone who could sing the songs as well as Noddy?
DH: “You might be able to replace your guitarist but your singer is something else. Noddy was a hard act to follow. When I lost Noddy, it wasn’t unpleasant but it was hard. It was hard because I still had the passion. He was totally unique and came from a similar working-class background. His voice was like the cry of a working man surrounded by pumping factories and noise. It was so difficult to find someone who could sing the songs like Noddy but I think we found the right person in Mal.”
MB: John Berry is your bass player/violinist. There can’t have been too many bass players around who could also play violin. How did John end up joining Slade?
DH: “He wasn’t actually a violin player when he joined, he just said he’d try and learn it. Jim Lea was a great violin player. He was trained. Everything that Jim did he had a passion of musical ability and good ears.”
MB: Being in the Newcastle area it seems appropriate to mention your former manager Chas Chandler who was born in Newcastle and performed with The Animals and managed Jimi Hendrix before becoming your manager. You must have a soft spot for Newcastle due to Chas?
DH: “That’s right, Chas was our manager and he was from Newcastle. I always have fond memories of playing at the City Hall. We had some great nights there. It was the go-to venue for us back then and with Chas being from Newcastle you’d have all his family members and school friends turning up. Although we could understand Chas, some of their accents were quite strong so sometimes they were hard to understand.”
MB: You’ve just released your biography, So Here It Is. How long did it take you write this?
DH: “It’s taken about 69 years. I always wanted to do it but because I didn’t do it years ago when we went back on the road, I think it makes for a better story. I had to survive Nod leaving, I had to keep it going. The book explains the depression I went through. I was walking on stage to huge crowds but I was taken over by depression for three years and I had to drag myself onstage. Coming to terms with depression is very difficult, for a start, you don’t understand why you’re like that. My mum suffered from it and if you read the book you can see there was a lot in her life that caused reactions. She was a great woman.” MB: Back in the ’80s American Metal band Quiet Riot had a huge hit with C’mon Feel The Noize and their Metal Health album hit number 1 in The States.
AHEAD OF THEIR APPEARANCE AT THE O2 ACADEMY IN NEWCASTLE, MICK BURGESS TALKS TO DAVE HILL FROM SLADE ABOUT TOURING AGAIN, REPLACING NODDY HOLDER – AND THE LASTING APPEAL OF THAT CHRISTMAS SMASH HIT.