\n
To celebrate 50 Years of ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’ & ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ British glam rock band Slade are embarking on a UK Tour coming to the Royal Holloway Students Union in Egham on Friday 8th December. Surrey Rocks were lucky enough to catch up with guitarist and founding member Dave Hill on all things Slade, Touring, Christmas and lifting people\u2019s spirits!<\/p>\n
\n
ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT YOUR UPCOMING TOUR?<\/p>\n
Very much so! We have been doing Christmas tours for a very long time now \u2013 50 years to be exact! The fifty year Anniversary of ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ & ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’ is a milestone! It\u2019s about all our songs \u2013 it\u2019s very special to a lot of people \u2013 especially me! We are looking forward to visiting to Newcastle, Egham and of course visiting the black country, home of all this music with its working class roots and rock band heritage. (Dave and the band still live in Wolverhampton!)<\/p>\n
\n
WHAT IS THE BEST & WORST THING ABOUT TOURING?<\/p>\n
The best thing is our audiences and being on stage with all the fans having a great time. Playing the 1 hr and a quarter of solid Slade hits \u2013 what\u2019s not to like! The worst is the late nights, delays, traffic and Brexit was actually a real bummer! I also really miss the wife and kids when I\u2019m on the road too. I\u2019m a family man at heart.<\/p>\n
\n
\u2018MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY\u2019 REGULARLY TOPS ALL TIME GREATEST XMAS SONG LIST. WHAT WERE YOUR RECOLLECTIONS OF COMING UP WITH IT?<\/p>\n
We recorded it in New York in July 1973 in 100 degree heat. It was quite amazing \u2013 we stole John Lennon\u2019s harmony and his studio time (as he wasn\u2019t able to use the studio). Our country was on a big low at the time in 1973 \u2013 we didn\u2019t know it was going to be a monster track. A total original \u2013 the public took to it like a duck to water. It definitely lifted British people and everyone\u2019s spirit.<\/p>\n
\n
WHATS YOUR FAVOURITE SONG TO PERFORM AND WHY?<\/p>\n
\u2018Come Feel The Noize\u2019 speaks volumes with what the bands about. People come to hear a racket when they come and see us. We really are a bunch of guys from Council houses making a lot of noise!<\/p>\n
\n
YOU WENT FROM A ROCK BAND TO SKINHEAD BAND BEFORE GOING BACK TO ROCK AGAIN \u2013 HOW DID YOU MAKE ALL THESE TRANSITIONS?!<\/p>\n
It was a really funny story actually. We met manager Chas Chandler in a pub in London, he was not producing for Hendrix at the time which meant he had a gap in his schedule. We were definitely in the right place at the right time! We were there busily doing gigs and Chas liked us so we were told to pop down to Rasputin in Bond Street and we got him involved. There was a skinhead movement at the time and they didn\u2019t have a band to represent the movement. So Chas got us all down the hairdressers and we did it. Tried to look a bit hard you know!! That only lasted 12 months then we gave up on it and grew our hair back!<\/p>\n
\n
SO MANY BANDS STRUGGLE TO \u2018MAKE IT\u2019 \u2013 WHO WAS INFLUENTIAL IN YOUR SUCCESS?<\/p>\n
Management was definitely the key to our success, Chas was highly influential having been the \u2018Animals\u2019 bass guitarist and Jimi Hendrix Experience manager.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
READING FESTIVAL IN 1980 CHANGED YOUR LIFE?<\/p>\n
We were invited to appear at the Reading Rock Festival, we literally stole the show, kindling new interest from a whole new audience. As a result, we signed a new record deal and unleashed the anthem “We’ll Bring The House Down”, which reached the Top-10 in the UK in January 1981. Slade were back! A blade of grass blows in the wind! We can\u2019t be stiff need to move and our resurgance in the 1980\u2019s was definitely down to doing that show.<\/p>\n
\n
SLADE \u2013 DECEMBER 2023 UK TOUR DATES INCLUDE:<\/p>\n
\n
Sunday 3rd December\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0NEWCASTLE \u2013 O2 City Hall<\/p>\n
\n
Friday 8th December\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 EGHAM \u2013 Royal Holloway Students Union<\/p>\n
\n
Friday 15th December\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 LEICESTER \u2013 O2 Academy 2<\/p>\n
\n
Saturday 16th December\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 SHEFFIELD \u2013 Foundry<\/p>\n
\n
Monday 18th December\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0CARDIFF \u2013 Tramshed<\/p>\n
\n
Tuesday 19th December\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 SOUTHAMPTON \u2013 Engine Rooms<\/p>\n
\n
Thursday 21st December\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 MARGATE \u2013 Dreamland<\/p>\n
\n
Friday 22nd December\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 OXFORD \u2013 O2 Academy<\/p>\n
\n
Saturday 23rd December\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 BIRMINGHAM \u2013 O2 Academy 2<\/p>\n
\n
Tickets for all of the above dates are available from:<\/p>\n
www.davehillslade.com\/tour-dates<\/a> www.ticketweb.uk<\/a> www.seetickets.com\/<\/a> and\u00a0 www.premier.ticketek.co.uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n PLUS YOU CAN WIN X 2 TICKETS FOR THE EGHAM SHOW<\/p>\n Check out Surrey Rocks Social Media (@surrey_rocks) on 2nd<\/sup> December to be in with a chance of winning 2 x tickets to see Slade at their Egham Concert on Friday 8th<\/sup> December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To celebrate 50 Years of ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’ & ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ British glam rock band Slade are embarking on a UK Tour coming to the Royal Holloway Students Union in Egham on Friday 8th December. Surrey Rocks were lucky enough to catch up with guitarist and founding member Dave Hill on all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7516,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"yoast_head":"\n