The Noize

Don’t you just love, when a book does exactly what it promises to do? I certainly appreciate it and “The Noize” is for sure such a book.

Over the years, loads of books have been written about the British (glam) rock band Slade that had its heydays in the seventies, but none have taken a thorough look at the releases by the band. This is what the two authors, Ian Edmundson and Chris Selby, set out to do.

In the author’s notes, the two authors say that “this book’s primary aim is to catalogue and discuss all of Slade’s UK releases and take in the most interesting overseas versions of these and some unique foreign releases,” and that is exactly what it does. Meticulously and faithfully, every UK release is listed chronologically, from the very first 1964 acetate disc by the Vendors (forerunner for Slade as the band included Don Powell and Dave Hill) to the latest 2018 solo EP from Jim Lea, decades after the original Slade had packed it in.

No matter if it is a single, EP, album, box set or an acetate or test pressing, as long as it is connected to Slade, the release is examined, discussed and presented with every possible recording and package info, track descriptions, contemporary reviews and photos. This is very impressive as the research alone must have been difficult and extremely time consuming. The authors deserve nothing but respect for this work.

The book is spiced up by short biographical information about the band and its members as well as personal and sometimes funny observations by the two authors. This makes the book an energetic and entertaining read instead of a dull and repetitious catalogue.

For a hardcore Slade fan like myself this book is a must, and for others it is a unique opportunity to dig into the releases of what was one of Europe’s most successful bands in the early seventies. I bet you’ll be surprised and entertained of what you’ll find, so put on a good Slade record and start reading!

I’ll give “The Noize” five out of five stars: ***** (and it’s not due to the authors calling my official biography about Slade drummer Don Powell “the absolutely definitive Slade autobiography”, because it isn’t. It’s a biography).

Sladest

Last year Salvo re-released Slade's compilation album "Sladest" and as such a review is long overdue. My excuse is, that I didn't get my review copy until now, but better late than never as they say…

"Sladest" was originally released in 1973, just before Slade had their greatest hit ever, "Merry Xmas Everybody", so that particular song is not featured on the album. Instead you'll find a pleasant mix of hits and more obscure songs from Slade's past before they reached fame. Fourteen songs all in all from the first single they made with their manager Chas Chandler "Wild Winds Are Blowing" (1969) to Slade's number one hit Squeeze Me, Pleeze Me (1973) compiled in a non-chronological running order.

Salvo's version includes four bonus tracks: the three 1973 tunes "My Friend Stan", "My Town", "Kill 'Em At The Hot Club Tonight" and a rare studio recording of Slade's cover version of Ten Years After's "Hear Me Calling". If you're a Slade, fan you've probable heard all of the songs on the album before, but this studio recording that was recently discovered on a vinyl acetate, is something new and well worth the price of the album, more tightly structured and with an interesting double vocal from Noddy Holder and Jim Lea.

The album comes complete with photos, original liner notes by Bob Houston from 1973 and new liner notes by Chris Ingham. As usually the tracks are beautifully remastered by Tim Turan at Turan Audio.

A weekend in Norway

Last weekend I spent in Norway. I’d never been there before, but as I’d helped with getting Don to attend a screening of Flame before a Slade-gig in Haugesund, I was given a free trip with flight and hotel paid for by the promoter.
On Friday the 23rd of May I then flew from Copenhagen to Haugesund in a small Fokker 50. When I arrived, the Norwegian fans Lars Ove and Jostein were there to greet me. We drove directly to the Classic Rock Festival in Sandnes by Stavanger, an almost 3 hours drive, which included sailing with a ferry, driving underneath the fjords in huge tunnels and watching the breathtaking nature.
When we arrived at the festival, Slade went on stage shortly after. They gave a fantastic concert – I’ve actually never seen them that energetic on stage before and the 7,000 people strong audience appreciated it.
After the concert I went to a restaurant with Lars Ove and Jostein to have dinner before meeting up with Don and the rest at the festival Super VIP lounge. It was so nice seeing them all again and they were in a very good mood. Robin was there too, of course, as well as Dave’s son Sam, John’s wife Anna and Slade’s manager Abbie Carter. We all wanted to see the Rod Stewart concert at the festival later that evening, but it was a bit disappointing, as Rod Stewart has gone totally cabaret. We all left before his show was over.
Slade were staying in Stavanger for the night, but Lars Ove drove me all the way to Haugesund where I got a beautiful hotel room in a very nice hotel down by the water front. At 3 a.m. I could finally turn in.
After having breakfast the next morning I went sight seeing in Haugesund, which is a very charming town. At noon Slade arrived, but as they couldn’t check in at the hotel until 3 o’clock we all went to dinner at a nearby restaurant. After check-in I went with Don to sound-check before the screening of Flame. Both Don and Dave went to the screening to sign autographs and meet the fans. Dave then had to leave after a while, but Don and I stayed for the entire screening. It was nice seeing the film in the company of the Norwegian fans.
Slade went on stage at the Byscenen club in Haugesund at 10 p.m. and Lars Ove and Jostein had arranged for me to have a seat on the balcony overlooking the venue. The concert was again very good and it was totally sold out. After the show I met up with the band, Robin, Sam, Anna and Abbie backstage. We stayed there until the venue closed and then we continued having a private after party at the hotel. It was wonderful sitting outside by the water in the twilight, as it didn’t really get dark at all.
I went to bed at 4 a.m. and got up again at 10 to have breakfast. Then I sat outside the hotel with Don having tea until Jostein showed up around noon to take me to the airport. When we arrived at the Haugesund airport we found out, that all flights to Denmark had been cancelled, but I was put on a plane to Oslo and from there on to Copenhagen where I arrived with only 90 minutes delay.
It was such a fantastic weekend and I want to thank Lars Ove, Jostein and the promoter Helge Berthelsen for making it possible. Also a big thank you to Don, Dave, John, Mal, Robin, Sam, Anna and Abbie for the very pleasant and entertaining company.

Slade-drummer Don Powell writes children’s book

The Adventures of Bibble Brick is the title of Don Powell’s children’s book that is now available from Amazon in both an e-book and a hardcover edition.

The 76 years old drummer who rose to fame with the seventies’ British glam rock band Slade, wrote the original manuscript in the sixties, but apart from the chapters being printed as a serial in the Slade fan magazine in the seventies, it has never been published. Not until now, where Don and I have teamed up. We have been friends for 17 years and the last time we worked together was on the 2018 updated version of Don’s official biography “Look Wot I Dun”, which I wrote back in 2013.

In the biography Don revealed that he was twenty-two when he wrote The Adventures of Bibble Brick. “I’d always had the idea, even when I was a teenager, to do something that appealed to both children and adults,” he explained. “Because when I was a young child, I used to sit with my father, watching cartoons, and I couldn’t understand why he was laughing at different things than the ones that I was laughing at. I was laughing at the obvious things, but Dad was laughing at something else, and I didn’t get it until I started to get older. Then I could see the humour, things that appealed to him, and that was really what inspired me to write it.”

Together Don and I have rewritten the story from the sixties to make it more up to date without it losing its original charm, humour, and quirkiness. It is beautifully illustrated by Mark Millicent, a US-based British illustrator. He was hand-picked for the job by Don and me in a competition held in 2021.

The Adventures of Bibble Brick tells the story of the pebble Bibble who leaves the beach to see for himself how it is to live on shore. Here he ends up in the entourage of a prize fighter, where he makes new friends and fights against the bad guys.

The story is still wonderfully inappropriate for younger children with its boxing theme, drunken night club scenes and a very sexy spider. It is not your ordinary bedtime story, but both young and old Slade fans are sure to love it, especially as the observant reader will be able to spot some points of similarity between the main characters and the members of the original Slade.

 

Slade in Aarslev

Saturday Tea and I went to a Slade-concert at a Glam Rock Festival in Danish town Aarslev. It was just so great! I spent the day with Don and Hanne and a lot of other nice people and Tea just had the time of her life! She's very fond of Slade, especially Dave and Don and I got some great pics of her sitting on Don's lap.
When it was time for Slade to go on stage Tea insisted on holding Don's hand, and it was just so cute seeing the two of them, hand in hand, trotting off towards the venue in the twilight. And finally when it was time to go home Tea got her long-awaited kiss on the hand from Don. She was one happy girl.
Tea had made drawings for everybody in the band and they all appreciated it a lot, maybe especially Dave. During Slade's concert he suddenly got Tea on stage with him and the two of them dance around in front of the audience! He even gave her a little peck on the cheek before she went off stage. To Tea it was no big deal, but I was really amazed. What a wonderful day! Thanks a lot, guys!

Slade in Koege, Denmark

On Saturday the 30th of August Slade gave a concert as part of the Koege Festival Week. It was a wonderful, sunshiny day, very different from what we’d been used to, as it had been pouring down with rain most of the week. I met up with Don and Hanne at the town square of Koege at 5 p.m. They had brought Rocky, their dog, and as some of you know Rocky has had an accident so he was still wearing a cast. Five weeks earlier Rocky had been hit by both a car and a trailer and had come out off it very badly. He’d lost his tail and hurt both hind legs, one of them so badly that part of the bone had actually been scraped away. A main artery had burst and it was nothing short of a miracle that he survived, but he did, and after two operations and new ligaments in the one leg, he should be as good as new as soon as the wounds heal.
Anyway, Rocky limped about the backstage area minded by one of Hanne and Don’s friends. I bumped into Heine, a Slade-fan I have known for a couple of years, and we set out to enjoy the day. The rest of the guys turned up shortly after, all in a good mood, kissing and hugging and joking. We had dinner, the guys were signing autographs, doing interviews, greeting the fans etc. etc.
Slade went on stage a little past 8 p.m., this way being the first band to use the lights. The town square was packed, this being a free concert, mind you, and as soon as Don entered stage, the crowd was up and going. I was pretty pleased that I was able to watch the concert from an enclosed area for people with backstage passes, otherwise I’m sure I would have been squashed!
It was a truly magic concert and I’m sure the audience would have liked it to continue, but there were two more names on the bill, so the guys cleared out. Heine headed back home but I spent a couple of hours backstage with Don, Hanne, the band, Tim and Robin and the usual gang. A great night out, to be sure.

Slade again

Saturday I went to yet another Slade-concert, this time in the town of Næstved and this time on my own without Tea. It was my 1-years anniversary with the "new" Slade, so it was pretty special to me. As usual they gave a great concert and as usual I had a great time hanging out with Don backstage before the concert and at the after party. And his lady Hanne was as usual ever so nice to me. She even gave me a Slade keyring. A nice little anniversary present! She and Don also equipped me with some of Don's drumsticks for a friend's son. You're the best, you two!!

Time flies

I’m sorry it has taken me SOOO long to get back to this diary, but things are just too hectic at the moment. As usual my back problems don’t help, so a lot of the time I’m just not able to do anything and whenever I am, I spend the time on Don’s biography. Since I wrote on this blog last I’ve interviewed Dave Hill of Slade, Slade’s sound engineer Robin Lavender, Andy Scott of Sweet and Francis Rossi of Status Quo. I’ve also had quotes from Jim Lea, Jona Lewie and Craig Fenney and I’m in e-mail contact with Henry Weck, Suzi Quatro, Keith Altham and Len Tuckey. Furthermore I went to London in October to borrow scrip writer Andrew Birkin’s 1,004 negatives of Slade from the US tour in 1974.
I’m off to Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Bilston next week and upon my return I hope to finally get the time to prepare for Christmas…

Slade concerts

Two weekends in a row I went to Slade-concerts. The first one was in the town of Aalborg on February 4th. It was a great, intimate concert at a small venue and everybody had such a great time. February 4th was also my 2 years anniversary with the new incarnation of Slade and Hanne and Don had brought me a promo T-shirt of the original line-up. Thank you so much, guys!
The weekend after I then went to the town of Aarhus on February 10th. Here the concert took place in a huge sports arena and although the concert itself was smashing everything else was a big chaotic. Nice afterparty, though!
I must admit that going out two weekends in a row was very hard on my back and I guess that in the future I’m not going to concerts so close to each other. Better have a month or two in between!

Another Slade-gig in Denmark

Slade did another gig in Denmark, this time at The Nord-Als Festival on June 10. The festival was beautifully situated at Nordborg Castle and Slade played the Park Stage with a wonderful view over a lake.
But it was sooo hectic! The guys had played in Holland the night before and they didn't have any sleep before going on stage in Denmark. They were delayed upon arrival, so the concert also had to be delayed. The concert itself was hilarious and a huge success. Not until after it was over did Don have the time to say hello to me. I then went to the castle with Hanne, Don and the rest of the band where we had a bit to eat, before they guys went home to sleep. Hectic but nice.

Slade-gig near Skive

Last Saturday I went to a Slade-gig near Skive in Denmark. I brought my daughter Tea for the first time and she LOVED it!! She was amazed getting into the big, empty venue during sound-check. She danced and sang along during the concert. She caught one of Don's broken drumsticks, when he threw it out into the audience from stage. She proposed to Dave Hill in the dressing room and had her picture taken with him. And Don kissed her hand when we went home. She can't wait to go again! P.S. Her Mom had a great time, too. More on that on my Slade-blog.

A visit and a play

Last Tuesday I visited Slade-drummer Don Powell. We had lunch, worked for a while and did a bit of chatting. In the evening Don and his girlfriend took me to the town of Herning where we attended the dress rehearsal for the play "Oliver T." that features Slade's music. It was quite amazing, especially the singer was wonderful. He's the one in the middle with the black top hat on the photo down below. You can read more about the play on my Slade-blog and my Jim Lea-blog. Thanks for a lovely day, you 2!

Once again: Slade

Saturday the 20th of August I went to the third and final Slade-concert this August in Denmark in connection with work. It had its good sides and its bad. Bad sides first: the train was late, I couldn't find the darn place (Ølstykke Stadium), I had hundreds of mosquitos-bites and worst of all: most of my photos turned out crap. Good sides: I had a great time with Don Powell and the rest, good music, beautiful night and on my way home I ran into Per Christensen, a big Slade-fan who'd taken some good pics and even had the heart to let me use them. Thanks a lot, Per!

Slade concert

I went to a Slade concert yesterday in the Danish town Vissenbjerg in connection with the articles I am doing on their drummer Don Powell at the moment. It was a great experience and I am currently working on an account of the evening, that will go on my Slade-blog as soon as the rest of the photos are ready.

Finally the Don Powell interview has been made

Friday Don Powell finally came by to do the interview. His Danish girlfriend drove him to my house and we had lunch and a long chat accompanied by thunder and rain before I did some 50 photos of him. Don was great to talk to. We came all the way around drums, the original Slade, the present Slade, new singer Mal MacNulty, more drums, song writing, ladies' gloves, festivals, even more drums, Don's musical preferences, Slade's 40 years anniversary, drum machines and some more drums. He's a funny guy, I really laughed myself silly, so it was great working with him. When transcribing the interview from the Dictaphone it ended up being 16 pages long, so I have my work cut out for me the next couple of weeks.

Play nicely!

"I've been in print for 29 years and I've always been met with respect and love which I give back in my art. That connection is sacred to me." This quote is from Twitter, written by my writer colleague Clive Barker, but it could as well have been written by me. Clive Barker and I both had our debut in 1983 and after all these years he is now disappointed that somebody has opened a FB page pretending to be him, thereby betraying his respect and love. As for me, I'm disappointed because of the increasing insults, harassment and threats I receive from Slade fans on FB and elsewhere. I know you are frustrated because Don Powell's biography hasn't been published yet, and believe me, so am I, but this is not a reason to harm and hurt the person who has worked extremely hard over the past years in order to give you this biography! In fact, when I read the bad things you write about me, I wonder if it has been worth writing this book at all, as obviously some of you don't appreciate the work that went into it.

First of all you have to realise that this book is not a flimsy biography pieced together in three months by a ghost writer in order to make money. This book is a thorough account of Don's life, not just as a Slade drummer, but as a person who has had to overcome huge obstacles in his life in order to get to where he is today. The book is based on more than 50 hours of interviews with Don as well as 20 years of diaries and interviews with and contributions from 28 of Don's friends, colleagues and family members. Do you have any idea how long it takes to read through all these diaries, make all these interviews and put it all together in a way that is both entertaining and informative? No matter how hard I have worked, it should be obvious that you can't do this within a year or two. Especially as many of the interviews have been with touring musicians with full schedules, making it quite common that I sometimes had to wait a year or two to secure the interviews.

Furthermore you have to understand the process of publishing. Although we had a publisher interested at an early stage, the delays in working with the biography made the publisher back away as the book no longer fitted into their schedule. Publishing houses have schedules, you know, as their publications are planned years ahead, and if you don't fit into the slot, you are bumped back and have to wait another couple of years before the book fits in again. We decided to take the book elsewhere so that we didn't have to wait until 2015 or something to get the book out. Furthermore most British publishing houses don't accept unsolicited manuscripts, so with the first publisher gone, we had to find an agent, but agents are like publishing houses: they have schedules. The agents we have talked to so far have all been very positive regarding the biography, calling it "well written" and "very readable" and telling us that they "reluctantly have decided that [we] just don’t have the time to represent you. Which is a pity." We are still negotiating with 4 agents, and hopefully one of them will have the time soon.

Why don't you just publish the biography independently, you could ask. Well, the book contains 34 photos of which professional photographers own the copyright to at least half of them, demanding up to £400 per photo and that is way out of our league. We need a publishing house to deal with that and furthermore we need a publishing house to back the promotion, book signing tours etc. so indie publishing is out of the question.

Due to the delay in the publishing of Don's book, some of you have started wondering about how professional I really am and thinking that I'm not worthy to write the book. Well, if I wasn't a professional and if I wasn't worthy, do you think Don would have picked me? Besides, could you have done it better? Reading 7,300 hand-written diary pages, conducting 80 interviews, spending days on end researching and writing a 300 page biography in 5 years while dealing with a severe handicap (yes, as of 2008 I've been an invalid) and being a single parent of a teenager is not bad in my opinion.

Don and I have aimed at giving you the best biography possible, the most honest, precise and entertaining account of his life. We have met obstacles and delays, we have been (and are) as frustrated as you, but we couldn't have done it any other way. I know it is hard to be patient, but we are so close now, that the increasing harassment is really a slap in the face. We start to wonder if what you want is not that precise and honest account? Would you rather have the usual drivel that we all know by heart and that we could all have written down and self-published within a few months? I hope not, because if that is the case, all our hard work has been in vain.

Anyway, I started the Don Powell biography blog in order for you to follow the progress of the book so that you didn't have to wonder what was happening to it, now that you've had to wait so long for it to be published. I did it as a service to you, but now some of you have turned it against me and use the blog (and FB) to harass me instead. I'm afraid that if this continues, I'll have to close the blog, as I don't need that kind of hatred. Couldn't we just play nicely instead, bringing back the respect and love we all deserve? I hope so. I truely hope so.

Below you'll find my biography interview/meetings schedule from the past years. That'll hopefully give you some idea of why you've had to wait so long for the biography to be published and why you are still waiting:

2006:
March: Don asks me to write his biography
July: talks about the biography
August: talks about the biography

2007:
January: first interview session with Don
March: interview session with Don
May: interview session with Don
September: interview session with Don
November: interview session with Don
December: interview w. Carol (Don's sister)
December: interview w. Gerald (Don's brother-in-law)
December: interview w.  Johnny Howells ('N Betweens)
December: interview w. Mick Marson ('N Betweens)
December: interview w. Carole Williams (friend and former fan-club secretary)
December: interview w. Vicky Pearson (friend and former hairdresser)

2008:
January: Two interview sessions with Don
February: I receive Don's diaries and I'm finally able to start writing
March: interview w. Graham "Swinn" Swinnerton (school friend and former tour manager)
April: interview session with Don
May: interview session with Don
July: interview session with Don
July: Q&A with Andrew Birkin (screenwriter)
August: Q&A with Jim Lea
September: interview session with Don
October: interview w. Dave Hill
October: interview w. Robin Lavender (front of house)
October: Q&A with Craig Fenney (former Slade)
November: interview session with Don
December: interview w. Francis Rossi (Status Quo)

2009:
January: contribution from Henry Weck (Brownsville Station)
January: contribution from Suzi Quatro
January: contribution from Keith Altham (journalist)
February: interview session with Don
April: interview w. Tim Ramage (tour manager)
March: contribution from Bob Young (Status Quo)
March: contribution from Len Tuckey (former manager)
June: interview w. Anne Kirstine (Don's stepdaughter)
June: interview w. Andreas (Don's stepson)
June: interview w. Haden Donovan (former tour manager)
June: interview w. Dave Donovan (former driver)
July: second Q&A with Jim Lea
September: interview session with Don
November: interview w. Andy Scott (Sweet)
November: contribution from Jona Lewie

2010:
February: interview w. Emilie (Don's stepdaughter)
May: interview session with Don
August: interview session with Don
November: Don finds 6 years of missing diaries
November: deadline not met due to missing diaries. We have to start over finding a new publisher

2011:
March: contribution from Gene Simmons (Kiss)
April: interview session with Don
July: I'm handed the missing diaries and start working on them
September: contribution from Ric Lee (Ten Years After)
October: last interview session with Don

2012:
February: approach from British publisher. Agents advise against this particular publisher
February: Proof meeting with Don
March: Don finishes proof reading the biography
March: the proofs are returned from our 2 "professional" proof readers
April: the book is finally finished
June: agent's delay. New agent needed if the book is to be published this side of 2015.
September: negotiations with new agents