ROCK 'N' VIOLENCE

'It's not destructive, people just work out through the music'

SUDDENLY IT's rock and stomp time courtesy of Slade who with their two singles 'Get Down And Get With It' and 'Coz I Luv You' have injected some youthful exuberance into a rock scene almost sagging under the heavyweights but woefully short on new contenders for the rnain titles.

Slade's only real major worry at this time is that their more immediate success on scene which takes its toll of even the most talented new arrivals - remember Free, Taste and McGuinness Flint - should not dissipate overnight and that they convince their audience there is more in their music than meets the eye. There are a number of very good reasons why this band should not fade in the preliminaries, not the least of which is their undoubted unity and the ability of musicians like bass / violinist Jimmy Lea and the aggressive vocal attack of guitarist/vocalist Noddy Holder.

Nod is a very kettle of rock from most of the over-earnest new brigade of musicians anxious to prove that they can outplay the Stones, Zeppelin or the Who overnight. He was brought up a on a steady diet of Everly Brothers at an early age when he bought his first single 'Cathy's Clown' out of his own pocket money but the crunch really came one night in Wolverhampton listening to the early Spencer Davis Group.

"They were almost underground in those days," recalled Nod with a grin. "Anyway they came on stage to applause instead of screams which I can remember was very unusual in those days. Then they opened very quietly with Spencer and Muff playing softly. "Half way through the number, just as I was beginning to ask myself what the big deal was all about, this spotty faced kid on the organ opened his mouth and screams 'AH JUS'LOVE THE WAY SHE WALKS' and I sat there with my face hanging out. I thought voices like that only came out of Georgia and the band went on to rock like mad. I just had to get myself into a group who played that loud and that good."

So you could safely say that Nod has never been the same man since that traumatic experience with Messrs Winwood and Co and if you listen to the hard edge on his vocals it's not difficult to realise the soulful quality springs from the same sort of early R&B background as Stevie. He believes that Slade's strength and sustaining power lies in its' 'stickability.'

'We want people up off their backsides'

"I've never been a great admirer of the super guitarists like Clapton, Gallagher or Lee." said Nod. "The groups who have made the greatest contribution to rock music are those like the Who who have stuck it out and built up something which was bigger than any one individual. I think we are beginning to do that - it only really comes about by sticking it out through the hard times."

Slade's early spawning ground was the rather exotic area of the Bahamas where they played for almost six months to work off a hotel bill which they had been conned with in their embryonic state as the In-Betweens. "They booked us into the best hotel on the island, people like Sean Connery stayed there. We thought great, nice of 'em to fix us up and pay for it then they sold the club and left us in the lurch. The only way we could pay for the hotel was to move out fast into a hovel and work it off.

"In a way it helped us more than anything because once you have had to put up with each other for six months living in the same room you have a fair idea about your compatability. We played everything during that period from Limbo to Moby Grape. It gave us a real musical understanding to build on." Nod still cherishes some memorable gems from the group's early days in Wolverhampton when he used to give Robert Plant and his group Listen a lift in his father's window cleaning van during the period when they had no transport.

'What we are doing is rocking'

"I remember we played one gig supporting Cream at the City Hall and 'Plantey' was on the bill as well. Even in those days he liked to move about the stage a bit but after Ginger Baker had set up his battery of drums he had no chance. He took his life in his hands and timidly asked Ginger if he would mind moving his drums so he had a bit of space!" Mr. Baker is alleged to have requested Mr. Plant to vacate the immediate vicinity or words to that effect.

You only have to see Slade on stage these days to realise that the group has something a bit extra to give from the usual new bands - they have a 'to hell with it all' attitude and good humoured aggression which is contagious. It's a good time band with the emphasis on getting everyone to enjoy and participate in the proceedings.

"We don't want rows of inanimate blobs sitting there trying to read some sort of psychological motivation into what we are doing - what we are doing is rocking - and we want people up off their backsides - and enjoying it as much as we are. We reckon if there's anyone left sitting down after we've finished that it's been a bad night.

"There is a sort of violence associated with our music but it's not a destructive type people just work out through the music. Young people have a lot of energy and we just help some of 'em get it on and work out."