THE SLADE PAPERS ~ 1971 ~ 1976
Chas Chandler was quick to see the potential in the band as more than a hit machine and very early on he set up the bands official fan club as they continued to make headway along the road to superstardom.
Throughout the early seventies the band had one of the biggest fan bases in the Europe and many were kept in touch with what was happening with the band by way of fan club newsletters.
This, for the younger readers out there was a long long time before everyone had a Star Trek personal communicator and the internet was hardly inagineable outside the minds of scientists and boffins. Now any band can come along and instantly tap into the rest of the world and their demographic by using a myriad of social networking sites, information is instant.
In 1971 the world was a very different place and these newsletters were eagerly received by those fans of the band that had paid their dues and received their fan club membership card, stickers, assorted biographies and merchandising offers that dropped through the letter box's of thousands.
The Newsletters were written up by Di, the fictitious nom de plume of John Bright, whom Chandler had employed to run the club on behalf of the band. In 1976 these newsletters were re compiled into 'The Slade Papers' a book that was sold at a knockdown special price of 75p on the 1977 'Whatever happened To Slade' tour.
Here then are the Slade Papers..........
INTRODUCTION
“Stand by”, they said, “for a new group that will blow your mind”. “Straight,” they said, “this group is on their own”. When you hear them, then you’ll know what it really means to turn on. “Oh yah?” said I. “I’ve heard that sort of flannel before. About a million times before. And the actual number of good vibes have been few and far between”
“Just listen to the tapes” they said. nobody twisted my arm. I voluntarily tripped out.
Ambrose Slade is a new group. Well, new in the sense that their name was only recently changed by recording manager Jack Baverstock. They were originally called THE IN-BETWEENS, and they built up their reputation around the Wolverhampton area Germany and Spain.The name IN-BETWEENS was misleading - Ambrose Slade is more forthright, more together, more direct. The group is in-between nothing with an uncompromising musical approach. They go for and get a hard, driving, ruthless rock sound that can hardly be bettered for sheer tenacity and power.
Their reputation for laying on real excitement is spreading. They’ve hit the London Club scene as hard as they’ve hit other places, like Scotland and the West Country - and the London Club scene, still recovering from the impact, is generally hard to impress.Ambrose Slade is Jim Lea playing bass and lead violin that causes eyebrows to jump a little higher in surprise. Noddy Holder - rhythm guitar, Don Powell drums and Dave Hill -lead guitar. Mix that hot lot together and you create a brand of musical mayhem, extravagantly extrovert, that grabs and doesn’t let go.
PETER JONES
