Don and Rocky enjoying each other's company

Don Powell bio update

More people interviewed for Don's bio:
Haden Donovan
Dave Donovan
2 of Don's 3 step-children (the third one will be on later)

Don and his sweets

Spot the rainbow!

Backstage

Ray Sawyer and me

Tim introducing Slade

Slade on stage

Tim on stage

Violin

I wonder if they shave their armpits??

Mal, Dave and John

Well, if it isn't John!

Sticks in the air

Hands in the air, too

BOOTS!!

Bye, all!

Slade in Korsoer, Denmark

On the 21st of May Slade played a festival in Danish town Korsør with an audience of 10,000. Among the other artists on the bill were Sweet, Rubettes and Dr. Hook, but Slade was to close the festival at 11 p.m. Because they were on so late, my daugter Tea and I decided not to spend the whole day there, so we didn’t take the train from Odense until five o’clock.
It’s only half an hours drive between Odense and Korsoer, but what we didn’t know was that it took 45 minutes to walk from the train station to the festival grounds! So it was past six before we arrived.
We quickly spotted Hanne and some other friends (and Rocky, the dog, of course!), so we went over to say hello. Don was somewhere out front talking to some fans, so it took a while before he came backstage. When finally he showed up someone had fetched him a big bowl of sweets so the next couple of hours we spent in a tent backstage eating sweets and drinking tea, while Tea did a cart wheel competition with some of the local crew outside. It was so funny!
We’d been told that it would rain all day, but we were lucky, no rain, but a beautiful rainbow instead!
The rest of the band turned up around nine and I had a nice chat with Dave. Then when Dr. Hook went on I got on the side of the stage to watch them. I’d never seen them live before, but they were amazing! And Ray Sawyer was ever so funny. Afterwards when he came off stage he went directly over to Tea and me to say hello. What a nice man! I even had my photo taken with him.
Finally it was time for Slade to set up on stage and what happened? The rain started to pour down. Tim, Robin, Don and the rest ran around moving things so that the equipment wouldn’t get wet. But then 15 minutes later the rain was gone and Slade were ready to go on at 11.15 p.m.
The set list was as follows:
We’ll Bring The House Down
Take Me Bak ‘Ome
Lock Up Your Daughters
Far Far Away
Everyday
Red Hot
‘Coz I Luv You
Run Runaway
My Oh My
Gudbuy T’Jane
Mama Weer All Crazee Now
Get Down And Get With It
And for the encore:
Cum On Feel The Noize
Yes, you’re right. There was no Merry Xmas Everybody. Things were running late, so they had to leave it out.
Great concert anyway although there were a few problems, so Tim had to go on stage. Once to fasten John’s guitar strap and once to help out with Dave’s guitar. Slade did their usual funny routines on stage, dancing around, pulling funny faces and having a bit of a banter between them. Mal thanked the crowd for waiting so long to see them. His bass was REALLY good on CILY, by the way! The audience went nuts when Dave brought out his Super Yob guitar and all in all it was a very good crowd that night. John was actually drying his eyes in mock-despair when they were to leave the stage, but as usual it was Don who really had the audience laughing.
When he went on stage again for the encore, he tripped, then quickly made up for it by pulling down his trousers (the elastic in his trousers had burst before he went on stage) – just enough for the audience to see his left butt cheek. Then he pranced around on the way to his drums. People were roaring with laughter!
As soon as Slade had finished, the local crew started to take down the stage and drive the audience off the grounds. That way we only spent half an hour in Slade’s trailer afterwards and when we left we were the only ones around.
We then walked all the way to the station (and got a little lost on the way), but at the station we met hard-core fans Per and Kirsten and we took the train back with them and their friends. We were back home around 2 a.m., so it was straight to bed! Thanks for a nice night out, all! See you again in August.

Don in front of his new house in Denmark, March 2009

Don biography update

Whoa! It’s been a long time since I’ve updated this blog! Sorry for that, but things have been quite complicated here with health, life, the universe and everything. But anyway….
A lot of people ask what is happening to Don’s biography and the answer is: it’s well on its way! It’s taken a lot longer to do than first expected as it has been very hard to get the different interviews within the original time-frame. But now things should ease up a bit. While you’re waiting here’s a list of the people who have contributed to Don’s bio so far:
- Don’s sister Carol
- Johnny Howells and Mick Marson (former ’N Betweens members)
- Carole Williams (The ’N Betweens very first fan club secretary)
- Vicky Pearson (her cousin who also acted as The ’N Betweens’ hair dresser)
- Tim Ramage and Robin Lavender (present Slade crew)
And then some guys (and gal) who shouldn’t need any further introduction:
- Keith Altham
- Andrew Birkin
- Craig Fenney
- Dave Hill
- Jim Lea
- Jona Lewis
- Suzi Quatro
- Francis Rossi
- Andy Scott
- Graham “Swinn” Swinnerton
- Len Tuckey
- Henry Weck
- Bob Young
The book WILL be finished this year, but for now I don’t know exactly WHEN it will be published. I’ll keep you posted! Until then I’ll try to keep in touch when my health, life, the universe and everything allow it!

2009 index

March:
March 24: Don biography update

May:
May 27: Slade in Korsoer, Denmark

June:
June 29: Don Powell bio update

(Mal), Don and Dave pointing at Mick/Mick and Chris pointing at each other (you can just see Chris' finger!)

Mal...was his voice going to hold up?

John and Mal at The Robin

Dave on stage

CILY: John, Dave and Mal

Don was there, too

Long John (Silver?)

Tim watching from the side

MXE - Don

Mal with plait

The canine crooner KOR

Slade in Bilston, December 10th

As always I was in Birmingham earlier this month and as it is only a short way away from Wolverhampton and thereby also Bilston I went to see Slade in concert at the Robin 2 on December 10th.
At 4.30 I met up with Don at the venue where he was doing the sound-check with sound engineer Robin and Tim - ”the guy who does the guitars and all the yelling” – as he put it!
Don came down to say hi and ask about how things went in Birmingham (don’t ask!). Shortly after somebody sneaked up on me from behind and gave me a scare and a hug; Dave Hill had entered the building. John and Mal came in a little later and like everybody else (except Don) they both had a massive cold. I think Robin, Tim and Mal were the most affected, Tim and Mal with their voices almost gone. Robin told me that they’d caught it from T. Rextacy who’d had to cancel their concert the day before.
The guys did their sound check, then we all went back to their hotel in Wolverhampton, Don and Tim in the front, Mal and Robin in the middle and John and me in the back with John’s curry! Fun ride with Don pointing out all the old Slade-related sights to the rest of the band – I knew them in advance!
Don and I had dinner together in the hotel restaurant while the rest of the guys attended to their colds. It was nice catching up with Don as we hadn’t seen each other for three weeks. We talked a lot about the guys I have been interviewing lately for Don’s biography, among others Francis Rossi from Status Quo and Andy Scott from Sweet. We also talked about the very nice Sutton Coldfield-area of Birmingham where I had just spent the past couple of days, Don saying that Slade’s old tour manager Swinn once had a house there.
When Tim and Robin came down to eat, Don went to his room to wash up and I hung out with the guys until it was time to leave for the Robin 2 at 8.30 p.m. At the venue we met up with Mick Marson, the former ‘N Betweens guitarist, as well as Carole Williams, the guys’ first fan club secretary, and her cousin Vicky Pearson. It was so nice to see them all again. Then Don and I went into the audience to look for Don’s nephew, but it took a while before Don found him and instead we bumped into my friend Chris whom I had arranged to meet at the venue. He went backstage with us, as he knows Mick and the rest as well.
When the guys started to change into their stage clothes, Chris and I went down the venue again and I ran into Dave’s son Sam at the bar. Nice haircut, Sam! Then people started to march by and I met up with Lee, Keith, Mark, John (JC), Doug, Fran, Claire, Gaz and the rest, very nice seeing you all again!!
Slade were on at 10.05 p.m., nobody knew what that 05 was all about, the band finding it positively weird. But despite colds, runs and no voices the guys delivered a fantastic show! The set list was (we know it by heart now, don’t we:)
We’ll Bring The House Down
Take Me Bak ‘Ome
Far Far Away
Everyday
Red Hot
‘Coz I Luv You
Run Runaway
My Oh My
Goodbye T’Jane
Mama Weer All Crazee Now
Get Down And Get With It
and for the encores:
Cum On Feel The Noize
Merry Xmas Everybody
It’s always a bit special seeing Slade in Bilston, as it is their home grounds, the audience very loud, very drunk and in a total party-mood. It’s really a lot of fun and the guys seemed to have fun on stage as well despite their health-problems! The songs needed no introduction, so when introducing a song like Far Far Away, Mal would go, “I say, you know what to do next!” As usual the guys took the mickey out of each other on stage, Mal looking in disbelieve at Dave during his solos, Don yelling his usual lines behind the drums, John making fun of Dave’s height etc. etc. It was a really great show. In the midst of it all I met my good friend Dee who gave me canine crooner, a toy dog singing Merry Xmas Everybody with Noddy’s voice and a quivering lower jaw like Whitney Houston!
After the show I talked a bit with Marc Michalski, the bass player of Mud II (I usually do when in Bilston), then Dee went backstage with me to say hello to the guys. At that point I was actually a bit worried that I had caught the flu from the guys and Mal jokingly called it “The Slade Fever” and started to imagine me bringing it to Denmark! In the end I turned out to be fine. The guys had a good laugh about the canine crooner, by the way!
After midnight I went back to the hotel with the guys for a night cap, but I had to leave pretty soon, as I was to make my way back to Birmingham – and the airport – at 7 a.m. the next morning!
Anyway, as usual it had been a brilliant night out in Bilston and I hope to see you all again next year. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you all!!!

Far Far Away on RTL

The weather forecast for Tokyo...

...or McDonald's?

Slade on German Television

On Friday the 21st of November Slade appeared on German RTL in the programme ”Die ultimative Chartshow”. The show was about comebacks and the guys landed on place 16 in a chart of biggest comebacks in Germany with Far Far Away that went into the German Top Ten in 1993
Slade performed Far Far Away on the show, followed by an interview with Don and Dave about touring, combacks, Reading and Don’s spandex trousers.
The funniest part of the interview was when the guys put on those “ear” microphones enabling them to get the English translation of what the moderator was saying in German. The moderator, German Oliver Geissen, asked if they could hear him to which Don replied, “I get the weather forecast for Tokyo!”
I think he got the biggest applause of the evening for that remark. When the applause had died down the moderator turned out to be as quick-witted as Don, going, “Newly we had, Welcome to McDonald’s, can I take your order?”, which made Don laugh out loud. Nice one.

Hanne with Mal, Don and John

Dave with manager Abbie Carter

Rocky the miracle dog

Tim and Don doing sound check

Let me hear ya, Koege!

Back to back to back

CILY

Fluttering their wings....

Get in line

Psychedelic!

Superyobs on stage

Drum sticks in the air

Karate Kid John

Don in a sweaty situation

The MC and Don

How low can you go?

Tim on stage right

Loads of Xmas hats

Notice the Irish flag on Johns back

Goodnight, Koege!

Slade in Koege, Denmark

On Saturday the 30th of August Slade gave a concert as part of the Koege Festival Week. The whole town had been celebrating for a week and Saturday was turned into a music festival with loads of names playing, most of them noted Danish acts, but also some foreign, among them Lutricia McNeal and Slade.
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 made my way from Odense to Koege – a three hours trip by various trains – and 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. Sounds familiar, eh? 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!
The set list seemed familiar:
We’ll Bring The House Down
Take Me Bak ’Ome
Lock Up Your Daughters
Squeeze Me Pleeze Me
Far Far Away
Everyday
Red Hot
’Coz I Luv You
Run Runaway
My Oh My
Gudbuy T’Jane
Mama Weer All Crazee Now
Get Down And Get With It
and the encores:
Cum On Feel The Noize
Merry Xmas Everybody
There wasn’t much banter from stage, but instead the guys seemed to have taken to slapstick, fooling around more than usual. The crowed spurred them along, which made them they get more silly then usual, which again made the crowd spur them along even further. It all spiralled up to the climax of MXE and made it one of the best Slade-concerts that I have attended.
The sound was deafening, though, so everybody had to wear earplugs. Very early on in the concert, Don broke a snaredrum, but nobody seemed to notice preoccupied as the audience was in singing along and having a good time.
During Red Hot Dave started doing his usual jumps and leaps and behind him Mal started imitating him. Dave realising that, made up even more jumps for Mal to imitate. Mal was, by the way, sporting a cap that brought back memories of a very early Noddy Holder.
Dave did a new batch of jumps during CILY but this time he accidentally bumped into John. Tim Ravage, who was back roadie-ing for Slade, immediately ran on stage and kicked Dave in his behind.
The concert sported a superb light show and when My Oh My started, the backdrop behind Don lit up in psychedelic swirling patterns. Very impressive from where I was standing. Mal introduced Gudbuy To Jane as one of his favourite Slade-songs, John mincing along the stage to the intro and Mal had the entire crowd convincing Dave that “he’s so young”. Afterwards Mal said, “You’re a crazy crowd and you really spur us along.”
Mama saw another wild psychedelic pattern take off behind Don and the expression on John’s face when Dave did his usual thing, sticking his hand between John’s legs, made Mal laugh so hard that he could hardly sing.
Get Down included the usual audience participation and when Mal shouted, “Everybody get out of their seats,” Don loudly protested, “No!!” He was the only person at the concert to actually have a seat. When people raised their hands in the air, Mal chuckled a loud, “Halleluja”, and for the boots in the air, John did his crane-thing. It’s really amazing how long he can uphold that position, so if ever he’s out of a job, I’m sure they can use him in Karate Kid.
When Slade went off stage a Danish MC entered, trying to spur the audience into demanding an encore. No need, everybody was screaming for more. The MC took a hell of a time and in the end Don just walked on stage behind him while he was still talking. The cheering from the crowd made the MC aware of Don’s presence and he quickly removed himself. Dave walked on stage in his Christmas Hat, but now Tim emerged again with a hat for Don and one for Mal as well. Don put his on without resistance, but Mal ran for it. He had Tim chasing him all over stage until Tim finally cornered him behind the drums and stuck the hat on his head. The tassel was dangling in front of Mal’s nose and he kept it there for a long while, puffing it away during the song.
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 Hanne, the band, Tim and Robin and the usual gang. Main subjects of the evening were Rocky of course, a stubborn draught beer machine and worries about Don’s mental health (sorry, Don, but you just looked so funny, when René was worrying about you!)
The party broke up around eleven, Hanne and Don driving back home, the rest of the guys heading for the hotel and me on my way to Copenhagen. I made it to Copenhagen all right, but I hadn’t been aware that George Michael had given a farewell concert there the same night. The result was a packed train back to Odense, we even had to wait at the station for half an hour because some of the staff hadn’t returned from the concert yet. All the way had problems closing the doors at stations, because of the amount of people on the train and not until 4 o’clock was I bak ‘ome. But it had been a great show, a great night out and it’s a shame that the guys probably won’t be back in Denmark until next year.
P.S. Today is Don’s birthday. Happy birthday, Don! I just spoke to him on the phone and he said they had a great show in Moscow last weekend as well. It was very hot over there, 27° C, and the first time Don had seen the city in sunshine.

Don in Roedkaersbro, Denmark

The guitars

John and Mal

John and Dave

Dave and Don

Slade in Roedkaersbro, Denmark

On August 23, Slade played in Roedkaersbro, Denmark. I wasn’t present myself, but hardcore fan Per Christensen sent me a few pics and a report. Slade went on stage at 8.30 p.m., they were in high spirits and the crowds loved them. During the second song Don’s drums were about to fall off the drum rise, so the crew had to put concrete bricks in front of his bass drum. Per said, that the guys had fun on stage and the audience had a great time. Thanks for the pics, Per!

Their divine mission is to wake the dead

US ad

When in Norway in May I saw an amusing American Slade ad that was displayed in the window of Shabby Records in Haugesund. With the help from my friend Jostein I have now obtained a scan of it. Hope you enjoy it.

Don in Taarnby

Mal

John

Dave

Dave on John on stage

John, Mal and the pillar

Dave inciting the audience

Guitars

Mal and Dave in front of the pillar

John and Don giggling

Eat your heart out, Hendrix!

Get your hands in the air

John is splitting

Dave in Kirsten's Christmas hat

Does he bite?

No, he didn't!

Tea in the prop room

Don and Tea

Slade in Taarnby, Denmark

On June 27 Slade gave a concert in Taarnby by Copenhagen in Denmark. As my daughter Tea and I were on holiday in Copenhagen anyway, we took the train to Taarnby to see the concert.
We arrived at the venue – Kroegers House situated beneath the Strike Bowling Alley – around 7.30 p.m. and Don was already busy with the sound check. We talked a bit with Hanne, then the other guys arrived and they continued to do sound check until almost 9 o’clock when the doors were opened.
Slade had their dinner while the venue was filling up. It wasn’t that big a place, so it got quite crowded. I talked to Don and the rest backstage for a while and we had some comical situations, as there was no toilet backstage. Then Tea and I went out front to say hello to some of our old friends, among them hard-core fans Per and Kirsten. Kirsten had to lend Dave her Christmas hat, as he had forgotten his. Mikael Helmuth from the Team Theatre was there as well as several other friends and fans and I met both old and new acquaintances.
Slade went on stage at 10 p.m. and played for 75 minutes. The set list was:
We’ll Bring The House Down
Take Me Bak ‘Ome
Lock Up Your Daughters
Squeeze Me Pleeze Me
Far Far Away
Everyday
Red Hot
‘Coz I Luv You
Run Runaway
My Oh My
Gudbuy T’Jane
Mama Weer All Crazee Now
Get Down And Get With It
and the encores
Cum On Feel The Noize
Merry Xmas Everybody
The concert didn’t really resemble any I have seen so far, mainly because of bad acoustics and a pillar that was placed at the centre of the stage. Mal had to stand on a forward part of the stage in front of the pillar and Don had to sit behind it. Most of the concert Mal played a very entertaining game of hide and seek with the rest of the band, running around the pillar shouting “Peek-a-boo”!
The guys were in a great mood and that affected the audience, of course. When introducing Mama Mal asked the usual question of “are you crazy?” and when the audience gave the usual confirming answer, he replied, “I have to go home, then.” Usually Dave sticks his hand between John’s legs during Mama, but this time he didn’t, to John’s big surprise. It was funny to watch when you knew the act in advance.
When we got to Get Down everybody was to get their hands in the air of course, and Don signalled to Hanne who watched the concert from the wings to get her bloody hands in the air. Hilarious! The guys were at their craziest during Get Down with Dave and John dancing and Mal licking Dave’s guitar in the attempt to try to play it with his tongue. When Mal then announced, “I’m afraid we have to go,” the audience shouted their usual, “No!” but behind the drums Don shouted, “Yes!” just as loud!
For the encores John sported his Union Jack jacket added the Irish flag on the back, as his wife is Irish. And of course Dave came on stage wearing Kirsten’s Christmas hat. The crowd was really up and going by then and enjoying the concert.
After the show Tea and I went backstage to chat with the guys and hang out. Part of the backstage area was a prop room, so Tea played with the props while we talked (mostly about Don’s biography) and Slade had a fan audience, letting fans in one by one to meet and greet and get autographs. At 00.30 a.m. Tea and I left for the train back to Copenhagen. The next day Slade gave another concert in Denmark, this time in Skaerbaek in a different part of the country, but Tea and I didn’t attend, as we were still enjoying our holidays in Copenhagen. But that – of course – is a whole different story!
P.S. Thank you to Per Christensen for letting me use some of his photos.

Slade in Kiel; Germany, 1978

Noddy and Dave

Jim and Dave

A bit dark...

The whole gang

Kiel 1978

Jürgen Klein from Germany sent me some photos of Slade in concert in Kiel, April 12, 1978. Jürgen wrote me, that the concert in Ball Pompös in Kiel wasn’t advertised in the papers, the only promotion was handbills stuck behind the windscreens of parked cars. The venue had a limit of 1,500, but only 500 showed up. Still Jürgen claims it the best AND loudest concert that he has ever attended. Thanks a lot for sharing, Jürgen!

The cover of Good Times

Good Times

German Good Times magazine, No. 3, June/July 2008 has a four pages article on glam rock. Although Slade are featured on the cover, they are hardly mentioned in the article. They get 5 lines on page two of the article along with a comparison between the clothes of Dave and Brian Eno and then they get the two last paragraphs of the article, stating that Slade was the only band to carry on with glam rock after the genre had died out.
The article is written from a very ”German” point of view, stating that Sweet was the most successful glam rock band, ever. Which of course they weren’t, except in Germany where Sweet singles always went to No. 1. As opposed to Slade’s, as Slade never had a No. 1 hit in that particular country.
The magazine also has two pages of ”20 essential glam singles” where ’Coz I Luv You is included. The essentiality of all of the singles are, however, difficult to spot, as some of them have no place in glam history at all.

Slade - "the antidote to cry-babies"

Rocks

The German magazine Rocks has two pages on Slade in their issue No. 3, May/June 2008. It features a short bio, pretty correct, except they name Dave the bass player of the group. It also has a page recommending eight of Slade’s albums. Slade Alive! and Old New Borrowed And Blue are named essentials, whereas Play It Loud!, The Very Best Of Slade, Slayed? and We’ll Bring The House Down are other albums mentioned. Last but not least the magazine recommends Beginnings and Nobody’s Fools, but with a warning that these albums don’t have the usual Slade-sound.

Classic Rock Festival in Sandnes

Dave at the festival in Sandnes

Jostein, Bjorn and I at the festival, May 23

Slade with their Norwegian driver

Don, Jostein and Dave, May 24