my big break!!! what's yours???

Feels so doggone good doesn't it, bimp???

You must have really been on. With so many disappointments in this business, the highs are just that much higher.

The one that changed my life practically overnight was when a good friend of mine started dating the daughter of the guy who owned Contemporary Productions, a major midwestern concert promoter.

One night the promoter found out the 3rd bill for an upcoming Slade (old hard rock glam band) concert he was backing dropped off the tour. His daughter told him about us and was able to say that we had just shared the stage with a very hot regional band at the time, Fuse, (who later became Cheap Trick).

Next thing I know, I'm packing a suitcase and getting on a bus.

 

I just want to be in a band that gigs regularly. That's all I want.

 

You've played with Slade, Rick?!?

Wow. I know someone who saw all sorts of bands in the seventies - the likes of Floyd, Zeppelin, etc, and he said that Slade were one of the best bands he ever saw. Did you have any trouble understanding Noddoi an' 'ees moites?

 

Dayumm!! You've heard of them?!?!

They were a bitch to understand for us, (considerable liquor consumption didn't help).

Dave Hill was this tiny guy in silver space suits and high heeled boots playing some sort of Baldwin/Ampeg looking guitar that we never saw in the US. Loud as mortal sin!!!

The rest of the band were still doing the suspenders, short leg jeans, and bower boots thing. The second bill was BC Sweet and these guys got the audiences worked into a frenzy in every town. By the time Slade came on, they crowd was already going nuts and Slade just absolutely rocked the place - Gudby to Jane, Mommaweerallcrazeenow, C'mon baby, Let the Good Times Roll.....the hadn't come up with C'mon Feel the Noize yet (Quiet Riot did well with it in the next decade). Jim Lea, the bassist could play any dang thing, keyboards, violin....

When their money people saw the tour was turning a big profit, the shelled out some more dough to get T-Rex put on the bill and we got bumped...ouch!

 

In the past week, i've been invited into two different big bands.

 

Yeah, I've heard of Slade. They were actually pretty big in England, they just never quite managed to take off in the US. The thing they're most known for now is Merry Christmas Everyone, but Cum On Feel The Noize (notice how good their spelling was?) was quite a famous one, which Oasis also covered a few years ago.

It must have been a shame to get kicked off the tour in favour of T-Rex. Actually, did they ever make much of an impression over the pond? Marc Bolan was a big idol over here, until his last ever hit - a tree...

 

Well, after a couple of years of putzing around, I finally got a drummer who's badass. For me, thats a huge break. My singer ain't winning any vocal competitions, but I can live with that. We do need a guitarist though, and hopefully that'll happen here on Thursday....

 

IMO, it was the image that held them back from breaking big. It just didn't click over here, too esoteric in a UK sort of way. I know they had a bunch of UK hits but they had a hard time breaking the Hot 100 here.

As for the spelling - kind of beat nu metal to it by about 25-30 years, didn't they??

I remember the name of the guitars Hill used - ever heard of John Birch Guitars, yawns??? AFAIK, they were never distributed in the US. Do you know if they're still around???

Actually, it was sort of an honor to get replaced by the likes of T-Rex. They were on the verge of breaking "Bang a Gong" really big over here. It still gets classic rock radio play today, almost as much as the Power Station version.

Here's Dave Hilll, his John Birch and his haircut from that era (note the coiled telephone-type cable.....they were cool at the time but we didn't know much about wire and electricity then ).

 

thats cool bimp!.I actualy gave up about ten years ago and turned "normal" which was not for me! one day a ol' guitar buddy of mine wanted me to do some tracks on a project he was doing in Memphis and after the session I took my bass to Beal Street to see if I could jam with some real blues players(wed. night is anyone can jam night on Beal),I went into this club and the guy playing bass imediatly asked me if I would play a few with the band,I said sure and he took his bass and left,so I ended up playing with Percy Sledge for a couple of years,which was pure luck,the money was NOT great but I ate three times a day and had a ball.