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NEWS
March 2026:
PLEASE VOTE FOR JIM LEA'S 'NOSTALGIA' ON THE HERITAGE CHART here - Thank you. Don Powell re-released Let There Be Drums (a new version) and it's available from their shop here. . . . . . . . December 2025: DAVE HILL'S SOLO ALBUM - DIRTYFOOT LANE Slade guitarist Dave Hill has teamed up with music producer Django Holder - the son of his former bandmate Noddy Holder - to record his first ever solo album, which will be released in 2026. New Music Releases. Interview courtesy of ContactMusic.com Slade guitarist Dave Hill is releasing his first ever solo album next year - which he has recorded with the son of his former bandmate Noddy Holder. The 79-year-old glam rock legend is putting the finishing touches to the LP which will be called Dirtyfoot Lane - which is a real place in his hometown of Wolverhampton. Dave's best friend Noddy - who left Slade in 1992 after 26 years fronting the band - recommended he use his son Django Holder as the LP's producer and Dave says the autobiographical record is sounding fantastic and acts like the story of his life. The flamboyant guitarist has even written a song dedicated to his original Slade bandmates; singer Noddy, 79, bassist Jim Lea, 76, and drummer Don Powell, 79. In an interview with Contact Music, Dave spilled: "I've done a solo album, a very important solo album. It's true stories, slightly country, not Slade, but it has rock in there. There's songs written about my mother, I've written a song for Slade. It's a thank you to Noddy, Jim and Don, it's called Thanks For The Good Times, it's a great song. Noddy Holder's son, Django Holder, produces the album. He's 30 years of age, he's a fantastic guy, very calm, very talented. Noddy recommended him, so I thought, ‘I'm going to try him.' He was just great to be with. The album is called Dirtyfoot Lane. That's a real place, I use to take my kids down and they used to play in haystacks. I've also written a song called Dirtyfoot Lane, it has a chorus like Paul McCartney's Mull of Kintyre. The songs I've been writing for quite some time, the influences are more now. Django is brilliant at making spaces in music, he's very clever of making the song sound interesting. I'm really happy with it, I feel there's only one person you've got to please now and that's me. My kids have heard one or two songs. It's quite an original album. It's almost like you're reading a book in music. You hear little shades in it. My guitar is very prominent on it, Noddy said it must be. Nod said, ‘People can debate your clothes but they need to hear your guitar playing now.' Noddy really encouraged me to do this album because it's time for me to prove something to myself, which is that I can write songs. I feel I'm good at it. It took some time. It's an album of memories, but I feel this album will appeal to a lot of people – not just Slade fans but a lot of others. There's one song which is about a troubled person, a suicide, I don't mention the name. I tell that story and it's got an eerie sound to it. It's even a bit like a James Bond theme – it's like nothing you would imagine me doing. It will be a surprise because nobody knows my voice, it's not like I'm great singer, but there are a lot of singers who are not great but they are interpreters and they can deliver a song. There's a lot of that in country music, people like Johnny Cash. There are two or three rock songs and I got my bass player to sing them because he's singing the Slade songs anyway. He can handle them." Dave is grateful to Noddy for introducing him to Django as the working relationship has been very natural and is also thankful to the Cum On Feel the Noize singer for encouraging his songwriting. He said: "Noddy is one of my all-time best friends, and remains to be so. It was like that from day one when I asked him to join me. We have such a good relationship. I feel that Noddy is a really decent, good man, who encourages me to not rely on anybody but myself. He's right about that. When he left the band he had to make a life for himself outside the band and he did a good job of that. It took him some time. I'm approaching 80, it's not like you've got loads of years ahead of you. In my mind I'm pleased with myself and I won't be embarrassed to play the album to anybody." Dave Hill's Slade are currently on a UK tour playing all of the band's biggest hits, including festive smash Merry Christmas Everybody which was released back in 1973. Although the run of concerts has been billed as The Final Tour, Dave has assured fans that he is not retiring from performing live, he just wants to scale back the volume of dates. Dave - who is joined in the group by John Berry on lead vocals and bass, Russell Keefe on keyboard and vocals and Alex Bines on drums - said: "Things get interpreted differently ... I'm not going to do a back-to-back tour in the UK at Christmas. What I'm going to do is a couple of special gigs, slightly bigger. I tell the audience I'm not retiring, big claps! I'm just changing how I do the Christmas shows. I did three shows at the beginning of this tour and I was really knackered at the end of the first show, it was a fantastic gig in Wales. October 2025: The 'N Betweens version of Move Over is climbing The Heritage Charts and to celebrate that, a limited edition book of photos from the video shoot is being made available in association with Jim Lea Music. It is possible that by the time you read this it will have sold out. Available here until exactly 200 sales have been reached, then it will be taken out of print. Vote for the song here.
September 2025:
August 2025:
December 2024: Jim Lea's Christmas present to Slade fans in 2024 is a solo re-recording of the Slade Seasonal Epic, distributed by the official Jim Lea Music Facebbok page and the Slade Interviews YouTube Channel. It has not been put to the vote on the Heritage Chart, as Jim's All I Want Is You was still climbing the chart. Promo video by Dave Meehan. November 2024: NOIZE BOOKS AND RECORDINGS are really thrilled to announce that we have once again been entrusted with a Slade-related release and have been given the task of releasing Jim Lea's ALL I WANT IS YOU as a limited edition CD single. The track has reached #3 on the Heritage Chart. Your votes took the song to #3 on The Heritage Chart. The CD single was available for purchase via EBAY while stocks lasted.
SLADE IN FLAME AT 50 AVAILABLE FROM NOIZE BOOKS VIA AMAZON.
October 2024:
New Jim Lea single ALL I WANT IS YOU.
September 2024: Sept 8th: The 'Whatever Happened To Flame' novel was only made available by Noize Books during the first week in September and was then deleted. August 2024: April 2024:
SO HERE IT IS...... FRIDAY 27th SEPTEMBER:
FRIDAY night sees the return of SLADE UK after an absence of five years. Their reputation as one of the most authentic and hard-hitting tribute acts on the live circuit stands before them, this will be a chance to see and feel the power for yourself. SLADE UK and support The Three.
If you want Slade….you got it......
February 2024:
All books by NOIZE books are now offered at nicely reduced prices on an ongoing basis. January 2024: NOIZE BOOKS are pleased to announce that our latest book: PRIME CUTS - AN ILLUSTRATED CHEAPSKATE RECORDS SINGLES DISCOGRAPHY is available now via Amazon worldwide. there's lots of Slade stuff in there to fetish over. Some of which you probably won't have seen.
"How about a pair of Slade releases for the new year? Kicking things off is the 'thumper' Till Deaf Do Us Part, featuring the much loved live staple 'Rock and Roll Preacher' as well as the likes of 'Ruby Red' and 'Knuckle Sandwich Nancy'. And who could possibly forget the hit single 'Lock Up Your Daughters'? Available on limited edition White with Black Splatter vinyl, it also comes on CD Mediabook CD with two additional bonus tracks as well as extended booklet notes. Also available for the first time on vinyl, the 1975's classic live set from The New Victoria shows. Available on 2LP and CD this slice of Slade history features the highly regarded ‘How Does It Feel’ as well as classic hits including ‘Gudbuy T'Jane’, ‘Far Far Away’ and ‘Mama Weer All Crazee Now’ as well as long time stage favourite ‘Just A Little Bit’. " BOTH ALBUMS AVAILABLE FEBRUARY 23rd from BMG. Jim Lea has promised a new album this year. There will be more output from The 'N Betweens at some point, maybe later on in the year. Jim's album comes first. More info is to come on that and you'll have it as soon as we can say more. The release date of the Don Powell Band's new single 'I Am The Beat' (which features former Move and ELO drummer Bev Bevan as a guest) is January 20th. There will be a physical CD release. As most of you will know, a promo video shoot was done late last year and the track has been ready for a while. There is no current news of any planned Don Powell Band live activity. To get YOUR copy before they sell out - and they are going to...... CLICK HERE TO ORDER
Noize Books and Recordings have plans for a couple of new books this year and some audio-visual stuff is quite possible, depending on if some of our contacts come through for us. |
