Today’s assisgnment took us to the bar at Wolverhampton’s Novotel where we met Slade star Dave Hill.

The glam rock icon is promoting the launch of a new box set of CDs charting the band’s rise from Black Country upstarts to worldwide fame.

And boy can the man talk.

Dave spent a good hour chatting about all sorts of topics from their humble beginnings at St Giles Youth Club in Willenhall to their first meeting with pop svengali Chas Chandler.

His stories were as entertaining and as flamboyant as the outfits he used to wear on stage.

He told us about the time they were kicked offstage at a Scunthorpe working men’s club because members couldn’t hear themselves playing snooker.

The legendary guitarist also revealed how Slade became big in the Soviet Union and other communist countries – their fun approach to music providing the perfect antidote to the grim reality of life behind the iron curtain.

Dave spoke about how Sharon Osbourne managed the band in the United States, admitted he would love to play a reunion gig with Noddy Holder, revealed he is currently a big Razorlight fan and said he was surprised to hear James Blunt covering Slade’s Cuz I Luv U at a gig in Wolverhampton.

By the time he had finished we had a 45 minute interview which is proving really difficult to edit because it was all quality stuff.

It’s sure to be a big hit with all Slade fans – but maybe not with the Novotel receptionist who had never heard of the band or Dave Hill.

In her defence, she was barely in her 20s and was from eastern Europe.

For anyone aged 30 and over, and from these parts though, Dave is still pure star quality.

Andy Toft is the Express & Star’s video journalist
Comment on Andy’s blog by clicking here

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