"I felt like Tom Cruise, and I'm nearly eighty": Dave Hill's Slade are hitting the road for the last time, but he isn't finished

You don’t so much interview Dave Hill as set the recording device and let him talk. Here, in a lively Zoom call, Slade’s guitarist previews a ten-date farewell tour that isn’t a farewell tour after all.

This December run marks the end of long bouts of touring for you – but it isn’t a full-blown farewell, apparently?

[Incredulously]: I can’t even spell ‘retirement’. I will still play individual shows, but no more tours. With my Christmas shows, which I’ve done since I reunited the band 33 years ago, I will use larger venues – just fewer of them. I still have a joy of discovering venues I’ve never played before and the love of playing has never left me, but what I dislike is the travelling. I’m a bit like Mick Jagger… this is what I do best. Jagger fronts the Stones, I play lead guitar for Slade.

[Going off at a tangent]: Let me show you something. I’ve still got my ‘Dad’s Guitar’. [Hill suddenly wanders away from the screen midinterview, finds a photo of himself playing said iconic guitar during the 70s, and then holds up the instrument proudly]. My dad bought me this for me in 1966, hence the name. Chas Chandler told me, ‘Dave, you need to get a decent guitar’ and when Chas says that, well… he was the manager of Jimi Hendrix. You listen. I played this guitar on every one of the Number One records that we had.

For someone who hasn’t seen your version of Slade live, can you set the scene?

In my show we don’t miss a trick. Because we’ve got so many Number Ones, we play the lot of them. This time we’re going to be doing How Does It Feel? from our successful film [Slade In Flame] which was recently re-released. Nod [Noddy Holder] and I hadn’t seen it since the seventies. That film has a lot of truth in it, by the way. Hence I get all of the women. There was no acting required in that.

When we arrived at the preview event in London I felt like Tom Cruise, and I’m nearly eighty. We were like The Beatles. We were very happy that [leading cinema critic] Mark Kermode called Slade In Flame the Citizen Kane of British pop music. That’ll do for me.

Did you keep any of the outrageous outfits you wore in Slade’s heyday?

You’d think that I would have, but I didn’t. [Changing tack again]: I’m sure you know the story of the Superyob?

Your nickname from the seventies?

Yeah. That came from our publicist Keith Altham who saw my car with the registration YOB1. I hadn’t even noticed that when I bought it. But I was a superstar so he started calling me Superyob. I had that name on a silver guitar that looked like a ray gun. I didn’t like playing it, but it looked great. I used it on Top Of The Pops for Cum On Feel The Noize, I think.

You regularly socialise with Noddy. Are you still close to bassist Jim Lea and drummer Don Powell?

No, I don’t see them at all. Everyone’s getting on with their lives, but it’s a shame.

Do you have any regrets?

There isn’t anything I would change. We brought pleasure to millions across the world. Two days ago, I stood in front of 20,000 people in Prague and people of all ages sang the songs back at me. That’s as good as it gets.

And will you miss being on the road?

Well, I’ve a plan for that. [Status Quo’s] Francis Rossi goes out as ‘An Audience With’. I can tell the stories and play the songs but it doesn’t have to be the full monty of a rock show. Next year I turn 80 and will release a solo album produced by Django Holder, Nod’s very talented son. I’m an entertainer and I never want to give that up.

The Final Tour begins in Hastings on November 28. For full dates and tickets, visit the Dave Hill's Slade website.