Dave Hill: What I wanted is not just to be at the top of the charts, but to become the most visible there. I knew exactly what I was doing.
- Do you agree with the statement that photography makes an important contribution to the creation of an artist's image?
Dave Hill: I believe a good photographer helps to create the image of the artist and sometimes helps that image with a great idea from him or her for example the fist with our name on or fingers on the Slayed album
- What is photography for you personally?
Dave Hill: A wonderful creative tool can help make all the difference to refine an artist and look to sell themselves to the public
- How did you personally feel then and now about the process of working with photographers in the studio?
Dave Hill: Great fun and I know how to make the best of myself and project I’ve had years of it, so I'm know what works.
- What did working with photographers give to you? Was that experience useful to you as an artist?
Dave Hill: It was very useful and an understanding of how it works and what we can achieve from camera, I mean in those days cameras were so different not like now quick and digital in those days you had to wait for the results
- What does a scenic costume mean to you? How were your costumes created? Were these your ideas or were you correcting the designers' ideas? What's your favourite costume and why?
Dave Hill: My first costume was created by myself then I needed help with extra ideas so two people were recommended to me, they were Steve and Barbara Megson, they were both great at it and designed some of my best looks which became iconic in magazines and TV shows including my Superyob image and my guitar to match, I don't have a favourite costume I like them all, the most talked about is the metal nun outfit that was fun and we were number one with Noize in 1973.
- You hire Gered Mankowitz multiple times, to make covers for "Play It Loud", "Slayed?", "Sladest", "Old, New, Borrowed and Blue","Slade in Flame", "Nobody's Fools", "Whatever Happened to Slade?". What was the reason for this choice?
Dave Hill: Yes, we did, he was the best and all those album covers were done by him, in fact it took all day to get the one shot we needed, he was very creative and really nice man.
- Do you know how much work of a photographer or an cover artist costs back in the 70s?
Dave Hill: No, I don't have that information, but I can imagine he was very expensive, but he was the right choice and worth it, we were a great band and Chas Chandler wanted the best for us.
- What mistakes do photographers make? What do you personally dislike about the work of photographers in a studio, concert or press conference?
Dave Hill: Everybody makes mistakes even the best in the business, sometimes some of our best pics are taken by random press who do quick shots, thing is as we all know we need press people and they need good photographers and get the best from us, we always had some sessions that took too long and sometimes even the results weren't good at times, that's how it is you have good ones and not so good ones.
- Speaking of "Slayed" album cover, did you go to this photo session with a ready-made idea? Who is the author of this idea about fists and fingers, and how was this idea born? How long did this shoot last?
Dave Hill: I guess I answered this question earlier, but the concept was Chas Chandlers idea, he thought everybody does a thumbs up fist, but he thought what about having a fist, say Slade on your fingers, stroke of greatness that idea and that took all day to get right, I went bare chested for that to make it look tough, brilliant idea of Gered to do that as well.
- A question on cover and the movie "Slade in Flame". As far as we know, the costumes were made of a special fabric, not comfortable to move. Whose idea is it and who is the costume designer?
Dave Hill: I’m not sure how long it took but I'm sure the fabric we called flame sparked an idea to have it lit up on the clothes and to make it glow it was special material as you say and very uncomfortable to wear Steve and Barbara made them and it needed a white light direct on in it to glow, I’m sure it took quite a while to shoot that.
- How many takes «Far Far Away» were made for the movie, and how many takes were there for the music video? How many other shows have you played in these costumes? Also, you have a different hairstyle there. Whose idea and how was it justified?
Dave Hill: In short it took days and even weeks filming parts for the film and Far Far Away was part of it, the hairstyle was my idea to look like one of the Beatles to depict it as it was in the sixties you see, I don't remember the costume at a gig but maybe just TV ONLY as we didn't like wearing them could give you a rash on your skin you see
- From 1969 to 1978, Slade covers and centrefolds were just group photos - unlike other bands, you didn't have hand-drawn art for covers. Was it an intentional decision, rooting on promoting band's image?
Dave Hill: We always had band members on the front like the Beatles earlier album, so people got to know us better, we didn’t need fancy artwork it was Slade and our faces on the covers
- What's your favourite Slade album cover and why?
Dave Hill: SLAYED. It’s a great image and a great album Slade in Flame is very good album too we had so many good ones.
- Which of the covers most closely matched the concept of the album musically?
Dave Hill: SLAYED, no doubt that it’s the most remembered, other covers were good of course Slade in Flame, Slade Alive and a great live album of our show in 1971, Old, New Borrowed and Blue, Nobody’s Fools too.
I hope all that information helps you, keep on taking pics it’s a great thing to do, shooting magic shots of people and places, it’s artistic and creative, take care and be safe.
Cheers
Dave Hill
Translator Максим Епанчинцев