00:00What can you say about it? Has it lasted time?
00:05It was slayed in flame, but was it about slayed?
00:08No, it was an amalgamation of lots of bands that we knew.
00:13The director and the writer, Richard Lundquane and Andrew Birkin,
00:18they sent us the script as a script originally,
00:21and we said, oh, bands don't behave like this in real life.
00:24So we decided to take them to America on tour for a month.
00:28So they saw what it was like really behind the scenes of a rock band.
00:33And we told them stories, what we knew about other bands, plus ourselves,
00:38and they amalgamated that into the film.
00:41So every scene in the film is true.
00:43Not to say...
00:44And you haven't seen the end result?
00:45Fantastic.
00:46Mind you, when it came out in 75, the critics were great to it,
00:52but the fans didn't like it.
00:53It was too heavy duty for the fans
00:55because it wasn't a comedy film like they expected
00:59from a happy-go-lucky band like we were.
01:01But you did that on purpose, though, didn't you?
01:03We did it on purpose.
01:04We didn't want to make it.
01:05They didn't want to make it.
01:06Clark Five had done catches if you can, hard days.
01:08Oh, yeah, that was all that.
01:09Yeah, yeah.
01:10Oh, there were lots out there.
01:11We wanted to go totally the other way
01:13because nobody expected us to do that.
01:16Yeah.
01:16Of course, the fans were, whoa, what's this?
01:18But were you worried, though, at that time?
01:20Of course.
01:21Well, hold on, maybe we've made a mistake here.
01:22Of course.
01:23When it came out in America,
01:24they had to put subtitles on.
01:26Oh, really?
01:26Because they couldn't understand our accents.
01:30But 50 years on now, it's just gained momentum.
01:33Yeah.
01:34It's now become a real classic of the rock movie genre.
01:38It's Mark Kamode who gave it the title
01:40Citizen Kane of Rock Movies,
01:43which is a great accolade for us.
01:44Better man to do that.
01:45Plus, the movie is great.
01:46The movie soundtrack is great as well.
01:49It's probably one of the best albums we did
01:51for the soundtrack.
01:52And what was it like for you
01:53getting your teeth stuck into acting?
01:55Because the critics loved you.
01:56We never acted.
01:57That wasn't acting.
01:58No, we never acted before.
02:00Wow.
02:01When they saw us out on the road,
02:03when they came with us out on the road,
02:05all our characters in the film
02:06are basically our personalities.
02:09So they wrote the script
02:11so we could cope with that.
02:13So the pigeons, going to the pigeon loft?
02:15All that.
02:16I had to learn how to handle pigeons.
02:17Did you really?
02:18I had to learn how to play the spoons,
02:20because I play the spoons in one scene.
02:22Yeah.
02:23I had to learn how to balance and juggle crockery,
02:26because there's a scene on a market
02:28where I sell crockery on a baraboy on a market,
02:31and I'm juggling crockery.
02:32So I had to learn all that.
02:34But learning lines was awkward.
02:38The thing we didn't realise,
02:39as a band, we thought,
02:40oh, this will be a piece of cake.
02:42We had to get up first to six in the morning,
02:44which was alien to us,
02:46be on the set at seven,
02:48and we didn't realise you do a master shot.
02:52Yeah.
02:53But then they have to reset the lights
02:55and the cameras to do your close-ups.
02:57So you have to do it all again,
02:59but exactly as you did in the master shot,
03:02so everything can be edited together.
03:04We didn't realise any of this.
03:06Why don't they just get two cameras
03:07and then a close-up and a wide?
03:11No, it was all like that.
03:12The technical side, we didn't know.
03:14What was the story of Flame?
03:16Why was it called Flame?
03:18Well, the band became named Flame, that's why.
03:21But it was how a band grows up
03:24in a nitty-gritty council estate,
03:28becomes famous,
03:30and how fame affects that band,
03:35how the egos rise to the surface,
03:37how money rises to the surface,
03:41having a lot of money.
03:42But you are controlled by the corporates,
03:44the management.
03:46Tom Conte, it was his first major movie,
03:48you saw it in the clip there.
03:50He takes us over, his company takes us over,
03:53out of the line, we're not fish fingers,
03:56we don't want to be marketed like fish fingers.
03:58And he says, well, I know nothing about music,
04:01but I know how to sell stuff.
04:04Yeah.
04:04And I remember probably 20, 30 years ago,
04:08Simon Cowell saying that,
04:09when Simon Cowell first became a mogul on TV
04:13and the record company,
04:14he said the same thing.
04:15I'm not a big expert on music,
04:18but I know how to sell it.
04:19Did you feel like that, though?
04:20Did the band feel like that?
04:21When you were as big as you were,
04:23and we mentioned this,
04:24you know, you sold more records
04:25than any other band in the 70s.
04:27It was huge.
04:28But did you feel as if,
04:29hold on,
04:30we now feel as if we're...
04:32We were lucky.
04:33We had a manager
04:34who'd already been through the mill.
04:36Chas Chandler?
04:37Chas Chandler.
04:38He'd been in a band,
04:39The Animals,
04:39famous band all over the world.
04:41He'd discovered,
04:43managed and produced Jimi Hendrix,
04:45most famous guitarist
04:46that ever lived, really.
04:48So he'd seen it from being in a band,
04:51managing and producing an artist already.
04:53We had the benefit of that.
04:55So we were lucky.
04:56We were lucky.
04:57But of course,
04:59you always have to play the corporate system
05:01with record companies and everything,
05:03of course.
05:04And along with Slade,
05:06favourite music,
05:07Dolly Parton.
05:08I love and adore Dolly Parton.
05:09Oh, I love Dolly.
05:10Everything she does,
05:11says, speaks, writes,
05:13everything.
05:14Just amazing.
05:15Now, your wife, Susan,
05:16who's a friend of this show,
05:19she was out in Nashville
05:21and you went with her
05:23to promote her latest book on Dolly.
05:25And that was all fine.
05:27Oh, great, great, great.
05:28And then it all went horribly wrong.
05:30I mean, horribly,
05:31because Susan linked via satellite
05:33on to our programme
05:35to talk about living through tornadoes
05:38in Nashville and the area.
05:40How bad was it?
05:41It was bad.
05:42Even the locals were saying
05:44it was really bad.
05:45Normally, you'll have one
05:46or two tornadoes hit
05:48around the state,
05:50but there was 14 touchdown
05:51in all the neighbouring states.
05:55Western Nashville,
05:56Memphis, New Orleans,
05:57they were totally underwater.
05:59Selma in Alabama
06:00was totally raised to the ground
06:03by the tornadoes.
06:05Was it scary for you?
06:06It was very scary,
06:07especially when you got the sirens
06:09going off in the city.
06:10It sounded like bombers
06:11coming over in the war.
06:12You know, the whole city
06:14was around and around
06:15and all these sirens going off.
06:17So the movie to the basement
06:18of the hotel
06:19in case the wind is caving.
06:21So, and that happened
06:22quite a few times.
06:25It was worrying,
06:27but it was a new experience
06:28for all the time
06:30I've been to America
06:31dozens of times.
06:32I lived there for two,
06:33three years.
06:34And it was the first time
06:36I'd experienced this.
06:38I'd experienced bad weather.
06:40I'd been in bad plane journeys
06:42where once we had to circle
06:45New York for two hours
06:47because there were storms
06:48and we couldn't land.
06:49We had the wheels
06:50wouldn't come down
06:51on a plane in San Francisco.
06:53We went,
06:54we've had some bad experiences,
06:56you know, touring.
06:57But this was frightening
06:59because you're in the middle of it
07:00and you can't get out.
07:02There's no way out.
07:03But we had good sunny days as well.
07:06But it was different.
07:07But it didn't stop
07:08the bars in Nashville.
07:09All the bars kept going.
07:11All the music was playing
07:1324-7 with bands.
07:14It didn't stop that.
07:16They kept going.
07:17Almost as scary
07:18as about 20,000 teenagers
07:19banging on the door, right?
07:21Almost as scary as that.
07:22Well, yes, that's true.
07:23Back in 1973.
07:24Well, that used to be scary as well,
07:26getting in and out of places.
07:28I remember the cops
07:29getting us in and out of venues
07:30back in the day,
07:32particularly Glasgow once.
07:34The cops got a van
07:35up to the stage door.
07:37We had to get in this van
07:38because we couldn't get
07:39to the hotel.
07:40It was surrounded by kids.
07:42And we sat on the banks
07:43of the Clyde
07:44in the cop van
07:45with the cops
07:46eating fish and chips.
07:47Do you know that?
07:48Do you think I could
07:49clear away?
07:50And Noddy,
07:51do you still perform?
07:52Do you still sing?
07:52I don't very often now.
07:54I do perform occasionally
07:56with a 10-piece jazz
07:58boogie-woogie band.
08:01I do like a two-hour show
08:03with them.
08:03Not very often.
08:05But most of the show
08:06is telling stories.
08:07I mean, there's lots
08:08of music in it.
08:09All these lads,
08:10well, there's ladies
08:12in the band as well,
08:12which I was told off once
08:14by members of the band
08:15for saying the boys
08:16in the band,
08:17when we had got a young lady
08:18in the band also.
08:19But it's a great show
08:23and it's different for me.
08:24It's a totally different thing.
08:25But they're all under 30,
08:27these musicians.
08:28So they haven't got a clue
08:29what I'm talking about
08:30half the time
08:31some of the stories I tell.
08:32You are a great...
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