Dave Slater (Force Nine)

 

From Lostock Hall, Lancashire, England, comes Force Nine, formed in 1979, who recorded two demo tapes (1980 and 1983), in addition to the recently released compilation Sands of Time - The Anthology. We talked to vocalist Dave Slater about this underrated band.

Q. - Hello David, tell us a bit about the origins of Force Nine. How did it all start? Who were the first members of the band?

Dave – My cousin Mick, who’d being playing the drums for a couple of years, was already in a band doing covers of Free, Beatles and the Rolling Stones. They needed a singer, and Mick was aware I had done some singing in the past with choirs (ha ha), so he asked me to have a try out and see if I’d like to join. This was around July 1977. I quite enjoyed the vibe, so I gave it a go. We called ourselves Quartz, until somebody pointed out the name was already in use. In November of that year, Mick and I went to watch Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow at Preston Guild Hall. We were both absolutely knocked out by the standard of musicianship, and suddenly the music we were performing seemed to lose its appeal. That band spit up, and Mick and I spent the whole of 1978 trying out various musicians with a view to forming a heavy rock band.  We acquired a decent bass player via a newspaper advertisement, but a good guitarist was proving elusive. Then, Mick had a brainwave. There was a local guy called Martin Jay, who looked the “business” and from all accounts played a mean guitar. Martin agreed to a jam session, and appeared to like what he heard, so the first Force Nine line up was completed as a four-piece in April 1979 with Mick, myself, Graeme Taylor on bass and Martin.

Q. - How did the band name come about?

Dave – Some people may struggle to believe this, but I swear it’s the truth! I was messing around with an old reel to reel tape recorder with a cheap little mic, trying to come up with ideas for a song. When I played back what I’d recorded, I’d inadvertently been breathing into the metal mesh at the end of the microphone. This resembled the sound of a hurricane, and I instantly thought of a Force Nine gale. Then it struck me it might be a cool name for the band. I put it to the other guys, and they agreed, so the name stuck.

Q. - Who were your main influences at that time?

Dave – Speaking for myself and Mick, the bar had already been set at a lofty height by Rainbow, so our influences were Cozy Powell and Ronnie Dio. We were also very much into Judas Priest, and I know Mick spoke very highly of Les Binks, their drummer at the time. I had a lot of respect also for Klaus Meine of the Scorpions, so for me it was mainly Dio and Meine. Martin was a Black Sabbath fan, so I presume he really liked Tony Iommi.  

Q. - Did you play in any other bands before Force Nine?

Dave – As mentioned earlier, Mick and I had many lineups before F9, and I know Martin had been in at least one band before he joined us.

Q. - What can you tell us about the 1980 demo, knowing there’s not much information available about it?

Dave – This was our first time in the studio. The two-track demo of Force Nine and Carbon Copy Man was recorded at Storm Records in Blackpool on 15 June 1980. I still have the original master reel to reel somewhere, but it’s probably not in such good shape now.

Q. - Did you sell those tapes at shows, or send them to fanzines?

Dave – The reason for the recording was mainly to submit the tapes to the A & R departments of major record companies. We did get feedback from some labels, but the general consensus was that we were not quite what the company was looking for right now. I recall we sent one to somebody up in Newcastle who ran the heavy metal charts for Sounds magazine, and he placed us at number 1 around October 1980, if I remember correctly. We also sent them to various radio stations, including Radio City. As a result, we were selected to headline at their Radio City Rolling Rock Road Show at the Tivoli Ballrooms in Buckley in October of that year.

Q. - How was the Lostock Hall metal scene back then?

Dave -Lostock Hall (LH) is quite a small place in comparison to other towns like Leyland and Preston. However, a surprising number of musicians lived in and around LH despite having very few, if any, venues to perform at. We tended to concentrate our gigs in Preston, Leyland, Chorley, Blacburn and Burnley at that time.

Q. - Did you play regularly there, or even across the rest of the UK?

Dave – As mentioned above, we concentrated mainly on gigs in the surrounding Lancashire towns. Our manager at the time secured us a weekly residency on Morecambe Pier, in the belief that we would attract students from nearby Lancaster University. Oh, how wrong he was. I think we gave that one up as a bad job after three weeks. We did play further afield on occasion, like the Lake District, for instance. We did also do one non-stop tour of around 20 venues, predominantly in north Wales, but this also took in towns in Cumbria and other places on the Welsh border with England. We spent the nights sleeping in either the tour car, van or a six-person tent. No hotels for us. This tour was organised by none other than well-known promoter Phil McIntyre.

Q. - Did you open for other bands, or were you headlining shows?

Dave – No, we never got to support any big bands. The only main event we headlined was the Radio City gig mentioned earlier.

Q. - How was the 1983 tape received by the fans?

Dave – This tape was made with the intention of selling at gigs, along with F9 tee shirts. The logo and stage backdrop were designed by artist Tony Corlett, who went to the same school as Mick in Lostock Hall. All our merchandise seemed to be popular with fans from what I can remember.

Q. - Did it get any airplay on radio stations?

Dave – I seem to recall the songs being played on Radio City, and the station plugging our upcoming gig at Follies, which was a nightclub in Southport.

Q. - After releasing the 1983 demo, did you try to approach any record labels for a deal?

Dave – The manager at the time was sending them out to various labels, but, sadly, we apparently weren’t what they wanted.

Q. - In your opinion, what do you think kept Force Nine from having a more successful career?

Dave – That’s a tough one. To be honest, I always felt that we as a band would come into our own at bigger venues, rising to the challenge of higher-profile events. For instance, supporting a well-known band. Sadly, we never got that opportunity.

Q. - Have you stayed in touch with the other former members over the years?

Dave – Following the spit in 1984, I obviously kept in touch with Mick. I’ve been friends on Facebook with bassist Greg for a few years now, but we haven’t met up.  The only time I saw Martin after the split was at Mick’s funeral in August 2011, and we had a good catch-up then.   

Q. - What other musical projects did you work on after the end of Force Nine?

Dave – As mentioned in the F9 history, I did mainly session work, but I did briefly join a band from Burnley called Aga Khan. They contacted me via Ian Blackburn, who produced the Cargo Studio tape. I then did a session for another Burnley band called Khmer in October 1984. I had no real intention of being in another group, but they persuaded me to give it a go and I joined them, spending around two years in total as singer. My very last gig as a rock singer was in November 1985 at a nightclub in Cardiff called Bogey’s.

Q. - Now, more than 40 years later, with all the Force Nine songs compiled on Sands of Time – The Anthology, what do you think about it?

Dave – What can I say? It’s been a great experience getting all these old songs together, and I thank both you and Ian Salpekar for giving me the opportunity to complete the project. It’s uplifting to know that this genre of music is still appreciated and sought after. I believe it was a very special time musically, and, deep down, it doesn’t really surprise me that there’s still an interest in it.

Q. - How did you view the whole NWOBHM movement back then, and how do you see the current interest in those bands and recordings today?

Dave – Well, no disrespect to musicians of other genres, but back in the day you pretty much knew that if someone was playing heavy rock/metal, they were going to be proficient at playing their respective instrument. I think one had to have reached a certain level in order attempt that type of music. Call me biased, but that was my belief at the time, and it still is. And, as mentioned earlier, it really doesn’t surprise me that the interest is still there.

Q. - In your opinion, what are the main differences between the 1980s and the music scene today?

Dave – At the risk of sounding like an old fuddy-duddy, I much prefer the music of my era. With the advent of special effects, auto-tune and AI, how can we even be certain we are listening to a genuine talent? At least back in the day you knew whatever you were hearing was genuinely created by the artiste in question. Another issue, for me, that has crept in over the years is the emphasis on vocal volume. It appears that the current measure of a good singer is by how loud they can sing, not caring one iota that there is little or no emotion present.  

Q. - Is there anything else you’d like to say to wrap up this interview?

Dave – Yes, Paulo. A part of me now regrets leaving rock to train as an opera singer. Some may even suggest that I must never have been a real rocker, or I wouldn’t have switched. Well, I can honestly say I truly loved my time in bands, and I’ve always believed that there are great similarities between singing heavy rock and opera. The real difference is the rigidity and discipline associated with the latter. And here’s where the regret lies. You can be the best Tenor in the world, yet no matter how talented you are, you’re only ever putting your slant on another person’s creation. In other words, the genre of Opera singing is semi-creative. On the other hand, singers such as Ronnie Dio were true artists, constantly writing original music and embracing their creative talents. It was only more recently, having written two novels, that I realised how much I’d shut off my creative side. So, if someone asked me who are, or were, the greatest singers in the world, my list would probably not include many Opera singers and would more likely consist of rock singers.

Thank you for your time, and wish you all the best.