SLADEIt's that time of year when you can't take a walk down your high street to buy loaf of bread without being sonically assaulted by Christmas jinglesblaring out of every shop. Chances are one of them will be Slade's Merry Christmas Everyone.

The song is timeless - every Christmas compilation includes it, even the latest Metro Life giveaway.

And Slade are a timeless band.They've been going since the 60s, were massive in the 70s, they can boast a hit list longer than a spoilt brat's wish list to Father Christmas and they're still performing their annual Merry Christmas Everyone' tour.

Original band member Dave Hill, who founded Slade with drummer Don Powell says they're looking forward to their first time playing Croydon's Fairfield Halls.With a huge European following particularly in Germany and Scandinavia, Hill says they are also popular in Russia.

"We played in Moscow to 10,000 people. I figure you'd never go to these places normally. Russia's huge anyway and there are lots of places to play, we could spend two months there it's so vast. Which is nice, especially when they know your songs as long as you make sure what you say is good.

It can get a bit rough out there sometimes!" and he laughs loudly to lighten his almost political commentary.

Far from being hedonistic rock stars who see everything in beer goggles, Hill shows a sensitive side. He enjoys meeting different cultures and what he likes best is to make people happy through music."Those magic moments are when you go to a foreign country and see people you wouldn't meet normally.

A man in Russia came to our concert with oil paintings he'd done of each of us. He was like on his knees crying and I said "Nah- don't do that I'm just an ordinary person, me!"Handing over his works of art, the Russian told the rock stars in broken English "this is specially for you," and went on to say how much he loved them. Hill said: "I felt pretty elated - he had put in a lot of work and given the paintings to us. It was a joy to make his day. I find the highlights are just moments in time you made someone happy. The paintings are very good - we got them all framed and each member has one in their house."

And in good Christmas cheer, even when it wasn't Christmas time, Slade performed one of Hill's "most memorable concerts", playing to British troops in the Falklands about two years ago. "They were missing home so they liked us being there.

It was a piece of England for them. It wasn't winter but we did the Christmas song anyway."

It could all have gone very differently. Hill almost left the group in 1980 only to be persuaded into playing what was to be the biggest concert of his life, leading to a new record deal and a top 10 hit "We'll bring the House Down.""At one point of my life when I thought I was finishing in the band I was talked into doing the Reading Festival as a last gig.

We played to 40,000 people and it went down so well that within two months after the show we had a hit record. So the story is I remained in the band."Another major upheaval was when singer Noddy Holder left in 1987. But Hill is quite philosophical about it."We've been doing it without him for 12 years and it's been very very successful. You can't replace people but we have a very good singer who's not trying to be Noddy, he's trying to be himself.

I'm there and so is the original drummer - he's one of the best rock drummers in the world, and we formed the original band and we've always been together.

"And we have a new bass player- the guy used to be in Mud in the 70s. He's very good and he fits. I think the band's stronger."He says changing musicians has kept an originality going in the band, stopping them from going stale. "It feels quite fresh- someone new can give it a newness. If you've got members who don't want to do it it's not going to be very good."It has a purity about it, the reason for being intellectual pause before the appalling accent the raison d'ietre, you know, that French word. People want it. There's a great need for this music to continue. It's timeless music like the Stones- the songs always sound good."

And as for comedians Bob Mortimer and Vic Reeves' tribute to the band's glam rock status - a series of sketches At Home with Slade in which they donned the Superyob" haircut and drank Cup a Soups, Hill Hill just laughs. "It was wonderful! Great fun! I always say the greatest form of flattery is when someone copies you. If you're smiling it must be good. Big Reeves and Mortimer did a good job sending us up! It was good publicity really."

You can see Dave Hill and Slade at the Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, Croydon, Dec 19, 8pm, 020 8688 9291