In 60-plus years as a drummer, Chris Slade has played with some of the biggest names in rock.
After starting out in Tom Jones’ band in the early 60s, the Welshman went on to provide the beats for a veritable who’s who of icons, including Olivia Newton-John, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Uriah Heep, Gary Numan, David Gilmour, Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers and Gary Moore.
But it was in 1989 that he landed his most high-profile role, as the replacement for the wayward Phil Rudd in metal behemoths AC/DC.
That glamorous five-year posting was the first of two stints in the Angus Young-led outfit, the most recent taking in a world tour in 2015.
Away from his work in arguably the world’s biggest rock heroes, Chris has regularly taken his own band out on the road over the past decade, blasting out career highlights.
Chris Slade’s Timeline return to the Green Hotel for the first time since 2020 next Friday as they work up material for their long-awaited debut album.
Looking ahead to the Kinross gig, Slade says there will be something for everyone.
“We’ve made a few changes to the set but it’s still half AC/DC and half other things,” he declares.
“We did a sell-out show last Saturday in Luxembourg. The crowd were into it and we were into it – it was really intense.”
‘I’m the youngest old guy you’ll ever meet’
The genial drummer turns 77 on Monday but shows no signs of slowing down, pointing out that Timeline have been playing “a hell of a lot” live recently.
“I’m very surprised to be my age and doing what I do,” he admits.
“About a month ago we headlined a sold-out festival in France in front of 12,000 people.
“Before that we were in Germany for a sell-out of about 2,000 people – it was on a holiday island and that was very cool.
“We were on fire the other night and drumming definitely keeps me feeling young. I’m the youngest old guy you’ll ever meet.
“My niece sent me a birthday card saying, ‘You’re not old, you’ve just been young for a very long time.'”
In the 60s, the Kent-based powerhouse once played on the same bill as both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and he met the King of Rock and Roll himself, Elvis Presley, while with his fellow Pontypridd native Jones in the USA.
Such moments might seem a world away from playing to 100 or so diehards at Kinross, but it’s a bigger picture that Timeline sets out to paint, as Chris explains.
Chris Slade says playing drums is teenage dream come true
“I enjoy playing all the songs from the AC/DC catalogue, as I do the Gilmour stuff and Earth Band, of course,” he says.
“My real favourite at the moment is (Led Zeppelin’s) Kashmir, because I worked with Jimmy Page. I’m just really appreciative that I can still do this.
“I said to myself when I was a teenager that all I want to do is make my living playing drums and I’ve done that all my life – longer than most people. I can’t quite believe it.”
Slade describes his slimmed down five-piece band as “a compact unit”, with gravel-voiced Paul “Bun” Davis taking on vocal duties for AC/DC numbers and bassist Stevie G fronting the rest.
While Davis’s ultra-gravelly delivery might have some fearing for the safety of his larynx, Chris insists his shriek “comes quite naturally”.
“Bun’s vocals are incredible – the closest thing you will get to Brian Johnson in his younger days, without it being Brian,” he says.
“Drumming and singing are the toughest jobs you can do in a band, because it really is an effort to do either. Both are very, very physical.”
Slade holds no grudges despite AC/DC bringing sticksman Rudd back for their 2020 album Power Up. “There’s no problem at all from me with that,” he says.
“Phil’s the drummer for AC/DC, there’s no doubt about that. He’s always been there and he always should be, but we have fun with some AC/DC things as well.
“We don’t play necessarily like them – nobody plays a Gibson SD like Angus, so we’re not really a tribute band. We just put on a good show even though we’re not wearing shorts.”
- Chris Slade Timeline play the Green Hotel, Kinross, on November 3. To book, go to Ticketweb.
