BraveWords had the honour to speak to Chris Slade recently for a Streaming For Vengeance chat and the legendary drummer talked about The Chris Slade Timeline album, Timescape, out now via BraveWords Records. Chris Slade launched the band, The Chris Slade Timeline, in 2012 to mark 50-plus years as a professional rock drummer, working with the likes of Tom Jones, Manfred Mann's Earthband, Gary Moore, Gary Numan, Denny Laine, Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers, David Gilmour, Uriah Heep, Asia and of course AC/DC.
AC/DC’s 12th studio album, The Razors Edge, was released 34 years ago today (September 21st, 1990) and Slade opened up about the recordings at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver where producer Bruce Fairbairn and engineer (and future AC/DC producer) Mike Fraser helped build the band’s massive comeback album. Fraser actually told BraveWords that one of the biggest attractions was the loading bay at Little Mountain that drummers loved.
“Well, that bay was well used,” Slade remembers about his only studio album with the band. “We also did the backing vocals in that bay, like the backing vocals on ‘Thunderstruck’. I remember it well; it was the band and all the crew that sang those background vocals in that bay. Everybody. Because they wanted to get the biggest sound that they could get that would sound like a stadium. So we must’ve done that dozens of times. And playing the drums through that bay and recording that sound. Because it’s just a loading bay where the trucks would go in and unload the gear. But it would echo like hell. But I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’ve met Mike a few times. He’s so good at his job and that’s why he’s now the producer. Angus and Malcolm thought the same thing, but now I can see how he fed the drums through speakers into that bay and recorded it. That was a good trick that was and you would get an enormous sound.”
BraveWords: What did Angus and Malcolm want from you with the drums?
Slade: “They didn’t say anything actually. They don’t say anything. Not even to each other. They talk to everybody, but they really don’t talk to each other. They just look at each other. They are playing their guitars and they just look at each other. They don’t even nod. They just turned to each other and look at each other in the eye and turn back. It’s uncanny. They don’t seem to have words, they just look at each other.”
BraveWords: I will always say that the death of Malcolm Young is one of the biggest tragedies in rock music history. He must’ve taught millions of guitar players how to play those rhythm guitars. It was such a tragic loss.
Slade: “Yes, it was. He was a genius. He is simply the best rhythm player that I’ve ever heard in my life. Certainly the best that I’ve ever played with. His drive was unmatched. He is sadly, sadly missed.”
BraveWords: I’m guessing you didn’t have much contact with him before he passed away.
Slade: “No. Because nobody did, except Angus and his wife and his own wife of course and his family.. And it would’ve been an encroachment on him as well. when he went back to Australia I had no contact with him after that. Terrible.”
BraveWords: The Razors Edge certainly took AC/DC to another level and you were part of that ride.
Slade: “Yeah, Cliff said to me ‘We do all right and we still sell millions, but now it’s happening again. We are really back up there again.’ The band had a profile that anybody would envy. The biggest band in the world. Except the Rolling Stones would disagree. But I would have to say that AC/DC are still one of the biggest bands in the world.”
