Chris Slade (AC/DC, The Firm, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band) Interview

For the past six decades, rockers and metalheads of all ages have been marching to the beat of Chris Slade’s drums. Whether it be the swinging sounds of Tom Jones, progressive complexities of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, or arena-shaking anthems of AC/DC and The Firm, Slade has been there to hold down the fort, lending his talents to a release or ten in your record collection. For a career filled with triumphs unforetold and record sales in the excess of the tens of millions, this year, Slade’s 62nd in the rock n’ roll business, sees him continue to break new ground, this time as the leader of his own band, The Chris Slade Timeline. We sat down with Slade to discuss the Timeline’s debut album, Timescape, playing in front of 80,000 people a night, and never giving up on one’s dreams.

Greetings Chris and welcome to Defenders of the Faith! How are you doing this morning?

Chris Slade: I’m pretty good, thank you very much! I’m glad we can speak face to face so to speak, even though it’s virtual. It’s good to talk to you man!

It’s great to talk to you too. You’re about to release Timescape, the debut album from your namesake band, The Chris Slade Timeline. I know the band initially formed about a decade ago to play live shows. Was the plan to always create new music together?

CS: Yes. We had to, in the beginning, do all covers because not many of us wrote. We thought, “Well, we’ll go with that.”, and that was very successful. We’ve been together 10 years actually, the longest I’ve ever been in a band, any band! The other longest have been Tom Jones and the Earth Band, and possibly, depending how you count, AC/DC, because I’ve been in the band twice. Two tenures, if you like. 2015-2016 was the tour. Of course, I was in the band just before that. And ’89 to about ’94, something like that, it could be 6 or 7 years. I’m usually a 7 year cycle man. I have been. I was in Asia for that length of time and as I said, the other two as well. I do tend to be a 7 year cycle geezer *laughs*. Geezer being the opposite word these days, in true American style!

You’ve sure made it work! Who plays with you in the Timeline and do any members have prior connections to you from past bands or projects?

CS: No, I don’t think so. I’ll name them to start. It’s James Cornford on guitar and vocals, who does a phenomenal job by the way. You hear that on Timescape. Michael Clark on keyboards, who helped me also write the album because I don’t play any chorded instruments at all, but I hum pretty good *laughs*. I can hum in tune and everything! If you want the AC/DC singer, it’s Bun Davis. There’s another singer who also plays bass who does Uriah Heep and Tom Jones sort of stuff, and that’s Stevie Gee.

As I said, we’ve been together 10 years. We’ve always recorded. That’s where the covers on the album came from, the AC/DC covers and the Asia covers and the Uriah Heep. We’ve always been recording, but we weren’t quite sure what to do with it because we didn’t have an outlet apart from our own merchandise table at gigs, which did okay. This time, we’re with a proper record company *laughs*, which is BraveWords Records. It comes out on the 19th of this month officially. You can buy it or pre-order it, if you like, on BraveWords Records. I’m not sure if they’re selling the CD. I can’t remember. I’m so pleased to get it out and get to an original side as well is just something else. I’m really pleased with the way it worked.

This band and release is purely yours. Were there any other times in your career that you toyed with the idea of a solo album or having your own musical vehicle?

CS: No, there never has been a chance because I’d be working with the various bands you mentioned. I also sing on the originals too, one song. The whole band agreed that I should do it. I demo all my songs, so the other songs on the album, on the original side, I demoed and I also did the recording, the one that we put out. It was completely mutual, a mutual agreement from the band. It wasn’t just me putting my voice in and going, “I’ve got this one, okay guys?” It wasn’t anything like that. They all had their say.

It turned out absolutely better than I could possibly expect because when you work with singers like Tom Jones and Paul Rodgers, why would you even think of becoming a singer? *laughs* It’s not as if Tom or Paul would be covering this song, but it works for the way it works for us. I’m very pleased with it, with all of it. “Get along folks and buy it, please!”, said he in desperation *laughs*.

When did work start coming together for Timescape?

CS: About two and a half years ago, we started writing it. I’ve always written lyrics, especially for Earth Band. I wrote lyrics for them. I’ve always written lyrics just as an exercise, whether it was coming out or not. But I wasn’t sure about melodies. I’d never written a melody. One day, they just popped out! It’s as simple as that actually. It just happened. I went, *hums* and I went, “Oh! I’ll try putting that down!” *laughs* That’s the way it came. For the past two years, I’ve been doing that. Inspiration just came. I was very, very surprised because its never happened before.

The guys wrote a song as well, so we’re pleased about that. They’re gonna be doing more writing. They like the really proggy stuff, which is the second track on the album. That is, I think, a great song, otherwise I wouldn’t have put it on the album. It all came together nicely. It was stressful, I must admit that. It wasn’t just simply humming a bit and putting the stuff down in a recording studio. At some points, it became very hard work. I always say this, and many people have said, “There’s nothing as scary as a white blank page.” Or an empty recording head. “What do we do now? Panic!” *laughs* “Go la, la, la, la, la.” *laughs* That’s what usually happens. I’m very pleased that my la la’s came to fruition anyway.

So are we. If we can, I’d like to go back to the very beginning of your timeline. Did you grow up in a musical household? Who were your earliest musical influences?

CS: My father was a tap dancer and singer, semi-pro. He worked in the factory in the day and he worked at night at what they used to call a concert party. It was a bunch of guys…this was the ’50s, don’t forget. The ’50s! That’s like, last century, man! He was a singer and there was a tenor in the group. There was a comedian and a pianist. It was an entertainment group. Funny enough, Tom Jones used to sit in sometimes, before he was Tom Jones. His name was Tommy Woodward. When I joined him, his name was Tommy Scott, because we were The Senators.

My father used to come and tell me of this great young singer. Tom was probably 19, 20 years old then. He’s 84 now *laughs*! He’d tell me about this young singer who sang “modern stuff” like “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky” and “Love Letters in the Sand” *laughs*, things like that. He said, “He’s a tremendous singer.” I said, “He can’t be that good, otherwise he’d be on TV.” My father was right because that guy became Tom Jones. And he was right, a tremendous voice. Probably one of the greatest untrained voices ever born, I think it’s thee greatest untrained voice actually.

He’s never had a singing lesson. That’s how he was from the start! At about 17, he sang like that. He’s a natural talent. He’s still signing and still making albums. I think he had a new album out just last year, or maybe even this year. I’m not sure. He’s singing as good as ever, except his top end is gone about. That’s gonna happen. In your eighties, it’s bound to happen, but still a tremendous singer.

Was Tom Jones your first proper gig and how did it impact the trajectory of your career?

CS: Yes, I turned professional with Tom in 1963. We were doing the miners clubs and steelworkers clubs as I mentioned, up and down our valley, the Rhondda Valley, in South Wales. There were lots of ’em and it was very successful. Tom was very successful doing that. By the way, I remember saying earlier on today, when he was 23, he was told he was too old to make it. When he was 23 years old. Some people are really good at spotting talent *laughs*. “You’re too old now because Herman’s Hermits are much younger than you. They’re in the charts and everything.” It’s like, “Thanks guys!” Everybody’s a critic, as you know. They always got something to say. “Oh, he’s too old now. Mick Jagger is too old now. Keith Richards is too old now.” You can’t stop us old’uns *laughs*. You have to shoot us, and sometimes that happens *laughs*!

I just saw The Rolling Stones here in Chicago the other night play to 80,000 people. You really can’t stop it!

CS: Nope, that’s right. People will still come. 80,000 people, wow. I used to do that with AC/DC, 80,000 people a night and go on to the next 80,000 people. I got 80,000 of my closest friends tonight, you know? *laughs* That started me. That kicked me off, being a professional. We were doing very well. I was making double what my father was making with Tom in the early days, and he was working at a factory. I came out of school. I had to pay my way out, by the way, because I was in a good school, but I could see I wanted to go another direction. This was before I was with Tom.

I just didn’t go to school. I’m sorry. I was a, what do you call it? Dropout, or whatever. I learned more afterwards because I read everything I possibly could while I was on the road. I had plenty of time to sit and read, so I used to read everything. One thing that school taught me was to think for myself. So I did think for myself and went, “I don’t wanna do this school. Thank you very much.” *laughs* It came from my school teaching me to think for myself.

Funny enough, there’s a song on Timescape which is called “Believe in Yourself”. You have to have that self belief in whatever you do if you’re in any sort of creative career, because everybody, like they said to Tom, “You’re too old.”, at 23. You gotta just believe in yourself and think for yourself and hopefully, your talent will be enough. Sometimes it isn’t and sometimes you gotta take a step back and regroup, but you gotta believe in yourself. You must believe in yourself. That self belief is so important, otherwise you’re gonna give up.

When the first hurdle comes, you’re gonna fall over. Perhaps you do, but get up and believe in yourself. If people say, “You’re crap.”, don’t believe ’em! Just get better. Just do what you can in whatever career. Whether you’re a tennis player or anything, you have to believe in yourself. Sometimes that belief is the only thing that gets you through a tennis game and gets you to win, that self belief. I wouldn’t be here today if I listened to people going, “You’re crap man. You’re just crap. Why didn’t you give up?” Well, I can’t count, so I guess I’ll have to keep on doing this *laughs*.

It’s worked! For many of us here in America, our introduction to you came in the ’70s as part of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. This latest album even features a re-recording of “Joybringer”. What made you choose this song for Timescape and what are your favorite memories of the Earth Band days?

CS: I had a great time in Earth Band. It was very creative. I wrote the lyrics. The melody is actually Gustav Holst, the classical composer. We had to go to him, or his estate rather, it was his daughter, Imogen, to ask permission to put this out. We got it! It was the only pop record, if you like, that got that permission from the Holst estate. Manfred did a great arrangement of it, Manfred Mann that is. I wrote the lyrics, so I figured it’s been a hit once. It was a Top 10 hit back in the ’70s. I like the song and Timeline plays it live, so I figured it’s a representation of the band. Why not do it?

The same with “Questions”, that was an Earth Band song. That was also a hit record in Europe. I’m not sure if it came out in the States, so again, it was like, “That’s a good song.” And Stevie Gee sings it really well, so I figured, let’s do it because we also do that onstage sometimes. Timescape is a good representation of the band as it sits now in our tenth year. Why not put it out and get it out there for people to enjoy?

Despite being a progressive rock band, MMEB found great success here in the States with “Blinded by the Light” in 1976. What was it like to go from being a largely FM act to all of a sudden crossing over to AM radio and subsequently achieving superstardom?

CS: It was tremendous, actually. It was a great time. It was very exciting because we knew we’d done a good job with “Blinded”, but then to have it confirmed by sales and everything else. In fact, I believe any of it. That was a shortcut for (Bruce) Springsteen, although I’m sure he doesn’t like our record because it’s so different to his song *laughs*. He did it as a shuffle. Manfred made it into a pop song. It catapulted us into just another realm. It was a multi-million seller all around the world. It was #1 everywhere, so that was a lot of money into the Springsteen coffers *laughs*.

I knew Max Weinberg. He came to see The Firm once, the Jimmy Page/Paul Rodgers collaboration. I said, “By the way Max, I was the drummer on “Blinded by the Light”.” He said, “Woah! That kept us going for a few years.” *laughs* I was glad because I was also a big fan of Springsteen. Manfred and I were given copies of his Greetings From Ashbury Park, N.J. album, which went down the tubes. You might’ve known that. It disappeared assailed.

Now it’s a huge seller for him, but it did nothing when it first came out. I believe that was his first album. Without that pop record of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, you might have never had Bruce Springsteen as the huge star that he deserves to be, and writer. He’s considered a tremendous writer, but his first album disappeared, unfortunately, until Manfred came up with that arrangement.

After the Earth Band, you joined Uriah Heep during what I always considered to be a largely transitional era for the band. Did you perceive things to be the same way? How would you describe your stint with the band?

CS: It (Conquest) was a different record for Heep because John Sloman was the singer and writer. Of course, Mick Box and Ken Hensley were still in the band and still writing and everything, but John had a different style. He’s a good friend of mine still. We’re both Welsh. He had a…I think it was tremendous what he did, by the way. He wrote “Think It Over”, which Uriah Heep did on…I’ve forgotten the title of the album.

I know it was a single first, then re-recorded for Abominog.

CS: Yeah, it was Abominog, that’s right. By then, I’d gone, of course, and so had John. They started the new album with Trevor Bolder. No, Trevor was always there. No…yeah, Trevor was always there. He was a good guy, a great bass player. He was with Bowie and the Spiders. A great musician and a very nice guy. Even though John Sloman was no longer in the band, they did two of his songs actually. I’m not sure if his name made those records though. I’ll have to have a look to see, but he wrote them because he’s a great musician, he plays every instrument, and he sings like he sings, which is wonderful.

I was in the band for about two years. We had a great time touring, a lot of fun touring actually *laughs*. I remember I was on the road because we used to…Earth Band used to go out with Heep, if you like. We used to be their support band. Sometimes, we were in a strong position and they’d support us, so it was back and forth. Wherever you were big, you would be the headliner. I remember one time with Earth Band, I think Heep were on the bill. It might’ve been the other way around, but anyway, this new band called Rush came along to be our support.

I remember talking to Neil (Peart) about, “Why can’t the drummer be the lyricist in the band?” *laughs* He had been in the band two weeks then. Two weeks! I’ve got one of his books and he wrote in it, “To Slade, With memories going all the way back to 1974.”, when we were on tour together. That’s a treasured book. He was a very, very nice guy, as you probably know. Incredibly nice guy. And he rode motorbikes! What’s wrong with that? *laughs*

The Firm saw yourself join forces with Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers, and Tony Franklin. Of the four of you, three of you were established musicians in the ’70s. Did you, Page, and Rodgers feel a sort of kinship as ’70s rockstars navigating the ’80s? Were there any particular changes you noticed with the arrival of the new decade?

CS: I don’t think like that, chronologically. I really don’t, even though the album is called Timescape *laughs*. I’m not a chronological thinker. I just get on with it. People say, “What was it like?” I don’t know. No good asking me. I don’t notice things. “What was the second World War like?” “I don’t know. I wasn’t there!” *laughs* “Are you sure?” I was in the first World War, but not the second World War.” My brain doesn’t seem to go chronologically.

I’m very interested in time as a concept, or time-space. I’m sorry to the physicists in the audience *laughs*. The band has a friend actually who’s a physicist, so I’m not being facetious. He’s a German physicist and he’s a good friend. Anyway, he’s name’s Giann, so I’ll give him a tag *laughs*. Where was I? I’ve lost my way. I’ve lost my time *laughs*! Ah yes, The Firm. You missed David Gilmour actually, if we’re speaking chronologically.

Was Gilmour before The Firm?

CS: Yes, Gilmour was ’84, because it rhymes with “Gilmour”. The Firm was ’85 and ’86, at least both years, maybe into ’87. When you say, “Three of you were…”, nobody knew me. Compared to Jimmy Page? You’ve gotta be kidding! There’s this guy playing drums as well, you know? And Paul Rodgers is a really good singer, but it’s Jimmy Page! And there’s the guy playing drums. Compared to them, they’re real rockstars. I’ve always said I’m not a rockstar; I’m a rock musician. There’s a big difference. Geddy Lee is a rockstar. Tom Jones is a rockstar, believe it or not, even though he went into cabaret.

To me, being a musician is a much better place to be for me. I’m not a self-publicist. I’m terrible at it, as you can tell *laughs*. I am really bad at putting myself forward and publicizing myself, where as some people do it naturally. I can’t do that. I just can’t. I can’t go, “I, I, I, I”, all the time, which I’m doing! I’m struggling to do it for this album *laughs*! Because I want to sell albums *laughs* in the old fashioned way.

The press gave us a terrible time with The Firm. They said, “Oh, look at the name. They’re a business. They’re in it for the money. They’re just in it for the money.” Of course, Jimmy Page needs money, doesn’t he? The second album we did was called Mean Business, which I think is a tremendous name. Paul came up with that and I thought it was tremendous because it could mean so many things. It could “It’s a mean business.”, which it is. It could mean, “I mean business.”, which we did. But the press went, “Oh, they’re in it for the money.”

The Firm, the name actually, comes from a bunch of east end of London gangsters that called themselves “The Firm”. That’s where that came from. It had nothing to do with business. These guys used to go around nailing people to floors and things. Horrible stuff! The Kray twins, that’s what they were called. They called themselves “The Firm”. Pagey knew that and that’s where the name came from. We thought it was a heavy name. The connotation of the gangsters, to us, made it a heavy name, but not to some journalists who I suppose had to make some copy or something.

They’re always trying to stir up the pot.

CS: You gotta have an angle on something. I’ve had quotes put in my mouth that I would never say in a million years. Somebody asked me once, “What was Axl (Rose) like?” I said, “I thought he was great.”, which he was great. His voice and everything. He’s not Brian Johnson, we all know that, or Bon Scott, but he did a tremendous job. I didn’t know he had that voice that he came out with. When he started singing, I was amazed.

What I actually said was, I used in-ear monitors, as most people do these days, so I could hear everything that Brian was singing, and it didn’t sound that bad to me. Brian was really feeling bad about his output, if you like. That’s why he took that break I think. That’s what he said and that’s what I believe. And then Axl came in. The journalist twisted it to say that it sounded the best I’ve ever heard the band, with Axl in it, and I just didn’t say that. That could’ve caused some sort of problem, you can imagine, can’t you? “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with my voice?” Thankfully, it didn’t. He’s (Brian’s) back with the band anyway now.

Throughout the ’80s, you’d play with a slew of artists both live and in the studio, including the legendary Gary Moore. When did you first cross paths with Gary and what was he like as a band leader?

CS: I knew him. I used to go and have a pint with him and his wife and my wife years before I was in the band. We both lived in North London. He was a really nice guy. When you worked for him, he was a very demanding person, but he was demanding of himself too. That’s how he got to be one of the greatest guitarists. That was before I was in AC/DC for the first time. In ’89, I was with him for the whole year. There’s a video of me playing drums with him on YouTube. It’s a whole show of him playing and singing and me playing drums for an hour, hour and a half or something, in Dublin. It was recorded in Dublin. It’s really good. I’m very, very surprised. I didn’t think it was gonna turn out great, but it did. People can look up for that too if they wanted.

I think I’ve seen that, but its been a while. Was it a big sports arena?

CS: It’s a big theater, actually. It’s not an arena. It’s a theater. I don’t know which theater, but it’s in Dublin. That’s all I remember.

It was with Gary Moore that, as fate had it, Malcolm Young happened to catch you and asked you to join AC/DC. Had you ever met Malcolm before and how do you recall the happenings of that evening?

CS: That was the only time I’d met Malcolm. I didn’t know who he was, to be very honest. But he knew Bob Daisley, the bass player, because he was also from Australia. Bob just said to me, “Hey Slade! I’d like you to meet Mal.” That’s all he said. He didn’t say “Mal of AC/DC”, but Mal and I got on like a house on fire. We really got on well *laughs*. He didn’t ask me to join the band then. We had the same management, who is Stewart Young, no relation to Angus and Malcolm. He managed Gary Moore and he also managed AC/DC. Through that, I got a chance to audition for Acca Dacca.

It was months, of course, after. Months and months, maybe a year or so. I don’t know, but it was a long time. Again, that chronological thing don’t kick in. It was a long time after. Angus and Malcolm sat down in chairs 10 feet away from my bass drum, staring at me. No pressure! They said, “OK, we’ll do “Back in Black” now. You count in.” To me! *laughs* I had to get the tempo right. They were looking at me all the time, from 10 feet! It’s like having a camera that far away from your face *laughs*. That was pressure.

Thankfully, I’ve been looked at for years, so I was used to it *laughs*. I didn’t think I did very well at all in the audition. I really thought I had done really quite badly. I was packing out with Dick, the drum tech, and I was saying to myself, “Why the hell did you play that? Why the hell did you say that? What are you doing?!” Anyway, the drums are in the car and I got in the car to go home. I was still intent on kicking myself for being such a stupid guy, and I lost my way. It was an hour from my house and I lost my way. I took a wrong turn, so I thought I better call the wife.

I called her. She said, “How’d you do?” I said immediately, “Not very well. I’ll tell you all about it when I get home. I’ll be home in a half hour.” I finished that journey and I parked the car outside my house. She came up the driveway and said, “You did really bad, did you?” I said, “Yeah, let’s go down the pub.” She said, “They just called to say you’ve got the job.” They called me before I got home! Of course, there were no cell phones in those days. It was all ring ring, pick up the phone at the house.

I found out later there were 100 drummers, world class drummers from different band, who had all tried out. Top players, no names, but top players would ring and say, “Whatever you do, don’t tell my band, but I’d like to try out with you guys.” And they did, 100 of them did. I was 101 *laughs*. I’m pleased about that, but they called before I got home to say I got the gig. I think there were 5 or 6 drummers, again, no names, but top drummers who auditioned in the days before I got there. We’d definitely go down the pub now!

When you joined AC/DC, they were having a bit of a lull in their career commercially speaking, especially here in the States. All of a sudden, The Razors Edge drops and boom: They’re back on top, just like a decade earlier with Back in Black. Was the impact that album had on a global scale overwhelming at all to you?

CS: No, I don’t think it was at all overwhelming. We all were used to it. We were old hens by then. The guys certainly were. They were more used to it than I was, but it was all in my professional stride. I accepted it. I didn’t know that “Thunderstruck” was going to be as big as it was. I just did my job. I did what I was told. Well, I wasn’t told very much actually. I just played and I knew that they didn’t want very many embellishments in the drumming. They wanted straight, four to the floor drumming. That was it.

They didn’t want any tricky dicky stuff, and they still don’t. My natural instinct is to play tricky dicky stuff *laughs*, but I was boom bap. You still gotta play it with feel. It’s not as simple as it sounds. You have to be good with it. You have to play with feel. You have to play with swing. You have to play with all the musicianship. It’s not as easy, and the songs, some of the songs, are quite complicated. You’d think there’s some 2/4 bars in there. There’s some 5/4 bars in there.

I’ve had top musicians…I had a band in America, well I wouldn’t call it a band, but a bunch of us got together and just do gigs in California. They were learning AC/DC. One guy came up and said, “I’ve got a new respect for AC/DC. I’ve been trying to learn this for two days.” *laughs* It’s harder than it sounds. And they are! All those songs are harder than they sound.

What are your favorite songs off The Razors Edge?

CS: One of my very favorites that don’t get played a lot is “Rock Your Heart Out”. I love that song. I had to learn that in the audition. I’d never heard it before, nor had anyone else heard it. It wasn’t out yet and it was really different for AC/DC because it’s got that offbeat kick drum. I had to learn that in about 20 minutes. It wasn’t perfect, but I did a good job of it. I want Timeline to do that because I think it’s a great song.

Of course, it would have to be “Thunderstruck”. It’s head and shoulders above a lot of other tracks from a lot of other bands. There’s so much in it. That run in riff all the way through from Angus is fantastic. There’s the chant, the “Thunder!”, all that stuff. It’s so well put together. They’re such good writers. The thing is they have pop songs that are played heavy! “You Shook Me All Night Long”, it’s really a pop song, but they have a heavy edge to it that not many people can do to a song. As for the rest of the album, there’s some I really don’t like, which I won’t say *laughs*. But those two are the standout ones for me for different reasons. I should’ve done “Rock Your Heart Out” on this album. That would’ve been nice, but we hadn’t got it recorded yet. It’ll be on the next one!

You’d rejoin AC/DC a couple decades later for the Rock or Bust Tour. If the opportunity arose to play with AC/DC again, would you?

CS: I would, yes, of course I would. Why wouldn’t I? Why would they change things? I don’t know. I said that to them. I said that to Malcolm actually when he called me to say, “You’re not doing anything wrong and it’s nothing you’re not doing, but we’re gonna try Phil (Rudd).” You can’t argue with that because he’s the original guy. It’s like saying, “We’re gonna try Ringo again.” “Oh, I don’t think that’s right!” Come on. I resigned on the spot when they told me they’re gonna try Phil.

Malcolm didn’t want me to go. He said, “Just hang around for a bit. We don’t even know if he can play.” I said, “Well that’s your problem now, Mal. I’m not hanging around to find out.” If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, which is what they were doing. But of course, he’s been around forever with them. I can understand why Angus would prefer him to me. That’s how the cookie crumbles.

In closing, what does the rest of 2024 have in store for The Chris Slade Timeline?

CS: We’re doing gigs. Tomorrow we’re going to Lyon in France, which is three quarters of the way down. In a couple of weeks, we’ll be further down. We go to Italy in a couple of weeks. Two months ago, we were in Poland, Czechia, Germany. We’re all over the place! Italy, that’s where we are in about 2 or 3 weeks time. I love it. I love travelling, and we do it in a van too. We don’t fly places. We do it in a van with the equipment, in the old fashioned way. I love that.

I don’t like flying much away. I’m not afraid of it, but the security these days is just awful. The thing with AC/DC is we had private planes and there was hardly any security. There was some, of course, but you can put up with the normal thing. What you gotta go through these days with airplane security is just awful. I don’t like doing that, so we drive everywhere. I like to drive. We all chip in. We all take a turn at the wheel. We all take a turn setting up. We have a crew, but we do it ourselves as well.

It’s a matter of enjoying yourself. That’s part of the enjoyment for me. A friend of mine out in LA, Terry Illous, the singer, said to me, “Hey Slade! You know what? They pay us to travel!” *laughs* Which is so true. It’s great! He’s as pleased with that as I am because I love going to different places, meeting different people. I really do love it. I wouldn’t be doing it now if I didn’t. I’m not in it for the money like that journalist suggested, or those journalists suggested *laughs*. I do it because I love it and I’m able to do it. That’s the big thing. Mick Jagger is able to do it. Keith Richards is able to do it and enjoy it. We’re old hacks. That’s what we do. We entertain. We play our music and want you to enjoy our music.

The new Chris Slade Timeline album, Timescape, comes out Friday, July 19 on BraveWords Records. For more information on Chris Slade, visit www.chrisslade.com.