Classic Rock
Chris Slade says Axl Rose was never late when playing with AC/DC
Back in 2016 the singer Brian Johnson had to leave AC/DC by the end of the “Rock Or Bust” tour due to hearing problems and to play the final shows the band recruited Guns N’ Roses’ Axl Rose for the post. Besides him, the group also had Cliff Williams, Angus Young, Stevie Young and Chris Slade.
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Over the decades Axl Rose frequently was late for the shows of his band but as Slade recalled in an interview with Appetite For Distortion (Transcribed by Blabbermouth) that the singer was never late and was a really nice person.
Chris Slade says Axl Rose was never late when playing with AC/DC
“The thing with Axl, people went, like, ‘Axl Rose. Do me a favor.’ And I must admit, I was a little trepidatious, shall I say. But he said ‘hello’. I shook his hand, and I thought, ‘This guy’s all right.’ And he was telling jokes.”
“And he was a great guy, actually. I know I’ve heard the horror stories, as we all have, but in my experience, he was great. Very professional. He was never late anywhere, anytime. And he used to warm up two hours before every show and warm down for two hours every show. I know that for a fact, because I was next to him (laughs); I could hear him.”
“And we learned them. Well, we knew ’em before, but he wanted to do — I think we did things like ‘Riff Raff’ and things like that. I can’t remember properly, to be very honest. But it was great. And I didn’t know he had that voice, honestly. I’d only ever heard him in Guns N’ Roses with that Guns N’ Roses voice. It wasn’t that at all. It was a fantastic voice, as far as I’m concerned, with full range,” Chris Slade said.
After the end of that tour AC/DC went into a hiatus until 2020 when Brian Johnson was finally back and they released the album “Power Up”. But the legendary drummer Chris Slade wasn’t invited back since the group had the classic drummer Phil Rudd.
Besides playing with AC/DC many times, Chris Slade also performed over the decades with names like Tom Jones, Uriah Heep, Gary Numan, David Gilmour, The Firm and Asia.
