PROFESSIONAL DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING UNLESS YOU GET PAID
A CONVERSATION WITH DRUMMER CHRIS SLADE
You may not know the name Chris Slade, but if you are a fan of classic rock, you can bet that you will find Chris Slade’s name on many of your records. Chris Slade has worked with Gary Numan, Tom Jones, David Gilmour, Asia, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (which he was a founding member), The Firm, and AC/DC and that is only a fraction of the musicians with whom he has worked. Over the past few years, he has also fronted his own band, The Chris Slade Timeline. And they are set to release their new album, Timescape, in August on Brave Worlds Records.
“The band was actually formed 12 years ago,” Chris Slade told me during our recent conversation via Zoom recently. “We’ve been going through Europe for the last 10 years. I wanted to form a band that could play AC/DC and also do the other stuff I worked on, like Asia, Tom Jones, and things that are completely diverse from AC/DC. The guys were handpicked, because you could have a guitarist who is great with AC/DC and never heard the Tom Jones stuff. I am very lucky to get people who not only can play it, but want to play it. It’s not everybody’s taste, but it’s mine because it has been in my career. It is hard to find talented people, and I am pleased with it, and I hope they are.
Chris Slade Timeline has just recorded an album (Timescape) and Slade is, rightfully, very proud of it. Besides recording an album, Slade is clear that this band is “absolutely brilliant live. I can’t believe it some nights. We can go from AC/DC to David Gilmour to Jimmy Page and nobody complains or wants us to stop. I saw some of the guys in a band doing covers and I thought they were incredible, this was maybe 15 years ago. “The album was recorded mainly last year. I had some songs and we had done some recording over the years of covers, so we thought, why not do originals and do some covers. So the guys wrote a couple of songs, and I wrote eight or nine, with the help of Mike the keyboard player. It was a great project and I enjoyed doing it a lot. I wrote a lot of it off the top of my head, right in the studio. It was like, ‘that bit’s good, stick it in there.’ No one has written to me and told me not to do it,” laughed Slade.
PRE-ORDER TIMESCAPE
In fact, Slade is one of a handful of drummers who is not only a talented drummer, but a very talented songwriter. He started writing songs in 1971 when he was part of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. “I started writing during The Earth Band days,” said Slade. “I remember it really well. I was driving home from an Earth Band rehearsal. And I thought, ‘it would be nice to be a writer’. But I don’t play anything, I just really hit things. So I went round and round three times to make the point with myself that I could actually have ideas, and I did. I thought I can do it now and if I can’t write the melody, I can write the words. It was incredible when I realized I could actually do some poetry. I was a big fan of Dylan Thomas. Him being Welsh and me being Welsh, he was the big poet. I took some hints from him, if you like, didn’t steal anything…honest!”
The band recorded the old-fashioned way, being in the studio together and working out the songs. “Some of the ones we did in the studio all together. We have two singers. One who does the AC/DC songs and one is for the other stuff. I had a hell of a lot of fun making it. It was difficult at times to come up with ideas, as every writer knows. Mike helped a lot along the way, because I can’t play any instruments, other than drums. So I have to hum. I can’t read music, not even drum music. I used to, when I did sessions in the 1960s, but I didn’t like it.”
Slade got his start playing with Tom Jones and he remembered the days of trying to make a living out of music with a great deal of fondness. “I got my start playing with Tom Jones in 1963, of course then he was known as Tommy Scott (Jones’ real name is Tommy Woodward) and the band was The Senators. We were quite big in the clubs of South Wales, these were working men’s clubs, not rock clubs, there was no such thing in those days. We were doing really well, and then I turned professional and starved,” laughed Slade. “We all went down to London. We couldn’t get work for ages, and our manager at the time subsidized us. We had a pound a day to live on. It was difficult to do then. It was a learning experience and it made me really.”
With such a career, it is difficult for a musician, like Slade, to pinpoint a particular session or artist. Quite simply, he has enjoyed doing it all. “What stands out? Getting paid!” laughed Slade. “I finally got paid when I became professional. Professional doesn’t mean anything unless you get paid and people don’t give you money easily.”
“It was difficult in the beginning, but I still play in the back. Some drummers put their kit right up front. I can’t do that, my ego is not immense enough. It doesn’t feel right. You have to be able to see the band and see what they are doing. My position is sitting down at the back. The rhythm section drives the music. They love the guitarist, getting up there wailing away, but hardly anybody looks at the bass and drums, which is the heart of the whole thing. That is what gives the guy with the guitar the bedrock to play to.”
It was never difficult for Slade to switch gears for each of the musicians with whom he was working. “No, thank God. I am blessed with the technique. I started off with Jazz. Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa, and all those guys. Most pop drummers were jazz players, who were inventing rock ‘n’ roll in the beginning. They were all jazzers. They had the technique to do it. Bill Haley and his Comets, for instance, were all jazzers originally. They invented rock ‘n’ roll!”
The new album, Timescape, is a double CD package, one of CD covers, and one all new, original songs written by Slade and the band. “Creativity and musicianship, that is what comes across to me. I am in awe of the guys and their musical talent. Half of the album is live, doesn’t sound like it, sounds like studio recordings, but a lot of them are live.”
Chris Slade Timeline continues to tour this summer and with the excitement of the new album, Timescape, it might be a good opportunity to come over to North America for a tour. Slade is in full agreement. He would like to tour, especially in Canada. Let’s hope he and his band make it across the Atlantic. In the meantime, Timescape will be something we can all enjoy.
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