Chris Slade On New Album "Timescape," AC/DC, Jimmy Page & More - "Paltrocast" Exclusive

Photo byBraveWords Records

Drummer Chris Slade started his career at the age of 16 with Tom Jones before he changed his name to Tom Jones. This included world tours and recording throughout the 1960s. After this, Slade became a founding member of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band in January 1971. He spent seven years with the band, recording eight albums and achieving three UK Top Ten singles in the process: "Joybringer" (No. 9, October 1973), "Blinded By The Light" (No. 6, September 1976, also multi-million-selling #1 in the U.S.) and "Davy’s On The Road Again" (No. 6, June 1978). After the Earth Band, he spent 2 years with Uriah Heep, a year with Gary Numan and a year with Pink Floyd's David Gilmour in 1984.

Slade later teamed up with Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, Bad Company's Paul Rodgers and bassist Tony Franklin to form The Firm. This group produced two excellent albums for Atlantic in 1985 and 1986, leading to a few radio hits, including "Radioactive" and "Satisfaction Guaranteed." Next Slade joined Gary Moore, taking over from Cozy Powell just four days before the start of the 1989 After The War tour. It was at one of Gary Moore’s gigs in the UK that AC/DC's Malcolm Young saw Chris Slade play; after the tour it was Slade's intention to put together a band with ex-Aerosmith guitarist Rick Dufay. But the call from AC/DC changed those plans as he was destined to tour and record with them over the course of the next five years, playing on their acclaimed Razor's Edge Album, and giving a killer performance on the concert DVD Live from Donington. After his stint with AC/DC, Chris Slade joined the prog-rock band Asia, ultimately recording with them on their early 2000s studio recordings. Following his time with Asia, Slade played drums for German guitarist Michael Schenker (The Scorpions, UFO) for five years.

Chris Slade launched the band The Chris Slade Timeline in 2012 to mark 50+ years as a professional rock drummer. For this project, Slade took on phenomenal vocalists Steve Glasscock and Paul "Bun" Davis, with the added stunning musical techniques of guitarist James Cornford and keyboardist and guitar player Michael J. Clark. As released this summer, the group's new album Timescape is now available worldwide on BraveWords Records. Timescape contains completely original new tracks and some of Slade's favorite covers.

In August 2024, I had the pleasure of speaking with Chris Slade himself via Zoom, as embedded above and set to air via the Long Beach, New York-based Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz television series. Beyond Timescape, we spoke about his early days with Tom Jones, working with Jimmy Page before The Firm, future career plans and life outside touring. Questions were kindly contributed by Hughezy, Grog Zeichner and Anthony Dalto.