Chris Slade's Timeline Band speaks before his set at MacMoray Festival in Elgin.
Chris Slade was drummer in AC/DC for a total of seven years, and also toured with Tom Jones.
Video: Georgia Smyth
Chris Slade was drummer in AC/DC for a total of seven years, and also toured with Tom Jones.
Video: Georgia Smyth
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MusicTranscript
00:00Well, here with Chris Slade, Timeline Band, last on tonight.
00:03Chris, how excited are you to be at McMurray?
00:06Oh, it's great.
00:06But it's great to be anywhere, to be honest.
00:12We're looking to have a great time tonight
00:14and hope that everybody out there does as well.
00:19How good is it to close the show?
00:21And can you tell us a little bit about your invitation to McMurray?
00:24When did you find out about it?
00:26And were you always excited to come to Elgin?
00:28I've never been this far north before,
00:31so I was really looking forward to it and it didn't disappoint.
00:35How long have you been?
00:36How long have you been in the area?
00:39We came up yesterday from Kent.
00:43From Kent. Is that where you stay, down in Kent just now?
00:45Yeah.
00:47And I should ask about your time with ACDC.
00:49So you're telling me seven years in total over two stints.
00:53How much experience have you gained from working with world class musicians
00:58like the ones that you have worked with?
01:00Oh, it's great. It's fantastic.
01:02It's always great to work, to be honest.
01:07You know, I've been working with top people all my life.
01:11David Gilmour, Jimmy Page.
01:16Started, as you said, started with Tom Jones in the 60s.
01:20And I've been working with all sorts of different people
01:25ever since the band Asia,
01:30Michael Schenker, Gary Moore.
01:35Very different people.
01:37And I'm very pleased to be able to do a good job with all of them.
01:44How much do you take from each of these bands into your own performances
01:48now as part of the, you know, the Chris Slade experience?
01:52With all those different bands you mean?
01:54Yeah, I'm just very happy and lucky to be able to play
02:00those different styles of music because they are different.
02:03Yeah, a lot of them.
02:06You know, I was in Man for Man's Earth band in the 70s,
02:09right through the 70s, and that's totally different to playing ACDC.
02:16So I'm with Tom Jones.
02:20I was playing with the Count Basie band.
02:25So, I mean, he was he was the that was the band that was on the tour.
02:2930 Priests, a big band, you know.
02:34And I was lucky that I started with jazz.
02:37So I, you know, I was able to play
02:43all sorts of styles.
02:45Who would you say you've learned from the most over your career
02:48out of all those amazing musicians that you've you've played with?
02:52Oh, I don't know.
02:54It's just an accumulation of amalgamation of
02:59all the things I've absorbed, really.
03:03And, you know, you learn as you go along.
03:06You hear things, you pick things up.
03:09It's how every musician learns.
03:13Is that is that something that fans will hear in your performance?
03:16Influenced the different influences that you've had throughout your career?
03:19Oh, yes, most definitely.
03:21Because we we do a full
03:25full gamut, if you like.
03:29A lot of people I've worked with, not a lot of time tonight to
03:32we usually play for over two hours.
03:37That is that's what usually happens tonight.
03:42I think we've got an hour and a quarter.
03:45So we can only play maybe half, you know, what we usually play.
03:52So we're just trying to get out there, make a great impact
03:57and hope that people like us.
04:00And I'm sure you're followed.
04:03I'm sure you're followed by ACDC fans wherever you go as well.
04:07Are you still to this day?
04:08Some, we know some what they call superfans
04:15and some of them have been to every single ACDC show.
04:21Forever.
04:23And they come along
04:26to our shows.
04:28Some of them.
04:28So some of them will be in Elgin tonight, do you think even?
04:31I don't know. I don't know.
04:33I don't know how many live up this way,
04:36but it's surprising.
04:38They turn up all over the place.
04:39We were in Poland recently and a couple showed up for that.
04:43So, you know, it does happen.
04:47And you can always tell them because they sort of wear
04:52denim jackets with,
04:55you know, lots of badges on.
04:57They look a bit like bikers, you know, but they're ACDC fans.
05:03And as ACDC calls them, ACDC superfans,
05:08because some of them go to Australia, you know,
05:13from here.
05:15It's really nice to see those guys.
05:17Fantastic. Chris, much appreciate your time and wish you all the best on stage
05:22and hopefully see you back in this part of the world and in the future.
05:25Very much. Thank you.
05:26Appreciate it. Thanks a lot for that.