Veteran drummer Chris Slade recently spoke of his mixed feelings when AC/DC asked him to stay on as Phil Rudd’s backup in 1994. Slade, who found success as the drummer on The Razors Edge album by AC/DC in 1990, felt aggrieved by the group’s request.
Slade, who performed with AC/DC on The Razors Edge tour, opened up about his experience during an interview with 1 Question With. He revealed that the band’s guitarist, Malcolm Young, personally called him to tell him the news.
“Malcolm called me personally, not a manager or anything, and he said, ‘Look, it’s nothing serious. You’ve done nothing wrong, but we’re going to try playing with Phil again, okay?’ And I said, ‘Oh, well, that’s it. I’m leaving.’ And he said, ‘No, no. We’d like you to stick around.’ I said, ‘No, there’s no point.’”
Rudd, who had been fired from the group in 1983, was reinstated, and the offer made to Slade was to stay on as a replacement in case Rudd could not fulfill his role. Slade, not feeling appreciated, decided to leave the group rather than accept the position of substitute.
Reflecting on his decision, Slade admitted that he felt “insulted” and hurt by the offer, but that he still held Malcolm Young in high regard. “Malcolm called me himself. He was a very nice guy… A genius guitarist – a real genius. He was not only very good, he was the best rhythm guitarist there was. He’s the best rhythm player I’ve ever worked with in my life, and I doubt there’s another rhythm player who can match Malcolm.”
Despite this difficult situation, Slade admits that his decision may not have been the most pragmatic. “If I had been my father at the time, I would have said, ‘Listen, just sit back and take the money, okay?’ I was very stupid, to be honest.”
In 2015, Chris Slade joined AC/DC for the Rock or Bust tour after Phil Rudd’s legal troubles, demonstrating his commitment to the band despite a checkered history.
