Rolling Stone, conducted an interview with former AC/DC drummer Chris Slade, talking about the recent chapter in AC/DC’s history, focusing on the departure of Brian Johnson from the fold and the addition of Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose in 2016.
Here are a few parts of the interview:
What happened on the tour that led to Brian’s departure?
“Brian was getting unhappy. He kept saying, ‘I’m feeling bad. I’m feeling bad for the fans.’ I wear in-ear monitors. First time I ever used them. I could hear everything perfectly, including Brian.
“I kept going, ‘Brian, it’s really not as bad as you think it is. I know you have professional pride. But you keep saying you screwed up. It’s really not as bad as you think.’
“I don’t know the end of the story. The band, including Brian, was in Miami. Tim [Brockman], the tour manager said, ‘We’re going to be staying here for a while.’
“I went, ‘Oh, really? I thought we were going to a new city next week.’ He said, ‘No, we’re going to be here for a few weeks.’ I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘I’ll tell you later.’
“I never got the story. But I had been talking to the crew and they filled me in. All I know is – and this is serious; I don’t know the details – all I know is that Brian went from Miami to home. He lives in Florida anyway. As far as I know, he stayed there.”
Besides Axl Rose, did you hear about any other possible replacement singers?
“We were in Atlanta, Georgia, and we auditioned a few people. Some of them were really good. I said, ‘What’s happening tomorrow?’ Someone goes, ‘Tomorrow we’ve got Axl Rose.‘ I went, ‘What?! Axl Rose!’
“I knew his reputation. ‘Wow, that is left field. I never saw that coming.’ I’d only ever heard his Guns N’ Roses voice. I didn’t know he could cut it. He showed up the next day at the rehearsal place in Atlanta and he seemed like a really nice guy. He was telling jokes.
“The rest of us were like, ‘Wow. This is unprecedented.’ At least in my mind, that is. When he started singing, it was like, ‘Wow!’ I never even knew he could sing like that. It was brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
“He turned out to be the nice guy that I thought he was. I found out he wasn’t putting on an act or anything. That’s how he was.”
The guys you auditioned before Axl, were these known singers or relatively unknown singers?
“Relatively unknown, I would say. Some tribute-band guys and some of those guys are really good, as we all know.
“And, of course, I had no input whatsoever. Nobody says, especially to the drummer, ‘What do you think?’ [Laughs]”
It must have been weird during the Axl shows to look out and not see Brian, or even Malcolm, for that matter. Two key parts of the band were no longer there.
“Yeah. We had auditioned for a few weeks with Axl. I’m pretty spontaneous in my life and sometimes drumming, as well.
“To me, it was like, ‘It sounds great. Let’s go with it. Come on, Slade, do your gig. It’s what you’re getting paid for.'”