Chris Slade, former AC/DC drummer, recently spoke to Vinyl Writer Music about Axl Rose’s performance with AC/DC, saying the singer “was tremendous from the start.”

Here’s what Slade said:

“Yeah. Well, for me, it was quite a long time. Me and my Mrs. had to spend a lot of time in Miami, Florida. Towards that break, which ended in Florida, Brian was really unhappy with what he was doing. And I could hear him perfectly; I was using in-ears and I could hear the band, and him, perfectly. To me, it didn’t sound as bad as he thought it was. I kept saying to him, ‘Brian, you’re doing fine.’ But he didn’t like it. I don’t know the circumstances, but all I knew is that Tim, the tour manager, said, ‘Brian‘s not here anymore. We just gotta hang around.’ I went, ‘Oh, okay.’ It took some time; maybe a month or more.

”Then we went to Atlanta, Georgia and there was some auditions. I said to [the drum tech] Dick Jones, ‘What’s tomorrow? Is it a day off?’ He said, ‘No. It’s Axl Rose tomorrow.’ I went, ‘What!?’ I couldn’t believe it; I heard all the stories about Axl. The next day, there he is. I shook his hand and thought, ‘This guy’s not bad at all,’ and he was telling jokes. And then he sang and I didn’t know he had that voice. I really had no idea he could sing like that. It was tremendous from the start. Within the next day, he was in the band.”

He added:

“In my opinion, yes. People may disagree with me, but again, I could hear him perfectly, too. Some of those notes he hit were unbelievable. He used to warm up for two hours every day. And I know he did because we were either on the same floor or very close. You could hear him on his piano, doing the scales and everything. And as I say, he was quite a funny guy. I know it’s not the opinion that a lot of people have of it, but that’s my experience of Axl.

“I know in the past he’s had his problems, but the guy that I met was a really nice guy, really talented on the case. He was never late, ever. That’s what I was afraid of, more than anything, because AC/DC is never late, not even to the second. If it’s an 8:30 show, it’s an 8:30 show. On that tour, by the way, there was one night where there was a glitch. I don’t know what it was, exactly — a guitar wasn’t working properly — and we were about a half an hour late going on. I found out afterward that was the only time that AC/DC were ever late for a show. They’re pretty conscientious like that; everything has to be spot-on.”