NOVEMBER 30, 2023 – Speaking exclusively to Rock Candy Mag as part of an in-depth 20-page AC/DC coverstory analysing ‘The Razors Edge’ period of the band’s history, Slade told writer Andrew Daly about the group’s mysterious inner workings.
“What I found out was that there are a lot of things left unspoken in AC/DC,” explained the drummer. “Most of what’s ‘said’ between Angus and Mal isn’t said. They didn’t need to talk.” Slade was new into the band before the recording of ‘The Razors Edge’ in 1990 and he found that things were left unspoken in his audition too. “Malcolm and Angus set up chairs, watched me playing the whole time, and said nothing. Afterwards they asked me if I wanted anything. I asked for a cheese sandwich and a coffee – and that was it. I was in AC/DC.”
The Welshman played on ‘The Razors Edge’ album and enjoyed two separate stints with AC/DC. He had previously been in Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and The Firm with Jimmy Page. But did he know that ‘The Razors Edge’ was going to be such a big album?
“I didn’t spot it… Sometimes you can spot it, other times you can’t. I felt very much like that when we did ‘Blinded By The Light’ with Manfred Mann. But it wasn’t that way with ‘The Razors Edge’ at all. I had no idea that ‘Thunderstruck’ was going to be AC/DC’s biggest song ever, and I had no idea that we’d made a special album.”
You can read our 20-page AC/DC special, together with many other fascinating stories about Jesse James Dupree, The Almighty, Jim Vallance, Trust, and more in issue 41 of Rock Candy Mag. For more details visit
www.rockcandymag.com.
