Legendary drummer CHRIS SLADE on the gig he regretfully turned down – “ELVIS PRESLEY: ‘Sorry ELVIS, I’m too busy’”

BraveWords had the honor of speaking with legendary drummer Chris Slade this week for a Streaming For Vengeance chat airing this Friday (July 19, 3:33 p.m. EST), the same day The Chris Slade Timeline release their new album Timescape via BraveWords Records. Chris Slade formed the band The Chris Slade Timeline in 2012 to celebrate over 50 years as a professional rock drummer, working with the likes of Tom Jones, Manfred Mann’s Earthband, Gary Moore, Gary Numan, Denny Laine, Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers, David Gilmour, Uriah Heep, Asia, and of course, AC/DC.

In an excerpt from the interview, BraveWords asked if there was ever a gig he regretted turning down.

“Yeah. Elvis Presley. ‘Sorry Elvis, I’m too busy.’ He asked me to play drums with him in Las Vegas for a month first. And Gordon Mills (Tom Jones’ manager, who incidentally co-wrote the title song ‘It’s Not Unusual’) said to me, ‘Where’s your welchness? What are you doing?’ In the end, Gordon went to Col Tom Parker and said, ‘You can’t steal our drummer.’ I would have loved to do that. I said to Tom, ‘Look, you’re great, how about the drummer that played with you and Elvis Presley!’ Because they were mates, they were friends and until Elvis died, they were friends. And it was a mutual admiration society because Tom grew up with Elvis from the beginning. I came in kind of in the middle of it. When I met Elvis, and I met him a couple of times. He threw a party for us and I have a picture of Elvis on one side and Tom Jones on the other. I call it ‘Who’s That With Slade?'”

Stay tuned for more excerpts from the chat and tune in this Friday (July 19, 3:33pm EST) when Chris Slade is our special guest on Streaming For Vengeance.

The Chris Slade Timeline album Timescape is available for pre-order here. The physical pre-order includes a limited edition postcard autographed by Chris Slade. Watch a video trailer below.

Chris Slade formed The Chris Slade Timeline in 2012 to celebrate over 50 years as a professional rock drummer. For this project, Slade enlisted the phenomenal vocalists Steve Glasscock and Paul “Bun” Davis, plus the stunning musical techniques of guitarist James Cornford and keyboardist/guitarist Michael J. Clark, and you’ve got a band to be reckoned with that is a fitting tribute to Slade’s illustrious musical career.

This is a concept for Slade, which includes appearances from a varied setlist of Tom Jones, Manfred Mann’s Earthband, Uriah Heep, The Firm, ASIA, MSG, David Gilmour and Gary Moore, as well as a whole host of AC/DC numbers and plenty of surprises revealed along the way.

“After all these years of recording and playing with some of the greatest rock musicians in the world such as Tom Jones, Manfred Mann’s Earthband, Gary Moore, Gary Numan, Denny Laine, Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers, David Gilmour, Uriah Heep, Asia and of course AC/DC.

Tracklist of Timescape:

Disc 1:
“Sun Dance”
“We will survive”
“Bringer of joy”
“Living the dream”
“Song of Freedom”
“Back with all our might”
“Questions”
“Time goes by”
“End of Eternity”

Disc 2:
“The Knife’s Edge”
“Free”
“Blinded by the light”
“July Morning”
“Thunderstruck”
“Big weapon”
“Hells Bells”
“High voltage”

Trailer:

Chris Slade’s timeline is:

Paul “Bun” Davis – vocals
Stevie Gee – vocals, bass
James Cornford – guitar, vocals
Mike Clarke – keyboards, guitar, vocals

*Andy Crosby plays bass on “Sundance”, “Back With A Vengeance” and “Questions”

About Chris Slade:

Slade began his career at the age of 16 with Tom Jones before changing his name to Tom Jones, which included world tours and recordings throughout the 1960s.

Chris Slade was a founding member of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band in January 1971. He spent seven years with the band, recording eight albums and scoring three UK top ten singles: “Joybringer” (No. 9, October 1973), “Blinded By The Light” (No. 6, September 1976 and a million-selling No. 1 hit in the US) and “Davy’s On The Road Again” (No. 6, June 1978). After “Earthband” he spent two years with Uriah Heep, one year with Gary Numan and one year with David Gilmour in 1984.

He later formed The Firm with Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers and bassist Tony Franklin. They produced two excellent albums for Atlantic in 1985 and 1986, which brought them several radio hits, including “Radioactive” and “Satisfaction Guaranteed”.

Then Chris joined Gary Moore, taking over from Cozy Powell just four days before the 1989 After The War tour began. At one of Gary Moore’s UK shows, Malcolm Young saw Chris Slade play. After the tour, Chris wanted to form a band with former Aerosmith guitarist Rick Dufay. But a call from AC/DC put paid to those plans, as he would tour and record with them for the next five years, playing on their acclaimed album Razors Edge and delivering a stunning performance on their concert DVD Live From Donington.

After his time with AC/DC, Chris joined the prog rock band Asia, who (despite the many personnel changes over the years) continued to produce excellent music. Chris recorded their studio albums Aura and Silent Nation with them from 2000 to 2004 and delivered his “typical” high energy live performances on all subsequent tours, which lasted over five years.

In the 21st century, Slade played drums for German guitarist Michael Schenker for five years before forming The Chris Slade Timeline in 2012.