AC/DC Star Reveals His Shocking Conversation With Led Zeppelin Legend Jimmy Page
In a new appearance on Rolling Stone, Chris Slade, known for the drummer of the rock band AC/DC, took fans back to his shocking phone call with Jimmy Page, leader of the Led Zeppelin.
When the interviewer asked, “How did you wind up in The Firm?”, Chris replied:
“To back up a bit, I got this call from Dave Gilmour. It was like, ‘Hello, Chris, Dave Gilmour here.’ I looked at the phone to see if I was hearing correctly. ‘I’m putting a band together. I’d like you to play drums.’
“I said, ‘Dave, that is absolutely fantastic. But I’m working with Mick Ralphs’ band.’ They were friends – Mick Ralphs from Bad Company.
“He said, ‘That’s alright. Mick is doing it too.’ I thought, ‘Oh, fantastic.’ And I said, ‘OK, Dave. We’ll sort it all out and I’ll see you soon.’ He said we were going to start in about a month or so.
“I said to my wife, ‘OK, we’re going down to the pub to celebrate.’ We went down to the pub and had some lunch and some beers.
“We came back and the phone rings. I pick up and hear, ‘Hello, it’s Jimmy Page here.’ I’m going, ‘Come on, friend. I know it’s you. Stop messing about.’ ‘No, no, no, no. It really is Jimmy Page.’
“’How are you, Jim?’ We’d never met, but we had mutual friends. ‘Me and Paul Rodgers are putting a band together and we’d really like you to play drums.’
“I was like, ‘Oh! Jim, you won’t believe this. An hour and a half ago’ – I was thinking honesty was the best policy – ‘an hour and a half ago, David Gilmour asked me to do a tour and it’s starting in a month or so.’
“I was thinking, ‘Oh, God, that’s the end of it now.’ And he goes, ‘That’s alright. We’ll wait…’ Holds phone away from face. Stares at phone for about 30 seconds. Couldn’t believe it.
“’OK, we’re not in any sort of rush, really. How long is the tour?’ I said, ‘I think it’s going to be three months.’ ‘Well, keep me in touch and we’ll see what happens when it finishes. But we definitely want you to play drums.’
“I went, ‘OK, thanks a lot. Thank Paul and I’ll call you and keep you informed with what’s going on.’ We definitely went to the pub after that. Again.”
Click here for the conversation.
