Ex-AC/DC Drummer CHRIS SLADE Gives His Stamp Of Approval To New Drummer MATT LAUG: 'I Wish Him The Best Of Luck'

Journeyman Welsh drummer Chris Slade, who has spent the past 60 years playing with everyone from Tom Jones to MANFRED MANN, THE FIRM and AC/DC, has commented on the latter band's announcement that it has recruited Matt Laug to perform with the Brian Johnson-fronted outfit at the Power Trip festival next month.

"I know Matt as a very nice guy from my days of living in California," the 76-year-old Chris wrote on his social media. "He is a very capable, teetotal drummer and will put the drums exactly where Angus [Young, AC/DC guitarist] wants them..... At the back of the stage. I wish him the best of luck!"

AC/DC is among the headliners on a bill of veteran rockers who will take to the stage at Power Trip in Indio, California October 6-8. It will be the iconic Australian band's first gig since 2016.

The 55-year-old Laug is an American drummer who has played with many bands/artists such as Alanis Morissette, Alice Cooper, SLASH'S SNAKEPIT and Vasco Rossi. Matt moved to Los Angeles after graduating from South Florence High School in 1986 and after attending college in L.A., Matt became a sought-after studio drummer.

In 2001, Laug supported AC/DC as part of SLASH'S SNAKEPIT on the North American and European legs of the "Stiff Upper Lip" tour.

On Saturday (September 9), AC/DC shared a short audio snippet from the rehearsal sessions for Power Trip, and it included the following message: "PWR UP for Power Trip! Listen to the rehearsal of the boys powering up with Cliff Williams, who's coming out of retirement for the festival and Matt Laug on drums."

In its announcement, AC/DC offered no explanation for the absence of the band's longtime drummer Phil Rudd, who rejoined AC/DC for the recording of the group's comeback album, "Power Up", which came out in November 2020.

Rudd was ousted from AC/DC when he was sentenced to eight months of home detention by a New Zealand court in 2015 after pleading guilty to charges of threatening to kill and drug possession. He was replaced on the band's "Rock Or Bust" tour by Slade, who had previously served as AC/DC's drummer between 1989 and 1994, playing on the album "The Razor's Edge".

Rudd, who appeared on all but three of AC/DC's 18 previous studio albums, toured in support of his 2014 solo debut, "Head Job". It was the release of that album that led indirectly to Rudd's arrest, with the drummer allegedly so angry at a personal assistant over the way the record was promoted that he threatened to have the man and his daughter killed.

Slade originally followed Simon Wright in AC/DC's lineup, joining in time to play on "The Razor's Edge". When Rudd returned in 1995, Slade was shown the door and harbored some bad feelings about that for a while.

Image credit: Linea Rock