Angus Young, the guitarist of AC/DC evokes the arrival of Axl Rose, the departure of Brian Johnson, the absence of his brother Malcolm, and tells us that the last tour to be … the last
Axl Rose is the type to do only in his head. Did you have to explain to him that at AC/DC, you have to arrive on time?
Angus Young – Axl was very good. He is preparing in his corner, ready to go there. We sit down and discuss the end of fat, we define the songs we want to play before getting started. It must be fun for him as for us. At first, he was confined (because of an injury to the foot) in this chair he had borrowed from Dave Grohl. But as soon as he was able, he came out to move.
How did AXL be supplanting Brian?
A guy who works in production and who worked for us said to Axl: “I know these types, they have work ethics. They want to honor their dates ”. And Axl volunteered. He came to Atlanta, where we repeated, and he did his homework. He had a few songs, like “Touch Too Much”, and asked us if we knew how to play it! And in fact, we had never learned it because we had never tried to play it live.
Does Axl rather sound like Brian or as the late good Scott?
It is more in the style of good, very rock'n'roll in the personality. He also has his own humor, quite primary. In fact, he can attack a good song, and, the next moment, make Brian, in a register above.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB54WXS5ACK
“I would see myself landing with Keith Richards”
Did Brian already suffer from a hearing problem before the tour?
He was already suffering when we repeated for Coachella (in 2015). He had problems with an ear after a car accident, then his good ear quickly damaged. Then he went to see a specialist in Australia at each concert, he had to make her examine and treat. But it has become too hard for him.
Do you think that Cliff Williams's decision is linked to Brian's departure?
Cliff said he wanted to withdraw before the tour. He has been in the group since 1977. He and Brian are of the same age group, they liked to go out, do the tour of the pubs. It bound them.
Shot without Malcolm on the guitar, what does you do? Does your nephew Stevie fill the lack in your eyes?
Sometimes I look at it twice. I hear a sound behind me and I say to myself: “It sounds so much like Malcolm …” When Stevie was younger, he had focused thoroughly on what Malcolm was doing. It looks simple, but it's quite the opposite. You have to be solid, self -confident.
Malcolm's guitar game was in his image, frank and determined.
Yes. In the studio, I hacked guitar sounds, so as to type in the thousand (laughter))! Then Malcolm showed me a good big sound, and there, wow!
You wonder today if he shouldn't have stopped earlier? If you haven't pushed the group too far?
It is quite possible. But Malcolm was always about fighting. He sometimes told me, in times of crisis: “We're going to get started, let's go and work a little. We're going to write a few songs. He had this strength and I felt obliged to continue perhaps because I was there from the start with him.
And you, what will your future be? You have never played in another group …
It's true. For the moment, I don't know anything about it. We had undertaken to finish the tour, who knows in what state of mind I will be after that? When you sign something by saying “I'm going to do this and that”, it is always good to be able to say at the end of the race: “I did everything I said that I would do. It has always been the basic idea, even more when you were young, with good and Malcolm. We had to show up on time: we played in a pub in the afternoon, then in the evening we were in another club. We had joined the principle: “If you don't play you don't eat”.
Who else do you dream of playing?
Let's say that a package should be awakened among the dead (laughter))! I would see myself landing with Keith Richards. It is a type of rhythm, like Malcolm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Official AC/DC website
