Angus Young has once again said that the possibility of AC/DC continuing with singer Axl Rose after the completion of the band’s “Rock Or Bust” tour never really came up.
AC/DC postponed the last 10 dates of its spring 2016 North American trek after singer Brian Johnson was advised to stop playing live or “risk total hearing loss.” The band went on to complete the European and North American legs of its “Rock Or Bust” tour with the GUNS N’ ROSES frontman as a “guest vocalist.”
In a new interview with Germany’s Rock Antenne, Young said that the prospect of a new studio album with Rose on vocals “never really came as a point in question. Axl helped us out,” he explained (see video below). “He had actually volunteered, because — I’ll be honest — at the time, we didn’t really know what we would do in that situation. And he, very early, had volunteered. He said if he can help out — he had his own commitments to do — and he said if it didn’t interfere with what he was doing, he would gladly, if he can help, he would be involved. So it was a case of that. We didn’t know if it would come together, so we did a little bit of rehearsing with him. And it worked out. He broke his foot when he had been working with his own project, but he certainly gave it his all to get through. So that was very good of him. I’ve got a lot of respect. And how he did it — he was very pro. And he was very hungry. He’s very much a fan of especially a lot of our earlier stuff with Bon [Scott]. So he was excited to be doing it. As a band, I’ll always be grateful to him for that.”
AC/DC‘s North American tour ended in Philadelphia in September 2016, and despite initial fan trepidation, Axl got generally good reviews for his performances. Angus said at the time: “I mean, under the situation that we had, it was very good that he volunteered and said, ‘Hey, if I can help, let me try.’ So he’s been very good. And he had to learn a lot of songs very quickly, and he’s done a great job.”
Duff McKagan, who is one-third of the reunited partial classic lineup of GUNS N’ ROSES, got a chance to watch Rose and AC/DC play in June 2016 in London, England and in September 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Duff spoke about Axl‘s collaboration with AC/DC during a 2019 appearance on “The Church Of What’s Happening Now” podcast. He said: “The way [Axl] did that was amazing. He was, like, ‘If you guys don’t mind, I’m gonna go try out. They need a hand here.’ [Late AC/DC frontman] Bon Scott‘s his all-time [hero]. [We said], ‘Dude, you know you don’t really have to try out for AC/DC.’ But he was really nervous. ‘I’m gonna go try out. It fits in with our touring perfect.’ And Slash and I were, like, ‘You’ve got the gig.’ But he went to Atlanta and tried out, quote-unquote, and got the gig. I saw him twice on that tour. I flew to London to see him, and I flew to Cleveland to see that. It was great.”
McKagan added: “I think what it did for [Axl]… We got to know Angus through that. Angus has now come out and played with us a bunch of times. That was that thing when he was 14 or 15, ‘Man, one day, if I ever got to be in AC/DC…’ He was singing with a broom, and he finally got to do it. Amazing.”
AC/DC released its long-awaited comeback album, “Power Up”, last November. The follow-up to 2014’s “Rock Or Bust” was recorded over a six-week period in August and September 2018 at Warehouse Studios in Vancouver with producer Brendan O’Brien, who also worked 2008’s “Black Ice” and 2014’s “Rock Or Bust”.
Although AC/DC originally planned on releasing “Power Up” in early 2020, the pandemic forced the band to reconsider.
