Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice spoke to former AC/DC singer Dave Evans. Dave spoke about his set list on his worldwide tour, the formation of AC/DC, the music he recorded with AC/DC and the shows he played with the band. Evans also debunked many AC/DC Angus Young and Bon Scott myths.
Watch the interview here:
When asked about his set list on his worldwide tour
“It’s going to be a mixture of early AC/DC songs that I did with the band plus a couple of classic Bon Scott tracks and I will be also doing my own material. You will get the old rock from AC/DC and the brand new rock from my own albums and one or two classic rock songs as well.”
When asked how AC/DC was born
“I knew of Malcolm Young, the younger brother of the famous George Young from the Easybeats. I answered an ad in the Sydney Herald newspaper that said looking for a singer, in the style of Free, Chuck Berry, Rolling Stones, that kind of thing. Malcolm was at the other end of the line and when he found out that it was me, Dave Evans, he already knew about me from my prior bands. We both knew we liked the same music, so I went to Newtown and met Malcolm for the first time and the rest of the band. We jammed, it sounded great, Malcolm was happy. Everyone was happy so we formed a band, without the name AC/DC yet. A week later Malcolm asked if his younger brother Angus who was in a band called Kentucky, if he could audition for us as well, so we said no problem. Angus auditioned and we liked him and now the band was five of us. After some time we had a show coming up and we had to get a name and we kicked around a few names then Malcolm said his sister in law suggested AC/DC and we all liked it. We shook hands and we called ourselves AC/DC. ”
When asked how many songs he recorded in his time with AC/DC
“I actually recorded quiet a few songs for the first album, then Bon Scott joined and he re-recorded the songs that I already made popular. ”
When asked which songs he recorded and wrote
“There was a song called ‘Fell in Love’ which I wrote, which Bon Scott re-wrote the lyrics, which became ‘Love song’ later on but we already made my version of the song popular live. I also wrote Sunset Strip and Bon Scott changed the lyrics to Show Business.”
“When the band went into the studio for the first time we recorded the AC/DC songs ‘Can I sit next to you Girl’ and ‘Rockin in the Parlor’ These two songs Malcolm wrote and the band never heard before or played them until we were in the studio. I also recorded the song Rock and Roll Singer in the studio which Malcolm wrote about me, not Bon Scott, as well as the song Soul Stripper and Little Lover. I had not heard any of these songs either until I recorded them in the studio. The band basically put the songs down in the studio from scratch without any of us knowing them. Once we recorded them we played them in our live set.”
When asked about the myth that Angus was 16 years old and still in school when he joined AC/DC
“Angus was about 19 years old . We put his age down to 16 years old because he was so little .George Young wanted us to look different from the other bands in Australia. So They told us Angus was going to wear a school boy outfit put his age down to 16 to relate to he kids, as we had lots of school gigs at the time. The school boy uniform was made for him by his sister. Angus was not going to school, he had a job he was 19 years old.”
When asked where are all the recorded songs with AC/DC that he sang on
“It would be probably the publishing company and or the record label, I don’t know, they might be somewhere in the vault somewhere. Also the song Baby please don’t go was a show stopper for us, that’s when I got Angus on my shoulders even though we did not write the song it was our arrangement. ”
When asked how popular were they when he was in the band
“We were already a very popular band in Australia and Can I sit next to you girl, was a big hit record for us in a lot of states, a top 5, it played on the hour, every hour on the radio. We were actually named the best Australian record of the year for 1974. The band was really hot. When Bon Scott joined the band we were already hot.”
When asked the myth that Bon Scott was the bands driver or drummer prior to joining
“It was nothing like that he was just a friend of George Young, he used to hang around with us. Another myth he was never the band’s driver. Also Bon Scott was never the drummer of the band. They are just Myths. ”
When asked about the Myth of Angus kicking him off the stage one night
“If you met me and met Angus, Angus is half my size, that was just a joke that Malcolm said on a TV show that was not true. ”
When asked about what Bon Scott was like back in the day
“Bon Scott was very lucky to join the band that was red hot like AC/DC. Bon was a nice enough fellow, there was never any hassle between me and him. Bon was a guy from the 1960’s, Bon was 29 at the time which was ancient when you are 21 years old. Bon was like a hippie. Bon was washed up at the time, he had a band called Fraternity they broke up he got a chance to join AC/DC and he did a great job. Bon Scott was an actor cause his first band he was in the Valentines, they were a pop band and he used to wear his satin clothes and he was a pop guy and he did that well. Then in the hippie era came in he joined Fraternity and he used to look like a Hippie and he did it well. Then when he joined AC/DC they were a rock band, then Bon took the shirt off and did the Rock thing . Bon Scott was an actor that could play different roles, he was very good at show business, he knew what was required and he did a really good job and of course he wrote some great songs.”
Evans was a member of AC/DC from the band’s inception in 1973 until 1974. Following his departure from AC/DC, Dave Evans formed the wild hedonistic rock band RABBIT, Melbourne ’80s rock outfit DAVE EVANS AND THUNDER DOWN UNDER, and lastly DAVE EVANS AND HOT COCKEREL. Dave Evans has spent the last few years touring as a solo act.
Canadian tour dates announced so far
Montreal, Quebec April 25 2019 PetitCampus
Toronto, Ontario April 26 2019 The Rockpile
Rouyn Noranda, Quebec May 2 Evolu-Son
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 