For The Metal Voice former singer of Anthrax, Neil Turbin sat down with original co-founding AC/DC singer Dave Evans in Los Angeles at the Whisky on August 16 2019. Dave Evans spoke about his North and South American tour and the early days in AC/DC, the bands formation, success and him leaving the band.

(At the end of the interview watch Dave Evans and Neil Turbin perform together on stage the AC/DC classic Highway to hell by AC/DC at the Whisky in L.A. August 16 2019)

Watch the interview here:

When asked about AC/DC initial success in the early days
“In the beginning, we were a real band and we all had an equal say. When we first started gigging Malcolm older brother the famous George Young from the Easybeats, was the A&R guy for a new record label, Albert MUSIC (along with Harry Vanda) George came along to listen to us rehearse. Then George said we will sign you up for a record and George Young and Harry Vanda produced our first record/ single ‘Can I sit next to you Girl’. We had a hit record immediately and it just raced up the charts. At the end of the year it was named best Australian group record of the year. We were playing to the biggest crowds in Australia and we also toured with Lou Reed. ”

When asked about touring with Lou Reed
“Lou Reed was pretty out of it, when he toured it was a bad time for him. We was helped on the stage with a person on each arm, I thought that was just a stage act but when we had breakfast in the mornings he had a person on each arms just to get breakfast. Lou was not in good shape and when he toured we really couldn’t have a conversation with him. ” (in this period it was known that Lou Reed was having issues and dependencies with drugs and Alcohol).”

When asked about the relationship between Malcolm Young and original Drummer Colin Burgees
“Malcolm and I were very close, we wrote songs together and we used to hang out together. But he did get a little jealous with the AC/DC drummer at the time Colin Burgess. Colin would walk into a club with a girl on each arm, I thought it was great but Malcolm really didn’t like it, he was a bit jealous. After Colin left the band Malcolm was like that a bit towards me. Which was sad because I thought a lot of Malcolm.” (Note-Colin was fired for being out of it on some kind of drug after he collapsed while playing his drums on stage).

When asked why he quit AC/DC
“The reason why I left the band was because we had a hit record and we were doing so many shows, sometimes we were doing three shows a day and I was not getting paid. We were on TV on radio but we were not getting any money. Plus were pretty unhappy with our third manager. I had to pay rent back at my apartment in Sidney, I was paying off a car, working my ass off and not getting any money. We had a meeting one night with the manager and he smart mouthed me, so I punched him. I had enough so I was going to leave the band after the tour unless I got a certain amount of money, which I didn’t, so I left. Strictly economics”

When asked about band arguments and fights
“Angus lost his temper one time, next thing you know he goes flying into Malcolm, Malcolm fought back, little fists going all over the place but none really landed and it just broke up. The rest of us were shocked at first and then we were just laughing. Angus had a bit of a temper. One time Angus came at me backstage, cause he loses his temper and I put my hand on his head so Angus couldn’t reach me and they took him away. Angus is known to lose his temper. ”

When asked if he would consider writing a book on the early days of AC/DC
“Well if the right publisher approached me, with an advance I would write the story, the fans would love the story, it’s a story that has never been told. “