There have been few rock singers as beloved as the late/great Bon Scott of AC/DC. After all, it was his unmistakable vocals and street-wise/sexually-charged lyrics that were a major part of such all-time classic rock anthems as “Highway to Hell”, “Sin City”, “Whole Lotta Rosie”, “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”, and “TNT”. And it was the “Bon era” that set the stage for AC/DC to go on to become one of rock’s most universally popular and enduring bands.
But few rockers partied as hard as Bon—sadly resulting in his death at the age of 33 on February 19, 1980, just before AC/DC scored their worldwide breakthrough, with the mega-selling ‘Back in Black.’ To mark 40 years since Bon’s tragic passing, the just-released ‘A Rockin’ Rollin’ Man: Bon Scott Remembered’ has been assembled by journalist/author Greg Prato—comprised entirely of all-new interviews with renowned rockers, discussing what made Bon so special and unforgettable.
Priced at $12.99 for the paperback and $7.99 for the Kindle version, the book features vintage photos and all-new interviews with the likes of Tony Platt (engineer of ‘Highway to Hell’ and ‘Back in Black’), Simon Wright (AC/DC drummer: 1983-1989), KK Downing (ex-Judas Priest guitarist), Scott Gorham (Thin Lizzy guitarist), Bun E. Carlos (ex-Cheap Trick drummer), Michael Monroe (Hanoi Rocks singer), and Phil Anselmo (Pantera singer), among many others.
Greg Prato is a writer and journalist from New York, whose writing has appeared via such outlets as Songfacts, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and Consequence of Sound. He is also the author of several popular books, including ‘Take It Off: Kiss Truly Unmasked,’ ‘Touched by Magic: The Tommy Bolin Story,’ and ‘Iron Maiden: 80 81,’ among many others. And you may have even heard him on one of his many radio or TV appearances, which include interviews on ‘The Howard Stern Wrap-Up Show,’ ‘Eddie Trunk Live,’ and ‘The Ron & Fez Show.’ ‘A Rockin’ Rollin’ Man: Bon Scott Remembered’ is his 30th book overall.
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
Residents in a new Canberra suburb could soon be living in a street named after AC/DC front man Bon Scott, reports abc.net.au.
The ACT Government have announced that streets in the Gungahlin suburb of Moncrieff would be named in honour of Australia’s music history.
The announcement abides by one of the ACT’s oldest policies – first raised in 1927 – that street names in Canberra suburbs should follow a theme.
Roads Minister Mick Gentleman said it was only fitting that Moncrieff featured artists’ names, seeing as the suburb itself was named after a music soprano.
“Moncrieff has been named after Gladys Lillian Moncrieff, or ‘Our Glad’, who was a fantastic entertainer for our troops during World War II, and of course the Korean War,” he said.
Mr Gentleman said there were some “fantastic” street names in the new suburb.
“One of Moncrieff’s streets is named after Canberra’s own music critic W L Hoffman,” he said.
“While Bandstand Street is named after the popular television show that launched Col Joye, Little Pattie, The Bee Gees and Olivia Newton-John.”
Mr Gentleman said the streets would display the complete names of the artists.
Source: Bravewords.com
Blue Pie Records announces the worldwide release of ‘Round And Round And Round’, a rare music video archive of legendary AC/DC frontman BONSCOTT.
‘Round And Round And Round’, written by Peter Head, was recorded in 1974 with THE MOUNT LOFTY RANGERS, a band that, along with Bon, has fostered Aussie legends Jimmy Barnes and Glenn Shorrock.
“Bon recorded ‘Round And Round And Round’ in the first 8-Track studio in Adelaide, just a few weeks before he was to embark on his historic journey as vocalist with the newly formed AC/DC”, recounts Peter Head.
Almost 22 years later in 1996, Peter Head and Sydney musician Ted Yanni made a pact to resurrect Bon’s vocal with a new backing track.
“You may have thought until now that you’ve heard everything Bon Scott recorded pre AC/DC. But what you have in your hands is the Bon Scott you didn’t hear”, says Vincent Lovegrove, who shared the vocals with Bon’s former band, THE VALENTINES.
Ted Yanni devoted almost two years to bringing Bon back to life via two previously unheard songs assisted musicians and technicians for whom this project has been a labour of love.
AC/DC is arguably the biggest and best rock band in the world. Joining the band in 1974, Bon Scott contributed to AC/DC’s best work throughout the 70s. From High Voltage (1974) to Highway To Hell (1979), Bon’s work with AC/DC is to this day some of the band’s most famous work.
Along with the worldwide release of ‘Round And Round And Round’, and Bon’s 1974 recorded audio Carey Gully on iTunes, fans can view Vytas Serelis’ unseen photographs of Bon Scott at this location.
‘Round And Round And Round’ is a Blue Pie Records worldwide release available now at iTunes.
The video for ‘Round And Round And Round’, courtesy of MUZU, can be seen below:
High Voltage Productions, LLC., a Charleston, South Carolina-based film production company attempting to finally bring a docudrama to life about late Australian vocalist, Bon Scott, is on the receiving end of threats of legal action by powerful law firms in New York City and Sydney, Australia. The firms represent the band, their production and branding companies, and the Estate of the late singer, respectively. They are attempting to block the much anticipated and widely publicised production that was last reported being given serious consideration by NBC Universal’s international division in London, UK. This controversy comes as AC/DC marks its 40th anniversary this year some thirty three years after the tragic death of Scott.
Former AC/DC bassist Mark Evans talked to The Australian and in the new book The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC, reveals that the band nearly fired Bon Scott after overdosing on heroin in Melbourne in 1975. Evans said AC/DC’s founding members Angus and Malcolm Young, who were anti-drugs, took a dim view of their iconic frontman overdosing on heroin in Melbourne in 1975.
“There were some doubts about Bon at that stage,” Evans said. “He’d had a problem or he’d had an OD very early on. It was just a dabble . . . Bon just made a bad decision. It was only one bad decision. From what I was led to believe and came to believe, it was a very, very isolated incident. I never saw any evidence of anything remotely like heavy drugs (when I was in AC/DC).”
With sales of over 200 million albums, AC/DC is not just the biggest rock band in the world. It’s a family business built by three brothers: George, Malcolm and Angus Young. And, as with any business, some people prospered while others got hurt along the way.
The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC is unlike any AC/DC book you’ve read before. The 320-page paperback is less a biography, more a critical appreciation, it tells the story of the trio through 11 classic songs and reveals some of the personal and creative secrets that went into their making.
Important figures from AC/DC’s long way to the top open up for the very first time, while unsung heroes behind the band’s success are given the credit they are due.
Accepted accounts of events are challenged while sensational new details emerge to cast a whole new light on the band’s history – especially their early years with Atlantic Records in the United States.
Former AC/DC members and musicians from bands such as GUNS N’ ROSES, DROPKICK MURPHYS, AIRBOURNE and ROSE TATTOO also give their perspectives on the Youngs’ brand of magic.
Their music has never pulled its punches. Neither does The Youngs.
After 40 years, AC/DC might just have got the serious book it deserves.
THE ROCK ALCHEMIST – Italian Rock Band from Turin with a strong sonic identity that blends modern rock with progressive, hard, alternative, and pop elements!
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
