Looks like something may be brewing within the AC/DC camp. Singer Brian Johnson, who last performed live with the group in 2016, prior to leaving the Rock Or Bust tour due to hearing problems (replaced by Guns N’ Roses’ Axl Rose), has been told not to talk about the band's future plans.
According to NME, Johnson recently spoke with Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation, and revealed that he had been forbidden from speaking about what might happen in the future.
Asked if he would perform with AC/DC again, he replied: “I’m not answering that. Why should I? First of all, there’s five members in this band, and to ask one member isn’t fair.”
Trunk then asked if he personally would like to be back on stage with AC/DC, to which he responded: “Eddie, I cannot answer that. I’ve been told not to by everybody. It’s the official line.”
Later in the conversation, the host asked if Johnson would like to make another album with the band. “It’s getting tabloidy here,” he said. “You’re getting tabloidy. If I say one thing, it’ll be blown out of all proportion. You just can’t afford to talk now. There’s too much blabber on the Internet. And I’m not on any kind of Face-thing or social media at all — never have been. It’s just gossip.”
Dey Street Books recently released The Lives Of Brian in North America. The 384-page hardcover, written by Brian Johnson, hit store shelves in the UK back in October via Penguin Michael Joseph Books.
Originally scheduled for release a year earlier in October 2021, The Lives Of Brian is Brian Johnson’s memoir from growing up in a small town to starting his own band to ultimately replacing Bon Scott, the lead singer of one of the world biggest rock acts, AC/DC. They would record their first album together, the iconic Back In Black, which would become the biggest selling rock album of all time.
Brian Johnson was born to a steelworker and WWII veteran father and an Italian mother, growing up in New Castle Upon Tyne, England, a working-class town. He was musically inclined and sang with the church choir. By the early ’70s he performed with the glam rock band Geordie, and they had a couple of hits, but it was tough going. So tough that by 1976, they disbanded and Brian turned to a blue-collar life.
Then 1980 changed everything. Bon Scott, the lead singer and lyricist of the Australian rock band AC/DC died at age 33. The band auditioned singers, among them Johnson, whom Scott himself had seen perform and raved about. Within days, Johnson was in a studio with the band, working with founding members Angus and Malcolm Young, Cliff Williams, and Phil Rudd, along with producer Mutt Lange.
When the album, Back In Black, was released in July—a mere three months after Johnson had joined the band—it exploded, going on to sell 50 million copies worldwide, and triggering a years-long worldwide tour. It has been declared “the biggest selling hard rock album ever made” and “the best-selling heavy metal album in history.”
The band toured the world for a full year to support the album, changing the face of rock music—and Brian Johnson’s life—forever.
