AC/DC open up on Malcolm on ‘7.30’ tonight

AC/DC’s Angus Young and Brian Johnson will open up on ABC-TV’s 7.30 tonight about life for the multi-Platinum band after the exit of guitarist Malcolm Young.

Although he took a low profile approach both onstage and off, Malcolm was the band’s leader, in every aspect of the band’s life.

His growing dementia, which placed the 61-year-old in a special care home in Sydney, had started during the making of the Black Ice album. It sold 784,000 units globally in its first week in 2008 and debuted at #1 in 29 countries.

Even as they toured Australia behind Black Ice, rumours were circulating through the music industry that he was “ill” and that it might be their last tour.

In a preview tape supplied by the ABC of the 7.30 interview with its North American correspondent Ben Knight, Angus recalls, “Malcolm was always very organised. And it was kind of strange for the first time to see him disorganised, being confused about a lot of things. That’s when it kind of hit me – there’s something not right with him.”

By the time AC/DC regrouped in Vancouver in April with producer Brendan O’Brien to begin sessions for the Rock Or Bust album, it was obvious that Malcolm knew his time in music was up. But he was insistent that the band he founded and ruled with an iron fist continue to record and tour.

Brian Johnson reveals, “He said, keep making music. Without any of that sympathy stuff, you know? … So we did, and it was great.”

Rock Or Bust has so far received favourable previews, and Angus has suggested that fans should listen to it on a CD player. "You want people to put it on and go, 'That's AC/DC and no one else,'" he said in another interview.

During recent interviews, band members have been in high spirits and, in the nature of the new album’s title, determined to go on to their next reel without Malcolm and, possibly, drummer Phil Rudd.

They are finalising a world tour which should see them in Australia either at the start or the end of the 2015/6 summer. It’s most likely not going to be as mammoth as the Black Ice world tour which lasted two years. It grossed US$441.6 million and is the fourth highest-grossing concert tour of all-time.

The Australian leg, according to figures released in 2010 by co-promoters Garry Van Egmond and Michael Chugg, sold 600,000 tickets. It was the biggest grossing tour of all time in Australia with an estimated $120 million. Of this, box office gross was $90 million, with $30 million from merchandising.