Did AC/DC’s Angus Young myth his cue?

Was the story of Angus Young joining AC/DC as a schoolboy no more than just carefully constructed folklore by the band’s business associates?

That’s been the source of online discussion in recent days.

It stemmed from an interview in Canada’s The Metal Voice when AC/DC’s original singer Dave Evans was asked about some of the myths surrounding their early days.

He was in the first lineup, with Angus and Malcolm on guitar duties, Colin Burgess (drums) and Larry Van Kriedt (bass).

Evans maintained that Young was not 16 and at school as early claims had it.

“Angus was about 19 years old,” Evans said.

“We put his age down to 16 years old because he was so little.

“(Elder brother and co-record producer) 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 the 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.”

According to research in Sydney-based metal expert Murray Engleheart’s definitive AC/DC book Maximum Rock’n’Roll, Young –  born in March 1955 –  left school when he was 15.

He went on to a printing apprenticeship at the company which printed the sex magazine Ribald.

AC/DC’s first official show was at Chequers club in Sydney on New Year’s Eve 1973, when he turned 18.

In The Metal Voice interview, Evans also addressed the story that Bon Scott was the band’s driver or drummer prior to joining.

“It was nothing like that,” insisted Evans.

“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.”

40 years after forming in Sydney, AC/DC still continue to the constant source of speculation.

The current one is that past members, singer Brian Johnson, drummer Phil Rudd and Cliff Williams were photographed together in a studio in Vancouver, Canada, last year.

A veil of silence has descended on the sessions.

So it’s not known if the sessions were for an entire album or just for a number of tracks.

It is believed that while the three past members left for various reasons, the mending of fences took place after all three travelled to Sydney to attend Malcolm Young’s funeral.

But the general thought is that if AC/DC do go back on the road, it will be with Axl Rose out front.

Johnson doesn’t want to tour again, and Angus and Axl have developed a very close personal and musical relationship.

Rose more than proved to be a great frontman when he stepped in for AC/DC.