In a new interview with Billboard, AC/DC singer Brian Johnson referred to the band as “still a working entity of sorts” but didn’t reveal any future touring or recording plans.
“I would love to do music again,” Johnson said, “whether it’ll be guesting with somebody, whether it be actually playing live with the boys. I’ve heard that term ‘hell freezes over’ a million times before with people saying, ‘I’m not doing that again.’ But I’d be up for it. I think everybody hopes to make more music.”
As for why Johnson‘s upcoming memoir, “The Lives Of Brian”, covers so little of his time with AC/DC, Brian said: “I didn’t want to write an AC/DC book, ’cause that’s not my book. It never will be. It’s not my story to tell. That book is for the boys, or whoever was there from the start. That’s what I want to read. I want to read what it was like when Malcolm [Young] and Angus [Young] just had a meeting and said, ‘Right, let’s do this’ and got the drummer and the singer. I think it would be fantastic if it came out, if somebody wanted to do it. But that’s not my book. And I think a book about the present day or, say, when I joined to the present day would be nothing more than a catalog, a diary of what happened.”
Brian is currently promoting “The Lives Of Brian”, which will arrive on October 25 — a year later than originally planned.
The book is being published in the U.K. by Penguin Michael Joseph, a division of Penguin Random House, by publishing director Rowland White. It is being published simultaneously in the U.S. by Dey Street Books, an imprint of the William Morrow Group at HarperCollins,.
Johnson joined AC/DC in 1980 after the death of previous lead singer Bon Scott.
His first album with the band, “Back In Black”, went on to become the biggest-selling rock album of all time.
After a quarter century of platinum albums and record-breaking tours, he was forced to quit the band in 2016 after being diagnosed with hearing loss, but made a triumphant return in 2020 with the release of “Power Up”, which went to No.1 in 21 countries. A successful competitive vintage racing car driver, Johnson has more recently enjoyed acclaim as the charismatic presenter of television shows “Cars That Rock With Brian Johnson” and “Brian Johnson: A Life Of The Road”.
“I’ve had some long nights and some great nights, some bad days and a lot of good days, and during that time I’ve gone from choirboy to rock ‘n’ roll singer, and now I’ve gone and written a bloody book about it,” said Johnson.
Johnson was born to a steelworker and WWII veteran father and an Italian mother, growing up in Newcastle 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 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 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 1980 — 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.”
“Power Up” was released in November 2020. The LP was recorded over a six-week period in August and September 2018 at Warehouse Studios in Vancouver with producer Brendan O’Brien, who also worked 2008’s “Black Ice” and 2014’s “Rock Or Bust”.
Source: www.blabbermouth.net
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