14 DAY TRIAL // Rockers of the world, you can rest easy and blow a sigh of relief. AC/DC won't be hanging up their electric guitars anytime soon and there is no retirement in sight. Fans were left questioning the future of the Australian rock band yesterday, when rumors began popping up that one of the members was too ill to continue playing.
Today, singer Brian Johnson told The Telegraph that there was no truth to the rumors and that the band wasn't splitting up or retiring, as it had been suggested. In fact, they are going to start working on a new album in Vancouver, Canada, as scheduled.
Johnson is quoted as saying, “We are definitely getting together in May in Vancouver. We're going to pick up some guitars, have a plonk, and see if anybody has got any tunes or ideas. If anything happens, we'll record it.”
He did confirm that one of the band members, guitarist Malcolm Young was indeed in a suffering from an unspecified illness, but that that wouldn't be putting the band out of business.
Keeping a reserved attitude, Johnson said, “I wouldn't like to say anything either way about the future. I'm not ruling anything out. One of the boys has a debilitating illness, but I don't want to say too much about it. He is very proud and private, a wonderful chap. We've been pals for 35 years and I look up to him very much.”
The illness that no one wants to speak of and that is said to have left Young unable to play has been speculated to have been a stroke. It was on this fact that certain people in the Australian media picked up and reported yesterday, concluding that this meant the end of the road for AC/DC as a band.
According to sources close to the rockers, all the members made a pact long ago that if one of them leaves the band for whatever reason, he is not to be replaced, and the band should call it quits. That is why several reports spoke of an early retirement.
Johnson didn't agree, claiming that there are still plans for a massive tour on their 40th anniversary, that would include 40 concerts in 40 different venues. “That would be a wonderful way to say bye bye. We would love to do it. But it's all up in the air at the moment,” concluded Johnson.
The singer claims that the band is not affected by the rumors, after all this time in the spotlight, “AC/DC is such a tight family. We've stuck to our guns through the Eighties and Nineties when people were saying we should change our clothes and our style. But we didn't and people got it that we are the real deal.”