Chalk it up to the ongoing pandemic, but if it were not for Covid-19 — we'd be gearing up for a major AC/DC tour. The band will release its 17th studio set, Power Up on November 13th. Ultimate-Guitar.com reported during a chat with Britain's Planet Radio, frontman Brian Johnson spoke about the state of the band today, “I think it could be said for all the boys in the band — we just needed to have some rehearsals, and that was enough to whet our appetite, we just started smiling, if you'll excuse the pun, once we were powered-up in the rehearsal room. It was just all smiles, it was great to have that feeling again, y'know, to be together. Obviously, the audience is a big part of playing it, it gets you the juice, it's the sixth member of the band and all those things — it's a great feel.”
After being sidelined for much of the band's last tour behind its Rock Or Bust album, which saw Axl Rose leading the band while he dealt with some serious hearing issues, Brian Johnson admitted it felt great to be behind the mic in good health, with his buddies: “For me, it was lovely just to get back and relax, really, and be — I can say — family again, just this bond that we built up over the years. So what you had was wonderful electricity in the studio when we got together. Malcolm was floating around there all the time as well, it was brilliant, we had such a good time.”
40 years after the death of co-founding frontman Bon Scott and recording 1980's iconic Back In Black album, guitarist Angus Young looked back at Brian Johnson's first sessions with AC/DC: “When we made it, it was a do-or-die effort, and it was Brian's first time with the band, so it was all new and fresh. We felt we had a great album, great songs for that album, and I guess we've been very lucky over all these years people still love that album.”
Brian Johnson told us he was well versed in the band's catalogue, with his previous band, Geordie, often including AC/DC songs in its setlists: “Well, we used to do a couple of the lads’ songs in the set that we did up in the clubs in Newcastle. We did '(Whole Lotta) Rosie' and 'Highway To Hell.' They were starting to become a cult band then.”
