AC/DC Frontman Signs Book Deal To Release Collection Of Thoughts And Anecdotes

December 18, 2008

Gerry Galipault of HeraldTribune.com recently conducted an interview with AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

On "Black Ice", AC/DC's first album in eight years, which sold nearly 800,000 copies in its debut week and has since topped 1.6 million in the United States and millions more worldwide:

"We've always had success, and we've been successful all over the world. All of our tours have been sold out, in huge stadiums. Well, you think, 'That's about as far as you can go.' We've got a fantastic fan base, but then this bloody album comes out. People have been waiting six years for a tour, eight years for an album.

"It sold 5 million in five days around the world. To be No. 1 in 29 countries in one week, it's a bit overwhelming. You can't take it all in. Some of them must be break-away republics," he said, with a laugh, "because I didn't know there were so many countries — none with an economy to speak of."

On "Black Ice" being leaked online before its official release:

"Some dirty little git in Europe had recorded a copy of the album — he was arrested, by the way — and at some pressing plant in Germany, thousands of copies had gotten out. We thought, 'Well, that's it. Once it gets out on the Internet, it's like a feeding frenzy.' But it didn't happen; fans went out and bought the album. They wanted the album; they wanted a physical body of work in their hands."

On recording "Black Ice" at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver with producer Brendan O'Brien (BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, PEARL JAM) at the helm:

"In the end, it was five guys in a studio for seven weeks in the Year of Our Lord 2008. We sat down and had a good time together, even at our age. We wrote some songs, we sang them and put them down, put them out and said 'This is what we are.'

"We're proud that we're still together after all these years and that we're still friends. We eat together, and when we're not on our private jets, we hang out on the bus together."

On his vocal performance on "Black Ice":

"Before we started, I went up to Brendan and said, 'Brendan, if I'm not cutting the mustard here, tell me, because I'm a big boy. No tears. It could be my time not to do this, but I want you to be honest with us, because I want to be comfortable and I've got enough money to look after meself. I honestly don't need any heartache by thinking I'm a failure; I don't need that at my age.'

"He said, 'Don't worry. I'll tell you. You're doing (bleeping) great.' That relaxed me. It's just called mellowing with age."

On his new deal with Penguin Books to release a collection of thoughts and anecdotes he has jotted down over the years:

"I like humor a lot, and cars have been a big part of my life. I'm lucky enough that I'm able to buy some of the exotic ones. Instead of doing drugs, I did motorcars. I'm not sure which one is more expensive.

"There's one story about me buying my first car, a Ford 100E. It was a rust bucket, obviously. I got in the car and drove about 100 yards and the seat went through the floor. I sat there on the road, and the guy who had sold it to me said '(Bleep),you've just fallen through the (bleeping) floor. Ahhhh, you should've checked that before you took it, me son.' That was me first hard lesson in motorcars."

"I took my first girlfriend out to a place called Shield Field. I had a Ford Popular. It was horrible. It was beige on the outside with a salmon pink interior. It was very old-fashioned, certainly not a chick magnet, but it was all I could afford.

"I took the girl home on a Sunday night and said, 'I have to go home and go to work tomorrow.' She lived in a cul-de-sac, so I had to reverse out. It only had three gears, and when I got to the end of the cul-de-sac, it was stuck in reverse. So I drove home 91/2 miles in reverse, over a busy bridge, it was dusk.

"I got home and I was sweating, and my father said, 'How are you gonna get that fixed, young fella?' I didn't know anything about cars and neither did me father. Me father's tool box consisted of a big hammer. He went out to the car, he hit the gear box with this hammer and says 'Try it now,' and it worked."

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