AC/DC's ANGUS YOUNG On Carrying On Without Brother MALCOLM: 'We've Gotta Give It A Shot'

AC/DC guitarist Angus Young and singer Brian Johnson were recently interviewed by Austalia's ABC News. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On how difficult it was for AC/DC to continue following guitarist Malcolm Young's dementia diagnosis:

Angus: "That was always the thing with Malcolm and myself. The style Mal played, he was a very solid, hard, rhythm player, and I would do the bit of color on top of it. Between the two of us, we tried to make it one big solid guitar thing. And Malcolm was very strong… a very strong, solid player… very confident in the way he played. Stevie [Angus and Malcolm's nephew, who replaced Malcolm in AC/DC] does the same thing. I mean, Stevie, myself, Mal… we all grew up… we're in the same kind of age group. It's only two years Stevie is younger than me. And Stevie was would emulate the way Mal played, whereas I was more whizzing about, trying to play solos and stuff and getting up the dustry end, as Mal would say. [Laughs] 'Angus goes up to the dusty path.'"

On whether they would have considered qutting had Stevie not been around to take Malcolm's place:

Angus: "Yeah, I mean, there's always a point… We had the same thing with Bon [Scott, late AC/DC singer]. It's kind of a hard decision you've gotta make: do you keep going or do you stop? And it's the same thing now. But Malcolm had that… I guess it's that drive of his. He always wanted to finish what he started, more or less. So that's how I've always looked at it."

Johnson: "To me, it was always up to Angus, really. 'Cause Angus was part of these two men that made these riffs that nobody else made for a long time — since they were in school. So I really thought it may not happen. I thought, if Ang had turned around and said, 'I can't do it without Malcolm,' I would have understood perfectly. But, thankfully, he didn't. He said, 'Stevie's there. I think we can do it.' And I think we did."

Angus: "Yeah, we've gotta give it a shot."

AC/DC made it official in September that Malcolm would no longer record or perform with the group. His family disclosed a short time later that he was afflicted with dementia. The guitarist was rumored to have suffered a stroke earlier this year.

According to music industry web site Hits Daily Double, AC/DC's new album, "Rock Or Bust", is likely to sell between 135,000 and 145,000 copies copies in the United States in its first week of release. The estimate was based on two-day sales reports compiled after the record arrived in stores on December 2. The chart will be unveiled on Wednesday, December 10.

AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd put his own future with the band in doubt, showing up late for the recording sessions, missing a video and photo shoot entirely, and finally being arrested on charges of murder-for-hire, threatening to kill and drug possession. Rudd showed up for a court hearing last month but his status with the band remains unclear.