AC/DC's BRIAN JOHNSON: MALCOLM YOUNG 'Always Wanted The Music To Go On'

AC/DC's Angus Young, Brian Johnson and Cliff Williams spoke to Rolling Stone magazine about the departure of founding guitarist Malcolm Young, who was forced to leave the band earlier this year because he is afflicted with dementia.

"Mal always wanted the music to go on," Johnson said. "And I'm not going to say no."

"It's something that had actually been happening for a long time," Angus added, explaining that his brother's lapses in memory and concentration "had surfaced even before the last project," AC/DC's 2008 album, "Black Ice". "[But he was] still capable of knowing what he wanted to do. I had said to him, 'Do you want to go through with what we're doing?' And he said, 'Shit, yeah.'"

Regarding the making of AC/DC's new album, "Rock Or Bust", without Malcolm, Johnson said: "It was awful and great at the same time. Angus must have felt strange playing these tunes without Malcolm."

Young, Johnson and Williams also addressed the legal problems of drummer Phil Rudd in the interview, with Young saying that "the drum situation is a question mark. But we will definitely be out there [touring in support of the new CD]." He added: "Our problems had begun even before the situation he's in now. And our thing was we were going forward."

The arrest of Rudd, who was ten days late for the "Rock Or Bust" recording sessions, was "a big blow to us," Angus admitted. But, he reiterated, "we will definitely be out there. We are committed to this."

Drummer Bob Richards sat behind the kit for the filming of the videos for singles "Play Ball" and the title track, but it is not known whether he will join the band on tour if Rudd cannot.