• facebook
  • twitter
  • rss

Date Set For AC/DC Drummer PHILL RUDD's 'Judge-Only' Trial In New Zealand

February 9, 2015

AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd will face a judge-alone trial in Tauranga District Court in New Zealand beginning on April 21 on charges of threatening to kill and possession of methamphetamine and cannabis. A "not guilty" plea to the charges was entered by his lawyer in December.

The "judge-alone" trial means that no jury will be present.

Rudd was arrested in early November on charges of attempting to arrange a murder, threatening to kill and possession of meth and marijuana.

The murder-for-hire charge was dropped quickly but Rudd still faces several years in prison if convicted of the others.

Rudd's problems affected the recording of the new AC/DC album, "Rock Or Bust", as guitarist Angus Young explained. "Getting him there to do the album was quite tough, and his behavior's been a bit strange, you know," he told The Pulse Of Radio. "'Cause when we were doing the album, one minute he was coming, next minute he wasn't coming, so it took quite a while to get him to the studio. I mean, when he got there, he did his great job, but it's not the Phil that we've known all over the years, you know."

Rudd showed up late for his last court appearance on November 26, 2014 and had his bodyguard give him a piggyback ride to his car after the hearing was over. Rudd then backed up the vehicle into the path of an oncoming truck, almost causing an accident.

Although Rudd played on AC/DC's new album, "Rock Or Bust", he did not join the the band for their performance last night (Sunday, February 8) at the Grammy Awards. One-time AC/DC drummer Chris Slade played at the event and will likely join AC/DC on tour beginning this spring.

"Rock Or Bust", AC/DC's 16th studio album, came out on December 2, 2014.

Find more on Ac/dc
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).