PHIL RUDD Is Open To Rejoining AC/DC, But Says He Doesn't Want To Play With AXL ROSE

Ex-AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has told Bay Of Plenty Times that he is open to returning to his former band but that he is currently focusing on his solo career.

"If Angus [Young, AC/DC guitarist] wanted me to play, then that is up to him... but I don't really want to play with Axl Rose [current AC/DC touring vocalist]... I don't really rate him."

Rudd added: "Geoffrey [Spencer, who plays in Phil's solo band] is a great guitarist, just as good as Malcolm [Young, retired AC/DC guitarist], [and even] better than [him], if you ask me."

The 62-year-old rocker, who lives in Tauranga, New Zealand, also revealed that he recently suffered a heart attack but that he is "good now, got a stent inside.''

"I was just at home walking around at home, and I started feel, well, just funny," he said. "You know how you can feel funny? I had a strange pain in my chest. So my housekeeper took me to the hospital, when they hooked me up and did all these tests turned out I had a big heart attack...my artery was all blocked up, and they said I had to stay in and have an operation.

"I sneaked out to the shop to get some cigarettes, then I realized I had no car, so I walked home to get the Ferrari, and drove back to the hospital."

Rudd had a stent inserted via his arm and claims to be "ready to rock."

"Weird because they shave your man parts, but they put it in your arm," he said about the operation. "All I have is a tiny scar in my wrist. And my hair has grown back too so I am all good, I am healthy and got so much colour in my cheeks."

Rudd said in a recent publicity statement that his "hell-raising days are over," following his eight-month home detention sentence for drug possession and threatening to kill. According to The Pulse Of Radio, Rudd insisted he has "turned a corner" and is dedicating his life to "family, friends and music," adding, "I see a psychiatrist once a week and I'm closer than ever to my children. I still have all my flash cars, but now I want to grow chillies."

Rudd's comments were part of a statement announcing the re-release of his 2014 debut solo album, "Head Job", which will be reissued in Europe on September 30. Rudd will leave New Zealand for the first time since his late 2014 arrest to visit Europe and promote the album via press, radio and television interviews.

It was the original release of "Head Job" that sparked Rudd's initial meltdown, with the drummer allegedly so angry at a personal assistant over the way the release was promoted that he threatened to have the man and his daughter killed.

Police investigating that claim against Rudd also found him in possession of drugs when they raided his home in November 2014.

Although Rudd played on AC/DC's latest album, "Rock Or Bust", the band recruited Chris Slade to replace Rudd for touring purposes. Slade, who had previously played in the band from 1990 to 1993, remains part of the lineup.