best . Rest assured though , they are very much up for making what is sure to be a triumphant return .
Cliff said : “ Hopefully we will get to it at some point . When we were together earlier in the year , we did the video and some rehearsals just to see how it was . It turned out great as the band was firing up a storm , so the last thing we said was whether we all wanted to go and play some shows , which everyone was up for . There was no definite plan , but everyone was definitely up for it . We just hope we can get to it , so maybe next year if everything is more on an even keel , we can get to do some live work .”
It ’ s all a far cry from how things looked back in 2016 , when Brian ’ s hearing loss issues forced him to take his leave from the band , leaving Guns n ’ Roses frontman Axl Rose to step in to fulfil the final dates of their Rock Or Bust world tour .
He said : “ It was a bad time , like being separated from your family and there you were just sitting in the house . I was despairing a bit , to be honest , so I had to man up a bit . I said to myself : ‘ You ’ re 68 and it ’ s not terminal . There ’ s people around the world going through terrible things , so stop feeling sorry for yourself . That ’ s not going to help anybody .’ So instead of taking drugs or anti-depressants or going to see a shrink , I just stuck my head in a whisky bottle for two months and it worked great ! I just got happily drunk and it helped me get through it . It all went away , as it usually does !
It was a terrible time though , as I didn ’ t think I would ever have a chance to get back out again , but thankfully technology came to the rescue . A fella called Stephen Ambrose was looking for me and told me that he wanted to get me back on stage . It could have been all smoke and mirrors , but it wasn ’ t . He ’ s both a genuine inventor and a Professor of Audio , so came all the way from
Colorado down to Florida and sat with me for two days . I couldn ’ t believe what I was hearing and I was hearing . His device was huge though , so we had to miniaturise it , which took three years . Then we had that lovely day when we went to Holland . Stephen appeared and stuck the things in . For me , it just worked instantly , I was jumping about like a 20 year-old and I could hear everything . I remember saying to Angus that I could hear every note he could play and all he said was : ‘ Oh . Bugger .’
That last tour also saw Cliff retire from the band at it ’ s close , but like Brian , he couldn ’ t say no when the chance to get the old gang back together arose .
He said : “ I just felt at the time it was the right thing to do and I was done . A lot of things happened , it wasn ’ t the same band and so on . I couldn ’ t face doing another two-year tour , so it felt over for me . Then this new album came up and it was going to be Brian , Phil , Angus and Stevie , I leapt at the chance to do it , but again , very much with Mal in mind . It was a no-brainer , I definitely wanted to be there .”
So AC / DC are back and , as always , they ’ re giving it everything they ’ ve got . The magic is still there , they ’ re loving every minute of it and they ’ re looking to the future . The way it should be .
Brian said : “ Getting back together with the lads was great , but we were only just there to see if it was all going to work . We didn ’ t know if it would really , as we ’ re not that clever , but after a couple of days , we started to know . We just said ‘ Let ’ s just go for it . Every ounce of energy , every rhythm you ’ ve got in your boots , everything you ’ ve got in your head and your hands , let ’ s just f *** ing take it to the cleaners !’ And as I said , it was all for Mal . For us too , but it was all for Mal .”
22 wirrallife . com