Full interview: AC/DC's Brian Johnson talks meeting Bon Scott, joining the band | Australian Story

tell us what you do remember of uh meeting bond in the mid 70s with fraternity when they played with your band yeah that was in torquay it was um we had driven down from castle uh and it it was a long where it's probably about three 350 miles maybe more and we were just absolutely tight in fact we were lit for the gig and we got there and i remember the first thing we saw was this huge american bus which we hadn't seen anything like it in my life we were going boy these guys must be huge you know because we were in a little transit van or something like six six-wheeler and we walked in and we saw a fraternity and they opened up uh i don't know if they were headlining i just know we got there lit so you know they had to go on and uh and we went and caught the last couple of songs and i was sitting looking like and these guys are good you know but we didn't have much time we got into what clothes and run on the stage and then uh when we came off afterwards uh i remember i was on stage and i had an attack of appendicitis or something i was doubled over at the end and uh but bond thought i was doing a james brown he thought he's got a good act that kid i was a afterwards you know we're back in the dressing room i got some shots from the doctor or something and uh and i know we all got together and they were telling us that the bus had broken down and it was the coldest night in torquay in i think about a hundred years there was actually frost on the ground and of course torquay is known as the riviera of uh of england there were palm trees and everything so it was bloody cold and we were staying at a bed and breakfast you know four beds in one room you know and uh and it was absolutely bitter called it and the inside of the bus the boys fraternities bus was like a fridge that mean they couldn't do anything so we were just kept drinking and i think until we got kicked out of the hall where we're playing that this is where my memory gets a little blurry uh then because it was uh as i said there was drink involved and we would just got on famously with what brand new friends who were musicians from australia and we'd never been there we wanted to hear all about it and all of that and and then one of the guys in the band i think was tom hill the best player said yeah you know that they knocked on the wind and said hey guys come in and get warmed up i mean i don't know how much of this is true because you know and because we had to put shillings in in this gas meter and it lasted about 10 minutes and then it was you know freezing again so and but we did play a gig the very next night with them and i think that's where we kind of got drunk again and we really enjoyed each other's company and it's the sad thing about music is you know we went with different ways and i think they had to come back to australia i think money was getting short and times were tough there but certainly was for us you know we were trying to climb up the ladder and and that's where i met him but i didn't know it was born and i remember in about 1978 somebody said it was you've got to watch tv tonight bbc two there's a band on called essentially um and i run it was a program called rock goes to college which was pretty adventurous for the bbc then and i turned it on and it was like the first time i saw little richard you know i just went what the hell is that it was you know it was angus just just at his peak i think he was 22 or 23. he was just gone and there was bonus sent out just this guy with a big smile on his face you know just uh you just fell instantly in love with his band you know you just you know because i was in a little band at the time playing the clubs and the first thing we did was learn whole lot of rosie and after we saw it on the television we bought the record and we started to do a few songs up there on the clubs but it wasn't until i think it was 1980 or 81 when we first went to sydney australia but but after that we went to perth and uh and we're going to let us sin uh bond's mom i think it's acer is the problem we had to pronounce it was going to come to the gig with the two brothers uh colin and graham derrick and grimsey and uh and uh and come and say hi you know i was not what this is lovely and we were sitting back in the dressing room having a cup of tea and i was saying yeah you know which he said didn't you play in meet our bond before and i went i don't think so and it was then i think it was graham i'm sure it was graham said yes you did i was there in torquay when you played when i went that was born because he looked completely different and it just it knocked me off my feet when i suddenly realized i'd known the man you know and that must have been 50 years ago when we knew each other for the first time bloody 50 years can you believe that but anywhere isn't it strange how stuff happens you know but anyway that was my recollection some of it would be hazy you know but uh we certainly had a good time down you know near you know cornwall and devon with because we discovered the cider this side of this rough cider and it was cheap and you could get gallons of the stuff and that's what we drank you know it was great times you know after bomb died tell me about being approached by ac dc well uh you know uh i it was a strange thing i had a little business up in newcastle went much but it was a little business you know to pay the rent and i had a little band at night that were playing in the clubs and pubs and uh called geordie too and i was enjoying myself you know the telephone rang one day and um i think i've told this story a million times in telephone rang and it was a lady with a very heavy easton accent you know like a german east you know like russia whatever it was i i nicknamed the olga from the vulgar uh and she said you ever come to london and you feel it think you are a sinker and i'm sitting and who's this and she said you must come and i said i'm not coming to london i said i don't even know who you are said whose enforcement is this i cannot tell you and i tell well i'm not coming to london you know they're pretty abrupt you know they don't mean to be rude you know but it's just the way it happened and all that and uh so you know about half an hour later a friend of mine phoned us and he said hey brian he invested in doing and singing on an advertisement it's like it's good money it's in london and i said oh and he's an old friend of mine and you know he did all the monty python stuff andreas jacqueline that was his name and he i said i'll be down he said when is it he said next monday so i phoned up olga from the vulgar back and i said i said you said monday and they said she said yes so i dropped down i did the advert and then i drove i think it was about a couple of miles to this studio i think it was vanilla studio i'm sure that that's the name of it and i walked in there and all the crew were downstairs playing pool and of course i'm at work and that the first thing i did was put me 5p on a table and i started playing pool with him and the tour manager came down and he said has anybody seen that geordie kid he's called brian if you tell if you see him tell me get get his ass upstairs he's about 40 minutes left i said that's me he said keep that so i went in there and that's where i met the lads you know they were sitting there and i remember never forget malcolm he walked up there was with a bottle of brownie and he said he said this is what you drink isn't it and i said oh myth i could murder it and uh and if you know i was a little not nervous that's not the right word but i knew i was in you know exalted these guys were good i mean i've already seen them perform on the tv and all that he said what what do you want to do and uh you know what sorted out the song i think was nut bush city limits which took him by surprise and uh and mao said well at least it's not smoke on the water oh yeah that guy he said all the other guys that have been coming up with a gun smoke on the water you know when they were going oh jesus i think they had enough of that and um you know it was uh it was funny and then he said do you know any of our songs and i said rosie and he went well right and uh it's you know i don't know what it was but as soon as i started playing and i was singing with them and everything you know there was just you know something was happening that that i'm i'm clever enough to tell you what it was but you know you could tell you know my hairs were standing on end and you know it was just it was it was fantastic it was it was wonderful i never thought i'd never sang with a band this good i mean they were just grip fill on the drums cliff on the bears you know malcolm and angus together with them guitars it's just uh so you know for me i realized i had to go and sing you know with a fixed bennett you know it was simple as that you there was me hiding from this stuff and uh and that was it i said listen i had that was brilliant but i've got to get home now because i've got to open the shop up in the morning and it's like a four hour drive and uh i think i'm what it was probably about 8 o'clock 8 30 or something and uh you know maybe and you know i didn't think i was ever going to get it please you know don't get me wrong i just thought this was a great chance uh you know to you know tell the boys in the band in newcastle that i actually had a sing with their cdc and i thought that was it you know they're sure they get just a hell of a lot of guys uh much younger than me as well and um and australian boys that they knew and all that kind of stuff and uh but boy was our thrill to when i drove back to newcastle i was just over the moon and i told the boys and the banners he was brilliant what a band and i never thought anything of it until the next morning the phone rang again and uh this time it was the manager uh peter mensch he said would you can you come back down i mean like tomorrow and i said i can't it i've got three gigs in a row with the band and i didn't want to let the boys down because it was their weekly wedge you know and uh so we decided on the next week monday again and i went down and this time i stayed overnight and uh just you know just started to talk to each other and you know like because i really didn't know him the first time i was a little bit in awe you know i don't want to say it too much but and and then this said i want you to come back down again you know make sure get yourself sorted out up there this was peter mensch and i guess that was it really it was it was unbelievable uh it happens quick you know and then next thing i knew i was i was on a plane to the bahamas which was funny and of itself you know because we were all sitting in the back while smoking tubs and drinking and having a ball waxing angus of course he didn't drink but uh and then getting off at the bahamas you know there wasn't really an airport you just got off down them steps you know sorry just down them steps you know and here was me i think i had two pairs of socks two pairs of underpants three t-shirts pair of jeans and a denim bomber jack and that was it that was it and it was with 95 degrees and we had to walk in this lane to get into the terminal thing there good it was uh it certainly was an adventure it was fantastic and then we went to the studio and after about two or three days of getting set up we were off i mean just non-stop for about six weeks um every day you know i think we had a couple of days off in the six weeks on a sunday or something but that was about it it was just i suddenly realized the work ethic of this these boys it's just phenomenal and i learned a lot you know i learned so much from them that has it always been your policy to kind of honor and respect bond in your performances yes well i think for me you know the more i looked into bonds lyric and he's uh you know first of all the lyric it was just so clever you know and so some of them were sneaky you didn't even know he was he's double entendre as what just legend you know and uh it's just he's he's moved he just exuded this complete not a joy when he was on stage you can see it you just gotta look at the old clips and you just see him he's having a time of his life and and i think i went through the band and you know i realized i couldn't be him there was anywhere you know but i think when malcolm and angus came to me you know and they said we've got this song you know it's called batman black but you know we would like to write something but we don't want it to be more asian you know you know one of them things you know you've just got to be right on the money enough and it was uh you know what it was it was just uh it you know it was like well you'd see i didn't believe in spirits and stuff like that so i'm gonna go again that way but you know when there's something there that makes things different from the norm and you don't know what it is and you just you know and as you get older and life you start going i wonder you know but it was special i think that's a good word to say it was very very special and and um he was undoubtedly then in some form or other i don't know uh but he certainly uh certainly inspired me i think that's what he was more than anything to me an inspiration and even when i hear him talking in old interviews i still laugh and i still even if i've seen it 20 times i'll still laugh and chuckle along with him and uh it's uh he was a special guy he really was i wish i had a gut to know more but i didn't that's right you

Channel: ABC News In-depth

Views: 353,442

Keywords: abc news, australian news, abc news indepth, documentaries, long-form journalism, Australian Story, Bon Scott, acdc, AD/DC Bon Scott, AC/DC Brian Johnson, Brian Johnson interview

Id: ykYvCQ0DT0M

Length: 17min 34sec (1054 seconds)

Published: Wed May 11 2022