According to International Business Times, AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd is unlikely to join his bandmates when they perform at the 57th annual Grammy Awards, scheduled to air live on CBS-TV from the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 8 at 8:00 p.m. ET. The rocker is currently out on bail after pleading not guilty to both threatening to kill and drug possession charges and will next be in court in Tauranga, New Zealand on February 10 for a case review hearing.
Rudd spoke to ONE News last month for the first time since his arrest in November, calling the charges “ludicrous” and saying that he fully intended to remain a member of AC/DC. Rudd said, “This has just been a big ball of cheese and all the rats are gathering and having a piece. That’s just life, but that’s not who I am. I want my job back, I want my reputation back, and I’m gonna get it back.”
Rudd added, “I’m going back to work with AC/DC. I don’t care who likes it or who doesn’t. Everyone listens to the wrong people. They should listen to me. I’m a good guy, and I’m a pretty good drummer, by the way. Ask Angus [Young, AC/DC guitarist]. He’ll tell you.”
Angus Young told The Pulse Of Radio it wasn’t Rudd‘s skills that were in question, but his recent erratic behavior. “He is a great drummer, you know,” he said. “He’s been with us, you know — we go way back. But it was just making it difficult for us. What do we do? You can’t plan anything, you know. If anyone says, ‘Well, you wanna do this?’, it was making it too difficult to go forward, you know.”
Rudd was initially arrested for allegedly approaching an unidentified man and trying to hire him to murder two people, as well as threatening a man and his daughter’s lives and possessing marijuana and meth.
The “murder for hire” charge was dropped, with the man later coming forward to claim that Rudd attempted to hire him as a bodyguard, not an assassin.
Although he did play on the new AC/DC album, “Rock Or Bust”, Rudd failed to show up for video and photo shoots. The band has not indicated whether Rudd will officially be replaced for its upcoming world tour.
AC/DC‘s appearance at the Grammy Awards will mark the first time that the band has performed on American television or an American awards show. The group has been nominated seven times for a Grammy, winning “Best Hard Rock Performance” in 2010 for the track “War Machine”.
“Rock Or Bust” is not up for a Grammy this year since it was released on December 2 and missed the fall deadline for consideration.
As previously reported, AC/DC will headline the 2015 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival, along with Jack White and Drake. Coachella is scheduled for April 10-12 and April 17-19, 2015, in Indio, California.
AC/DC will be on the road for much of 2015 in support of “Rock Or Bust”, with a North American trek likely for the fall.
Source: Blabbermouth
