In a recent interview with Brazilian journalist Luiz Cesar Pimentel of the news portal R7, ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian said that AC/DC “should just stop” if Brian Johnson is unable to continue singing for the band.
Last month, TMZ posted photos of Axl Rose and AC/DC members leaving same studio on Atlanta, speculating that Rose will act as a guest singer for band.
Scott Ian was asked for his opinion on reports that Axl might end up fronting AC/DC for some of the band’s upcoming concerts, which he responded (transcribed by Blabbermouth.net): “I don’t think anything. I guess I’ll hear it at some point, and then I can make my opinion. I guess I could kind of imagine in my brain, but I don’t even know what Axl sounds like now. I haven’t heard Axl Rose sing in a long, long time. So, can he sing AC/DC songs? I don’t know. I suppose AC/DC must think so, if it’s true. So I’m sure I’ll get to hear it soon enough on the Internet somewhere and then I guess I’ll have an opinion on it.”
He continued: “I wish they would get Angry Anderson, the guy who was in ROSE TATTOO. I don’t know if Angry Anderson is still even singing anymore. But I always thought, in 1980, he was the guy. I didn’t know who Brian Johnson was yet, but I knew Angry Anderson in 1980, and when Bon [Scott] died, I was hoping Angry Anderson was gonna join AC/DC, ’cause he was from Australia and he sounded like a guy who should be in AC/DC. But then Brian came and Brian was great. So who knows?”
Ian added: “My personal opinion is, without Brian at this point, I think they should just stop. Why? Why? You’re AC/DC. I don’t think they need the money. It would be pretty hard to imagine that they still are out there working because they need money. But who am I to say? It’s just my opinion. But I wish… If Brian is done, then I wish the band would stop. That’s just my personal, s**tty opinion.”
Ian also talked about the retirement of AC/DC‘s founding guitarist Malcolm Young, who is suffering from dementia. He said: “It’s very depressing. It’s certainly worse for… Look, I’m just a fan. It’s different for Malcolm personally and for his family and his friends. Obviously, it’s a terrible, terrible situation. I’m just a fan of his, so it makes me sad that someone that has meant so much to me is sick. I just hope that he’s in peace, [that] he doesn’t have pain.”
He continued: “Anytime your heroes are not doing what they do anymore, it sucks. But I understand it, too, at the same time. I don’t wanna see my favorite band trying to be on stage when they’re eighty years old and not being able to perform anymore. It was hard to watch [MOTÖRHEAD frontman] Lemmy at the end. We played a whole bunch of shows with MOTÖRHEAD in September of last year in the States, and then we did the Motörboat cruise with them again. And it was great to see them, but at the same time, you can’t help but think, ‘Lemmy really… he shouldn’t be on stage anymore. He’s having a hard time.’ But you can’t argue. ‘Cause Lemmy wanted to be there. No one was forcing him to play shows. He wanted to be on stage; that was his life. But as a fan, you know, you just can’t help but think, ‘Goddamn, he should just go home and play the f**king slot machines and just relax for a few years now. He’s worked hard enough.’ But that’s what he loved to do, so you can’t argue with that.”
Ian went on to say: “But, yeah, I don’t ever wanna see my heroes slow down, but it’s just a fact of life; that’s what’s gonna happen. It’s gonna happen to me. At some point, I’m not gonna be able to bang my head and jump around on stage the way I do now. But Angus is still doing it, and he’s maybe ten years older than me or something, so it means I have at least ten more years. [Laughs]”
Entire interview with Scott Ian can be seen below.
