In a new interview with NME, AC/DC singer Brian Johnson recalled how he and late band’s guitarist Malcolm Young once tried to locate the Loch Ness Monster with the use of fireworks. While drunk, of course.
“We both had these Land Rovers and we’d taken them for a trip around Scotland — Malcolm loved his fireworks and he’d taken a big box with him,” Johnson said. “One night, we were four sheets to the wind and staying at this hotel right on the side of the loch. Mal just said, ‘C’mon, let’s go and find the Loch Ness monster! I’ve got fireworks and it might attract it!'”
Brian continued: “There we were, going straight into the water in our shoes, up to our knees, and it was freezing! Mal had a drink in one hand, a box of fireworks in the other and was trying to set fire to the loch. We were just howling.
“By the time we got back to our wives we had straw in our hair and were covered in mud. What a night!”
AC/DC will released their long-awaited comeback album, Power Up, on November 13. The follow-up to 2014’s Rock Or Bust features AC/DC‘s 2020 lineup of Brian Johnson (vocals), Phil Rudd (drums), Cliff Williams (bass), Angus Young (guitar) and Stevie Young (guitar).
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Angus Young, Brian Johnson and Cliff Williams discussed how Power Up came together.
“This record is pretty much a dedication to Malcolm [Young, late AC/DC rhythm guitarist, my brother,” Angus says. “It’s a tribute for him like Back in Black was a tribute to Bon Scott.”
“Even when I sit at home and pick up my guitar and start playing, the first thing that enters my head is, ‘I think Mal will like this riff I’m playing’. That’s how I judge lot of stuff.”
Brian added: “Malcolm was always there. As Angus would say, the band was his idea. Everything in it ran through him. He was always there in your minds or just your thoughts. I still see him in my own way. I still think about him. And then in the studio when we’re doing it, you have to be careful when you look around because he seems to be there.”
Williams says: “AC/DC without Mal isn’t AC/DC. He’s just there somehow. He’s always here.”
He also said that once drummer Phil Rudd and Johnson were back in the band, it didn’t take much to convince him to return as well. “It was like the old band back together,” Williams said. “It was not like starting over again, but as close to the band that’s been together for 40-plus years as we can possibly make it. I didn’t want to miss that.”
