AC/DC Rumor: Stevie Young and Phil Rudd Reportedly Sighted in Vancouver
Could there be another AC/DC album on the way? Rumors are swirling that two members of the band have been spotted in Vancouver, which happens to be where the band recorded its past three albums.
Writer Steve Newton got word last week from an anonymous source who claimed to talk with Stevie Young -- the guitarist who took over for Malcolm Young in 2014 after his uncle's dementia made it too difficult for the original guitar player to continue -- and drummer Phil Rudd, whose legal problems kept him from touring behind AC/DC's most recent LP, 2014's Rock or Bust.
Rudd was replaced by Chris Slade; Malcolm Young died last year.
Because no pictures have surfaced, and details of any conversations that may have taken place haven't been revealed, the rumors are being treated with no small degree of skepticism. But Newton is standing by the person who tipped him off.
"I have complete faith in my source, who says he saw – and actually chatted with – the two Aussie rockers," he wrote on his Ear of Newt blog. "Why the hell would he contact me out of the blue and lie about it?"
Back in March, Rose Tattoo singer Angry Anderson said leader Angus Young was writing a new AC/DC album with the idea that they would continue with Axl Rose, who filled in for singer Brian Johnson during the Rock or Bust tour when Johnson's hearing problems forced him off the road.
Rose recently completed a string of European dates with Guns N' Roses; the band now has nothing on its calendar until November, when it will tour Mexico, the Far East, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa. Neither Rose nor Angus Young -- or anyone else connected with the band -- has made any public statement about the possibility of new music from AC/DC.
Kyle Harcött, the lead singer of a Vancouver band called Hexripper, backed up Newton's story, saying that he saw Rudd and his drum technician Dick Jones walking into Warehouse Studio. Harcött suggested that neither Rudd nor Jones were interested in chatting.