Interviews

A C / D C : T H E B O A R D M E E T I N G .

By John Kenyon

Angus: Well then, I see that everyone is here. Shall we get started?

Brian: Might we call the roll, at least for the sake of the minutes?

Angus: Good point. Malcolm?

Malcolm: Oh, right, right. I'm secretary this fiscal year, aren't I? All right, then. Angus Young?

Angus: Present.

Malcolm: Brian Johnson?

Brian: Present.

Malcolm: Phil Rudd?

Phil: Here.

Malcolm: Cliff Williams?

Cliff: Present.

Angus: Thank you, Malcolm. Now, as I'm sure you know from reading the memo e-mailed last Tuesday, we're meeting to begin conceiving our next album. Sales of our latest, Stiff Upper Lip, have tailed off, and tour revenue will only sustain the corporation through the end of fiscal 2002. Our back catalog, interview discs, live collections, and the box set helped the bottom line, but these are signs of a brand treading water. We need new product to assure continued growth through fiscal 2003.

Malcolm: All right, then. Should we review and approve minutes from the last meeting or jump ahead to item no. 4, "Brainstorming new song titles."

Angus: Let's not mess with Robert's Rules this once. Has everyone had a chance to review the minutes?

All: Yes.

Angus: Then if there's no further discussion, can I get a motion to approve and file said minutes?

Phil: So moved.

Brian: Second.

Malcolm: We can do this on voice vote. All in favor?

All: Aye.

Angus: Should we move on?

Brian: Can we break for a few minutes? I need to check with the nanny to see that the kids got to school.

Angus: Okay by me. Any objections?

All: No.

[10 minute recess]

Angus: Now remember, the only bad idea is one that isn't shared. Remember Ballbreaker? I wouldn't have believed we had never used that album title, but there it was 1995 and it was fresh as ever. Or "You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll"? That's a classic title, undiscovered until our last album.

Brian: That was a nice one, Phil.

Phil: Thanks.

Angus: All right. Don't be shy; just throw them out there.

Brian: Well, I've been toying with something called "Flirt in a Skirt."

Phil: I like it! That's a keeper.

Cliff: How about "Snowball?"

Brian: That's a good one, but we already went in that direction with "Snowballed" from For Those About to Rock.

Cliff: I should have known it was too good to be true.

Brian: That's a good reminder to do our homework before we meet.

Angus: What do you guys think of "Pole Position"?

Brian: That I can work with.

Angus: Malcolm, what are you giggling about? Do you want to share it with the group?

Malcolm: Yeah. "Put Your Glove on My Love."

Phil: Boys, we might as well pack up and go home. We're not going to do better than that.

Cliff: That is a moneymaker.

Angus: Malcolm, this may be inappropriate, but I'm going to hug you.

[Rustling sound on tape]

Angus (to Malcolm): I seem to have wrinkled your coat. I'll pay for the dry cleaning. (To the group) OK, that one is going to get the juices flowing. Does anybody —

Phil: Angus, pardon the interruption, but what about that?

Angus: Sorry, but you've lost me. What do you —

Brian: He's right. "Got My Juices Flowing." Is that what you were getting at, Phil?

Phil: Exactly.

Angus: This is why I've come really to value these meetings? I was going to suggest, before being so productively interrupted, "Wired for Rock."

Cliff: Kudos, gentlemen.

Angus: OK, we're halfway there.

Brian: I notice we haven't dealt much with liquor yet. I love the sex-based titles, but need I remind you all that AC/DC thrives on variety. I keep coming back to the word "jigger." Your thoughts?

Malcolm: What about "Two Jiggers of Love"?

Cliff: That just adds to the sex thing.

Angus: Right, right, but we could address that in the lyrics, juxtaposing images of alcohol with those of sex, a compare/contrast construct.

Brian: I think I can make that work.

Angus: Okay, moving along. Brian, you're shared only one idea.

Brian: Well, I wanted to give the other guys a chance, to cultivate diversity of opinion.

Angus: Certainly, but we're on a schedule.

Brian: All right. "Depth Charge," "Rocket Launcher," "Smell of Love," and "Eat My Fist."

Cliff: I'd say we have an album, gentlemen. I move that we accept this slate of titles for our next album.

Brian: I second the motion.

Malcolm: All in favor?

All: Aye.

Angus: Excellent work. A final reminder: we've scheduled a meeting tomorrow at 3 p.m., to commence the songwriting process. If you'd like, we can also hold an informal session this evening at my house.

Brian: Sounds great. I move we adjourn.

Cliff: Second.

Malcolm: All in favor?

All: Aye.

BON SCOTT 'Round And Round And Round'

Bon's back! Two new songs, three tracks. one CD single - released October-20 - the closest thing you're ever likely to hear to the solo album he talked about but never got the chance to complete. Now re-produced for the Nineties.

"Round And Round And Round" and "Carey Gully" are the last two songs Bon Scott committed to tape a month before joining AC/DC and the only released from a three year period in his career between Fraternity's "Flaming Galah" in April 1972 and AC/DC's "Baby Please Don't Go" in March 1975.

In their original form, the tracks are genuine Australian long lost 'Basement Tapes", recorded a few months after Bon's motorbike accident. Recently re-discovered, both "Round And Round And Round" and "Carey Gully" have been extensively reworked to create musical pieces which the project's collaborators believe Bon would have been proud of.

As an occasional member of The Mount Lofty Rangers, a South Australian collective of creative artists and musicians, Bon Scott recorded these two compositions by the group's musical director Peter Head in July 1974.

Peter Head recently teamed up with producer Ted Yanni, another old friend of Bon's. Using the best technology available, Ted isolated the original vocal track from "Round And Round". and then over many months rebuilt an entirely new backing to the song, so it sounds as though it was recorded today rather than yesterday The original version is also included on the CD single. It features former members of Headband and Fraternity.

"Carey Gully", a lilting country-flavoured ballad has been tastefully augmented with strings - the Classically Blue String Quartet. The song celebrates the Mount Lofty Rangers' stomping ground at the time, then home to one of South Australia's leading artists. Vytas Serelis, whose stunning photo portraits grace the CD cover.

The whole project has been achieved by many people - musicians and technicians donating time, talent and studios in order to pay tribute to an old friend. The result is one of the best recordings available by Bon Scott displaying a side to his vocal ability that wasn't as evident in subsequent releases.

"Round And Round And Round" is only available as a single for $10; from October 20, and there are no plans to release it on an album. Get it while you can, because it may not be there tomorrow.

1 October 1996

Bon Scott before AC/DC by Vince Lovegrove

What you could hold in your hot little hands is a labour of love. A twenty two year labour of love. And a vindication of fate. A twist of fate, a drunken spat, a motorbike accident, a long recuperation, a time of reflection for Bon Scott. Two decades ago.

It happened in Adelaide, the Cinderella state, the city of churches, the only Australian capital that wasn't founded on the backbone of the convicts, banished when the English tried to cleanse their pristine country of the undesirable lower class. They threw their petty criminals out of sight, to the other side of the world, hoping they'd stay out of mind. The Scottish tried to get away of their own free will, but the Brits wouldn't let them.

Bon Scott was born in Kirrimur, Scotland, and in the sixties migration rush to the convict colony on the other side of the world, moved with his family, along with thousands of other UK families .

His rock'n'roll star eventually took him to Adelaide, and what happened before and after is well documented in many books, many fanzines, and in the fertile minds of many highly imaginative journalists. But one of the most formative pieces of the Bon Scott jigsaw legend happened during this period, 1974 , whilst recuperating from his famous motor bike accident. Smashed jaw, broken teeth, gammy leg, marriage problems, his age becoming an obstacle in his struggle for creative identity, he began to explore his songwriting talents, his simplistic mastery of street vernacular, his poetic ability to tell a story.

He was creatively encouraged and nurtured during this brief period by Adelaide musician Peter Head (nee Beagley) whose optimistic love of music and all who embraced it, provided a catalyst for out of work or transient musicians in between gigs. Probably the most potent incarnation of the melting pot was The Mount Lofty Rangers.

During a brief 12 to 18 month period, many of Australia's best known and least known singers and players passed through the ranks of The Mount Lofty Rangers ; Robyn Archer, Jimmy Barnes, Bruce Howe, Chris Bailey, Mauri Berg, "Uncle" John Ayers, Swanee, and Bon Scott, being just a few.

Like so many other splinter movements, not much became of the old Rangers, now splattered into the anonymity of history's backwash like so many before and since. Makes you wonder how many unknown meanderings contribute to the mainstream, though. Nevertheless it was an outlet for people like Bon Scott to expand, to musically grow, to take a breather.

A month before he joined the band that would take his street poetry to the world, Bon recorded two songs written by Peter Head. Now based in Sydney with his family, still following his philosophy of organic musical growth, Peter has treasured the memories of those days and recently re-discovered and re-worked the recordings.

With 1996 technology, producer Ted Yanni has devoted almost two years to bringing Bon back to life via two previously unheard songs, assisted by many like minded friends - musicians and technicians for whom this project has been a labour of love.

These are genuine collector's items. Unique. You may have thought until now, that you had heard everything Bon Scott recorded pre-AC/DC. But what you could have in your hands is the Bon Scott you didn't hear.

Reflect and enjoy. Imagine.