In death Bon Scott has become the ultimate Australian rock and roll icon. As AC/DC’s most recognized front man, Bon and the boys developed what would become labeled as Australian pub-rock, forging a distinct and heavily imitated sound. AC/DC took it to the world and went onto to become one of the most influential bands in rock history. When Bon tragically died in February of 1980, the world not only lost a great rock and roll singer, but one of the most loved and cherished men on the planet.
And so 28 years later, some of Australia’s finest rock bands in the form of Rose Tattoo, The Angels - known as Angel City in the U.S -, The Screaming Jets, original AC/DC singer Dave Evans and The Party Boys which featured amongst its line-up former AC/DC bassist Mark Evans, all came together to celebrate the man at the Claremont Showgrounds in Perth, Western Australian.
After the inaugural Bon Scott Celebration concert last year, this year’s event featured the unveiling of the bronze Bon Scott stature too which will be housed on Fisherman’s Wharf, Fremantle, the area where the cheeky Scottish born singer spent his early years. In front of a 7000 plus strong crowd, the bands rocked out in fine form, belting out their signature songs as well as performing many of AC/DC’s now classic Scott era anthems.
Amongst the highlights of the day’s entertainment was Rose Tattoo (photo) whom performed a solid and balls to the wall set and The Screaming Jets who lay waste to all in attendance with their stunning live show. But the stand out performance on the day came from The Angels. If Bon was looking down on the event on the day, he would be mighty proud. The Angels played one of their best live shows in recent memory. They were tight, mesmerizing and truly unstoppable. Performing a set of their well known Aussie rock classics such as Marseilles, No Secrets, Take A Long Line and the rally call of Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again, the band hypnotized the crowd and held them in their grip for their entire performance.
The countless rows of young people, all singing along to the band’s classics, proved to one and all the power and respect the band holds in Australian rock history to this day. After all, the fact is, when the AC/DC left Australia for distant shores in 1976 to conquer the world, The Angels were the band that AC/DC saw fit and able to fill their void, to which The Angels did with much success on a grand scale.
Ultimate-Guitar was invited to spend the day at this amazing concert as well as given access backstage where Joe Matera conducted several interviews with the performing artists closely associated with the Bon Scott era AC/DC – and two of the band’s former members, original singer Dave Evans, Scott’s predecessor and Mark Evans who was the bassist in AC/DC from 1975 to 1977 - to get their thoughts and recollections of Bon Scott.
Original AC/DC Singer Dave Evans
You’re well-known as being the first AC/DC singer who sang on the band’s first major hit Can I Sit Next To You, Girl? How did you feel when the band achieved major success with Bon at the helm, which overshadowed what you contributed to the band initially?
Dave Evans: There only five original members of the band and I am one of them. And I am very privileged to be one of the original members and also to have the very first hit single. When Bon joined the band, AC/DC were already flying. That single was actually voted Australian Single of the Year, and so were already up and flying. Before he joined Bon would come to a lot of our gigs. It was great and he saw what I did onstage with AC/DC and with Angus on my shoulders during Baby, Please Don’t Go, which he copied as well, and which to me, is fantastic. I got along really well with him as he was a friendly guy, a real larrikin and the life of the party type of guy. Everybody loved Bon. I met Bon again after he was with AC/DC and we had a very private conversation, cracked a few jokes and shook hands and wished each other the very best of luck.
The Angels
www.theangelsband.net
The Angels were and remain part of the inner circle of AC/DC and back in the Bon Scott era, The Angels toured heavily with AC/DC.
The Angels’ (guitarist) John Brewster (photo): And not only did we support AC/DC a lot during the Bon years, but we would also hang out with them both in and out of the studio. It was Bon, Malcolm and Angus that went to George [Young] and Harry [Vanda] from which resulted in us getting a record deal with. So we were all part of that whole Albert’s stable. And it was an amazing and exciting time in Australian rock history. Bon was incredibly charismatic. I remember on one occasion in Adelaide, I went for a walk with him and we were just walking through the park land, and here was Bon in his snakeskin boots and he was like the pied piper. All these people just started coming to him and before you knew, there was like about 100 people walking with us.
Aside from sharing the road with the band during the Scott years, were you ever privy to some of those Bon Scott recording sessions?
Yes, I was there in the studio when AC/DC recorded Let There Be Rock. I was standing there with goose bumps and the band did one take and George said, “I think there is a better one in you”. If you did a great take, George Young would say, “Hey not bad! Do another one”. You knew he was excited if his right foot was tapping consistently. If he was tapping non-stop all the way through your take, you knew you had a take. But if it stopped at any stage, even for just a second and it started again, you knew he was going to say, “I know there is a better one in you”. So the band did another take and after they did this take Angus’ amp blew up and there was smoke pouring out of it and Angus was rolling around on the floor, and that was the take they used for the final recording.
What are some of your fondest memories of Bon Scott?
I remember Bon saying to me when we sitting in this tour bus together once, this was in AC/DC’s tour bus which I thought was luxurious at the time, but it wasn’t at all. Anyway we were sitting in this bus and probably sharing a joint too, and Bon said to me “We’re going to go overseas, we’re going pretty soon and we’re going to be one of the biggest bands in the world”. And I replied, ‘that’s great”. And he said, “Do you know why we’re going to be the biggest band in the world”. I said, “No, you tell me” and he said, “because we’ve got Angus” And I replied, “yeah that is true and Angus is unbelievable but don’t sell yourself short because they’ve got you too!” And he said, “oh thanks that is very nice of you’. He was so very humble.
What are your own recollections of Bon Scott?
The Angels (guitarist) Rick Brewster (photo): He was a humble guy, a larrikin and cheeky and a lot of good things. I never saw a bad thing about Bon. And he was a very loyal person too, especially to the band. I remember once in the mid-Seventies there was this group of guys heckling the AC/DC at Whyalla, South Australia, and Angus just lost it, so he threw his guitar down and leapt off the stage, on top of this guy. And he was this huge black leather biker covered in tatts, while Angus was this tiny little Scotsman. He would have been killed if Bon hadn’t leapt off stage and onto the guy too. As soon a Bon saw it, he threw his microphone down and leapt in. And so did Malcolm. It was one after the other. The whole band left the stage and it was all on. Eventually they all got up and returned to the stage and finished the show. Bon was that sort of guy. He was always there for you. He was also a very clever man and his lyrics were very clever. He was the sort of guy that could get away with anything because he had the cheek.
The Screaming Jets
www.screamingjets.com.au
The influence of Bon Scott era AC/DC upon Australian pub rock is enormous, particularly on the bands that followed in their wake especially in the band’s work ethic.
The Screaming Jets (vocalist) Dave Gleeson (photo): Yeah and definitely for us, we’ve always prided ourselves on being able to do ten gigs a week and that was something that AC/DC did way back when they started. They started the whole thing about going out on the road and just touring and touring and just play every shit hole from here to the black stump. So it is something that we also have done ourselves and that is all due to AC/DC.
Why do you think Bon Scott represents the ultimate rock front man?
It is because he wasn’t a wanker. And I believe he was a genuine street poet. He touched a chord with any working class music fan not only here in Australia, but also, across the world.
The type of lyrics that Bon wrote certainly defined the Australian vocabulary within rock and he took it to the world with success.
Yes, between Bon and Phil Lynott, I think they’re the two greatest rock lyricists for rock. Ever. It is because they sung like the way they spoke. They used the vernacular and they used slang and stuff like that
Mark Evans
What impressions did you have of Bon when you first joined AC/DC?
My impression of him was already pretty well formed before I had met him. Though I knew of him from his Valentines days in the late ‘60s, it was later with his tenure with Fraternity my impression of him was that of a hippie version of Elvis Presley.
What do you think were his attributes as a frontman?
Just everything about his character and that he was a very good rock and roll singer. There were plenty of good rock and roll singers around at the time but none could make the grade as Bon did. Chicks loved him because they thought he was a bit of a bad boy and the guys loved him too. Especially the guys in the pubs we played in Melbourne, as they could relate to him because they thought he was a hard arse. To them he was also just of the boys done good. He just related to both guys and girls.
Can you share a story about Bon that gives us an insight to what the man really was like?
At one stage in the band’s early days, Angus used to get dressed up as whole bunch of different characters that ranged from Super Angus to a Gorilla. Angus just wasn’t just a school boy. Anyway one night we were down in Hobart, Tasmania and Angus had gone off stage to get into his gorilla suit and was then rolled out in a cage onstage. Suddenly Bon disappeared and we’re all going ‘where the fuck did Bon go?’ Then we heard this sort of Tarzan jungle cry and here is Bon coming out in this Tarzan lap-lap sort of thing on him. He had strung a rope up into the rafters, got on top of the PA and started swinging from it, Tarzan style in front of the PA. It was so fuckin’ funny. He would do these things like that all the time and he’d never tell us.
Interview and photos by Joe Matera
Ultimate-Guitar.Com © 2008
Joe Matera would like to thank Cat Swinton and Graham "Buzz" Bidstrup for making this all possible for UG.
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