Angus Young Talking About AC/DC’s Future is Some Heartbreaking Shit

The last few years have been a fucking circus for AC/DC. There was guitarist Malcom Young being diagnosed with dementia, singer Brian Johnson’s battle with hearing loss, the announcement that Axl Rose would fill in for Johnson, the backlash to that decision, and finally bassist Cliff Williams’ announced retirement following the band’s current tour.

Now, in an interview with Rolling Stone, Angus Young speaks about the band and its future… and it’s sad to read. Sometimes in a funny or head-shaking kind of way, but primarily in a mournful kind of way.

Young’s commentary on Axl Rose seems the most ridiculous:

“He prepares himself, ready to go. We sit and chew the fat before we get on, work out what songs we want to do. It’s gotta be fun for him, and for us.”

I’m sure Axl does chew the fat. Probably with ketchup.

Meanwhile, Young’s statement on Williams’ retirement brushes aside the band business, and makes it a personal decision based on losing Johnson, his longtime friend:

“Cliff made it known before we’d even started touring – this would be his last. Besides myself, Cliff has been there the longest, since 1977. Cliff and Brian are in the same age bracket. They like to go out, hit the pubs. They had the bond.”

But perhaps most jarring is Angus talk about his brother:

“It’s hard to communicate…I do pass on messages. I can’t be 100 percent sure it goes in there. But I let him know there are a lot of people missing him.

“…But Malcolm was always one to battle through. He would look at me in times of crisis and go, ‘We’ll just go in and do some work. We’ll sit and write some songs.’ He had that drive, and I feel obligated to keep it going, maybe because I was there in the beginning with him.”

Young never gets too in-depth and doesn’t offer many juicy details about the personal and legal woes of the band, but that makes the interview a more beautiful read in that respect. It’s a human being talking about playing rock music with his buddies, who are now one by one leaving the only band he’s ever been in. It grabs you by the hearstrings and throttles you.

You can ready the full interview here. Meanwhile, we wish Angus and his all the best.