Classic rock outfit have officially announced their new album PWR/UP after a week of teasers, and the announcement that the group reunited with former members Brian Johnson, Phil Rudd and Cliff Williams. The project is set for release on November 13, while its first single “A Shot In The Dark,” is set for release on October 7 at 12:00 a.m. ET.
Johnson recently spoke about the upcoming project and recording during an interview with the Atlanta radio station Rock 100.5 Atlanta. During the interview, he explained Angus Young was contacted about making a new album around 2018 (the same year Johnson and Rudd were spotted outside the group’s studio), which Johnson, Rudd, Williams and Angus’ nephew, Stevie Young, agreed to.
“It’s something probably nobody thought would happen. It was about 2018, and Angus was contacted by the record company, who said, ‘Do you fancy doing an album?’ And Angus said, ‘Well, let’s ask the boys.’ So he asked me and Cliff and Phil. And Stevie was there, obviously. And I think we all said ‘yes’ immediately; we just said, ‘This would be great,” Johnson told the station.
He also clarified some statements made by Mike Fraser, which involved speculation that the late Malcolm Young made contributions to the project. Johnson explained that Malcolm and Angus, who were brothers, worked on riffs their entire lives, and that Malcolm’s contributions on the album are there “in spirit.”
“There’s a lot of [rumors] about [late AC/DC rhythm guitarist] Malcolm’s [Young] guitar playing [being on the album], [and] well, of course, that’s not true,” he clarified. “But what is true is the fact that Angus and Malcolm had done riffs together all their life and really had a big box of them. And Angus said he basically just went through them all and he went, ‘Oh, that’s a good one. This is a good one.’ And he brought them out. So it really is true that Malcolm is on there, basically, in spirit and all of that.”
The vocalist also recently spoke about his problems with tinnitus, which impacted his hearing so severely that it caused him to leave the band in 2016. He eventually worked with Asius Technologies to work on a special hearing device, which allowed him to perform once again. “The only thing I can tell you is that it uses the bone structure in the skull as a receiver. That’s as much as I can tell you,” Johnson said regarding the device.
Photo Credit: Owen Ela
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