How AC/DC found their way back

Angus Young and Brian Johnson may be on opposite sides of the world, but they are definitively together. The schoolboy-uniform-suited lead guitarist and newsboy-capped frontman of AC/DC, one of the most beloved hard-rock bands in history, are dialing in from Australia (Young) and England (Johnson) to discuss their new album Power Up, and no number of miles can dampen their enthusiasm. It's been too long, and they're glad to be back.

"Fantastic doesn't quite cut it, but it was wonderful," says Johnson, 73, still a bit swoony remembering the moment the group — including bassist Cliff Williams, drummer Phil Rudd, and guitarist Stevie Young — rebooted in 2018 in Vancouver with longtime producer Brendan O'Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam)."We have such a strong bond when we're all together working," adds Young, 65, with a twinkle in his voice. "It was an exciting feeling."

It was a bond many fans feared broken given the complete disarray in which the group found itself in 2016. Faced with debilitating hearing issues, Johnson was forced into retirement during their last tour. AC/DC superfan Axl Rose stepped up to the mic to close out 2016's remaining dates to help the band honor its commitments, resulting in some bruised feelings. Under house arrest for myriad legal troubles, Rudd missed the tour completely. In the throes of dementia, founding guitarist Malcolm Young had already withdrawn as a touring member, replaced by his and Angus' nephew Stevie. Near the end of the tour, Williams announced he too would be retiring and has since revealed that he was facing some health problems. Malcolm's death in 2017 lent a sense of finality.

In rock & roll time, when artists can take years between albums — AC/DC logged six and eight years between their last three releases — four years between a tour and a new record is a blip. But for the mighty monsters of rock — the band with the third-best-selling album of all time worldwide (Back in Black), purveyors of stadium-rattling anthems like "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Thunderstruck" — a rebound felt depressingly unrealistic.

Like the signature bolt of lightning in the group's name, though, Young was suddenly charged with a new mission in 2018. He may have gotten a celestial nudge from his older brother. "There were songs written by Malcolm and myself through the years," says Young of tunes worked up around 2008's Black Ice. "He had always wanted to get them released, so I thought this was a great time." With Johnson's hearing improved thanks to closely guarded, evolving technology — "We've got a wonderful new thing for the ears, but that's another story," he says— Rudd back on the straight and narrow, and Williams revitalized, they got to work.

That renewed vigor is palpable on Power Up. Given that Malcolm was a one-man riff factory and AC/DC fanatically worship at the altar of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," there are plenty of instant earworms. The slither and-bang combo of the pole-ready "Rejection" is a first among equals. "It reminds us of when we were doing some of our older songs in our youth," Young says before inadvertently summing up the album, and the group's entire ethos. "It might sound a bit nasty, a little bit ominous, and it just felt like being carefree to the wind and you go, Okay, let's do it tough and do it hard." And so it goes with songs like "Demon Fire" and "Wild Reputation," both featuring Johnson's descent into a gleefully menacing speak-sing growl. "I can do that now," he says proudly before demonstrating the intestinally rumbling register. A chuckling Young exclaims, "He sounded like Nasty Canasta," referencing an arcane Looney Tunes character from the '50s. "I get a big kick when it hits that chorus and Brian comes in with the 'demon fire.'"

The group that released Back in Black as a tribute to famed vocalist the late Bon Scott views Power Up as a similar homage to Malcolm, whom Johnson credits for the album's vitality. "Knowing for a fact that we were doing this for our lovely friend who passed, that just added something else to the dimension. Everybody knew that Malcolm was watching, and you had to do good for Malcolm. He wouldn't take second best."

A version of this story appears in the December issue of Entertainment Weekly, on newsstands Friday or available here. Don't forget to subscribe for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW.

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