Johnson doesn’t reveal any of the band’s future plans
Brian Johnson says he cannot discuss AC/DC’s future. In a new interview with Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM, Johnson wouldn’t answer when pressed about the band ever reconvening to perform live or to record a follow up to 2020’s Power Up.
“I’m not answering that,” Johnson says.
“You can’t answer that?” Trunk asks.
“No, why should I? First of all, there’s five members in this band, and to ask one member isn’t fair.”
Johnson stated he’s been told not to discuss future album plans either.
“Eddie, I cannot answer that. I’ve been told not to by everybody. It’s the official line.”
Johnson, who’s been the band’s singer since 1980, is staying mum on the situation because anything he says will likely be misconstrued.
“It’s gettin’ tabloidy here. You’re gettin’ tabloidy… If I say one thing, it’ll be blown out of all proportion. You just can’t afford to talk now. You can’t afford to talk. There’s too much blabber on the Internet. And I’m not on any kind of Face-thing or social media at all — never have been. It’s just gossip.”
Trunk says he was not told to steer away from AC/DC-related questions during the hour long conversation.
The bulk of the chat was about Johnson’s new memoir, The Lives of Brian: AC/DC, Me, and the Making of Back in Black, that was released in the fall. Johnson’s memoir from growing up in a small town to starting his own band to ultimately replacing Bon Scott, the lead singer of one of the world biggest rock acts, AC/DC. They would record their first album together, the iconic Back in Black, which would become the biggest selling rock album of all time.
Johnson was forced to leave the band in the midst of AC/DC’s Rock or Bust Tour due to hearing issues in 2015. He was replaced by Guns N Roses frontman Axl Rose in 2016. In the autobiography, Johnson says he never did see any videos with Rose because “I just couldn’t watch — especially when you’ve been doing it for 35 years. It’s like finding a stranger in your house, sitting in your favorite chair. But I bear no grudges. It was a tough situation. Angus [Young] and the lads did what they felt they had to do. That said, after the band released a statement confirming that I was leaving the tour and wishing me all the best for the future, I couldn’t relax or concentrate on anything. It was just always there.”
Johnson reunited with his longtime bandmates to release Power Up last year, an album that had been completed before the COVID-19 pandemic. The album was recorded in the third quarter of 2018 and saw the band reunite with producer Brendan O’Brien who helmed the double Platinum Black Ice in 2008 and the gold Rock Or Bust in 2014.
