Music

Axl Rose says singing for AC/DC was his idea

by Dan MacRae

May 6, 2016

Axl respects the 'challenging' singing of Brian Johnson and aims to 'do it justice for fans.'

We’re now one day away from the official debut of Axl/DC. How does it feel? Exciting? Strange? Like you’re a Belgian that would like their money back?

Axl Rose fronting AC/DC is a surreal proposition and in an interview with BBC 6Music’s Matt Everitt, the Guns N’ Roses kingpin acknowledges that he’s got quite the test ahead of him.

Rose’s pre-C/DC chat featured a glowing endorsement of sidelined vocalist Brian Johnson’s singing prowess and the degree of difficulty associated with handling the band’s classics. The group’s seminal 1980 record Back In Black got a special namecheck.

“A lot of the Back in Black stuff is really challenging. I’m not here in any way out of any disrespect to Brian. I can’t take anything away from his singing at all. He’s a great singer… I’m just trying to do it justice for the fans.”

Rose is joining the Rock or Bust tour at its sixth leg, as concerns about Johnson potentially going deaf led to the regular singer’s exit from the live trek. Having the GnR frontman handle vocals for AC/DC was actually Rose’s idea. He reached out to the band offering to lend a hand.

“I called the day I read about it in the news, that there was a situation going on with Brian’s hearing,” Rose said. “I called a guy who’s their production manager right now … So if I could help, and if I was able to do it, and they were interested, I’d love to help. And that’s how it started. I wasn’t looking at it like, ‘I’m singing for AC/DC.’ I was looking at it like, ‘Y’know, if I can, and if they think I’m able to do it.”

The Axl-fronted continuation of the Rock or Bust tour begins on May 7th in Lisbon, Portugal. It’s not quite the same, but we have the AC/DC + Guns N’ Roses combo performance of “Whole Lotta Rosie” from Coachella tucked below for your Friday convenience.