AC/DC have made the difficult decision to soldier on despite losing one of their core members. The legendary rockers will release a new studio album entitled Rock or Bust on December 2nd, and will mark the first release without founding member and guitarist Malcolm Young, who has officially departed the band.
Young was hospitalized in April after suffering a stroke, with a hurricane of speculation on the future of the band. While initial reports downplayed the severity of Young’s condition, according to a press release, “due to the nature of [his] condition, he will not be returning to the band.”
In his place, AC/DC recruited Young’s nephew Stephen to handle guitar work on their new LP, and he will also accompany the band on their supporting world tour in 2015.
While promoting his debut solo album last month, AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd dismissed reports that the band considered going their separate ways once Malcolm’s illness was made public.
“Angus Young will never retire,” Rudd said. “We were never going to retire. It’ll never happen. Angus will never retire and as long as Angus never retires, I won’t fucking retire either.”
According to Rudd, tour plans aren’t far away, but he’s not ceremonious about the process. “I’ll get a call a month before they need me,” he said.
“We’ve done some long, hard tours. It’s not easy. You do it for 18 months, you’re the walking dead when you finish, especially as you get older. But everything’s great in the band, we’re ready to fire up on all cylinders again.”
AC/DC biographer Jesse Fink pressed the likelihood that Malcolm’s absence would become permanent.: “The important thing is we all let Mal be and hope he can recover,” he said. “We should all expect that Stevie is in the band now.” Regarding the new material, he said: “I’m hearing on very reliable authority it’s up there with ‘Black Ice’, or even better — so Stevie must be a good replacement for Mal.”
Rock or Bust’s lead single, “Play Ball,” will soundtrack Major League Baseball postseason games starting next month.
Listen to a preview of the track below.
