Youngs : The Brothers Who Built Ac/Dc (9781466865204) Read Free Page B

come offstage and hang his head in a trash can and puke while still playing guitar,” she says. “The first time I saw him do it I was with [Atlantic Records promotion executive] Perry Cooper and I was like, ‘Is he okay?’ Perry replied, ‘Yeah, he does that every show.’”
    Even today, though quietened down by age and creaking joints, in televised interviews there remains something almost child-like about Angus. His dedication to practicing and playing his guitar has been the obsessive habit of a lifetime, according to O’Grady: “He was the precocious kid. He could express himself on guitar far better than he could express himself through schoolwork or language, and he was encouraged to do so. [It was always a case of:] ‘Don’t bother Angus; just let him play.’”
    Says David Mallet, who has directed AC/DC ’s videos and concerts since 1986: “Pink Floyd is about a spectacle. Each song, each number in concert has a different type of spectacle. AC/DC is about the same spectacle every time. Called Angus Young.”
    But it’s the middle brother who is the king of AC/DC . And he’s not a benevolent one. Mark Evans, the band’s bass player from 1975 to 1977, described Malcolm rather unflatteringly in his autobiography, Dirty Deeds: My Life Inside/Outside of AC/DC , as “the driven one … the planner, the schemer, the ‘behind the scenes guy,’ ruthless and astute.”
    A description not far off an early Atlantic Records press release but for an important rider: “Not only is he a great guitarist and songwriter, but also a person with vision—he is the planner in AC/DC . He is also the quiet one, deep and intensely aware. This, coupled with his good looks, makes him an extremely popular member of AC/DC .”
    Curiously, none of the other band members had their physical appearance appraised.
    Malcolm is the brother who calls all the shots, who directs the band and drives the rhythm. Even when private issues have forced him to stop playing, AC/DC remains his band.
    â€œMalcolm and Angus were brought up in an environment where George was a massive pop and rock star,” explains Evans, now a little thinner on top in his 58th year but still fit and as handsome as he ever was, over a coffee in Sydney’s Annandale. If anyone had the good looks in AC/DC it was Evans. “It’s not a big jump for them to think we’ll put a band together and take it overseas. It wasn’t like a dream, ‘I want to go and play for Glasgow Rangers’ or something. The dream was inside his house. It was a tangible thing. Malcolm picked up a lot from George. George and Malcolm are very similar in a lot of ways. Although I do believe Malcolm is the most driven of the lot of them.
    â€œOne of the things that’s amazed me over the years is that Angus and Malcolm, not so much George, are portrayed as not being all that sharp—maybe because it’s their persona. But, man . I haven’t met too many guys in my life that have been sharper than Malcolm.”
    Where his younger brother duckwalks, moons, spins and does whatever the hell he pleases, Malcolm, stiff and twitchy, immovable as a menhir, can be relied upon to stay anchored down the back of the stage in front of the Marshall stack.
    â€œLive, they put on a great show but it’s not flash,” says their longtime engineer, Mike Fraser. “It’s amazing for me. You sit there and watch Malcolm play. He’s actually leading that whole band from standing there beside the drums. Everyone watches him for the cutoffs. ‘Let’s do another round.’ He’s got all these little nods. Little flicks of his hand. Everybody’s got their eyes on him. Even Angus, as he’s flying around, flipping around backward. He’s watching Mal for everything. It’s quite awesome to watch.”
    John Swan, a fellow Scot, venerable rock figure in