As if 2014 wasn’t a tough enough year already for AC/DC with founding member and rhythm guitar extraordinaire Malcolm Young calling it a career after being diagnosed with dementia, AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has been charged with attempting to arrange a murder in New Zealand, along with threatening to kill and possession of methamphetamine and cannabis.
According to the New Zealand news site SunLive, the 60 year-old drummer allegedly attempted to procure the murder of two men, and was arrested Thursday. His Taraunga home was raided Thursday morning and he later appeared in Tauranga District Court. He is expected to reappear in court in three weeks.
Rudd is accused of procuring the murder between September 25 and 26, according to court documents obtained by SunLive. The drugs were found in his home Thursday when police arrested him.
Rudd joined the Australian band in 1975, but was kicked out in 1983. He rejoined in 1994 and has been with the band ever since.
AC/DC will release their new album, Rock or Bust later this year and a tour is scheduled to follow. Both of the two other drummers in AC/DC’s history are alive and well with Simon Wright (1983-1989) playing in Geoff Tate of Queensryche’s band and Chris Slade (1989-2004) fronting an AC/DC tribute band called the Chris Slade Steel Circle. Both of them might have been more technical, but niether nailed the natural bluesy groove that Rudd delivered and gave AC/DC their trademark sound.
