::
AC/DC Italia ::
What
are you currently up to? Any future plan?
::
Dave Evans ::
I
have only just signed to tour Germany, Austria and
Switzerland for a
three
months tour in August,September and October.
::
AC/DC Italia ::
At
the early 70es, how did you meet AC/DC for the
first time?
::
Dave Evans ::
Malcolm
Young and myself had both been in one of the local
top Sydney bands called Velvet Underground but at
different times. Malcolm had left before I joined
but of course we both knew about each other even
though we had not met.
After
the band finally broke up I answered an ad in The
Sydney Morning Herald newspaper for a solid rock
singer and it was Malcolm who answered the phone.
We
were pleased to finally speak to each other and he
invited me to jam with him and drummer Colin
Burgess and bass player Larry Van Knedt as they
needed a singer to finalise the band. I jammed
with the guys and it was great. We shook hands and
delclared that we had a band.
I
had however met Malcolm's younger brother Angus a
few months earlier as he was also looking for a
singer for his band Kentuckee as his singer had
left. I was not interested in the type of mostly
guitar type covers that his band was doing and I
had declined. After Malcolm, Colin, Larry and
myself had done a couple of rehearsals, Malcolm
asked us if Angus could audition for us as his
band Kentuckee had finally split up. We
agreed so Angus jammed with us and we all agreed
that he should also be part of our band as yet
unnamed.
::
AC/DC Italia ::
What
do you remember in general of that period?
::
Dave Evans ::
It
was very exciting as I went through along with the
other founding members and subsequent members the
very birth of the band - The first rehearsals, The
naming of ACDC, Our very first gig, The very first
recording session, The very first film clip,
The very first hit record, The very first tour
etc. I experienced ACDC from conception to playing
the biggest venues in Australia including The
Sydney Opera House main stage, Festival Halls in
Melbourne and Adelaide, touring with international
act Lou Reed and all in the space of just on 12
months before my departure. ACDC always had that
something very special right from the very
beginning.
::
AC/DC Italia ::
Can
you tell us the true reason of your dismissal from
the band?
::
Dave Evans ::
In
one word - women. I will never forget a
conversation I had with Doug Parkinson when I was
just starting out as a singer in Sydney when I was
in my early teens. Doug was a very well known
Australian star singer and still is. He asked me -
Do you know the reason why most bands split up? I
didn't really know. He said to me - women! and
left me to ponder. I found out the hard way. When
ACDC first started Malcolm used to encougage me to
talk to the female fans before and after the gigs
to make fans out of them. Well it certainly worked
a treat. We certainly gained a strong following
very quickly and as lead singer I certainly had my
pick of the best looking girls, and there were
plenty of them of course. At first this was a
great thing for the band but increasingly
jealousies turned into hateful resentment as even
though Malcolm and Angus were huge talents and
great performers they weren't popular with the
opposite sex and both did not even have
girlfriends the whole time I was with the band
with them. I also felt that there was also a
resentment from Angus because of the fact that I
did not join his band Kentuckee and he ended up
going through an audition for us and finally
during the Lou Reed tour I had a physical
confrontation with our manager at the time, who
had once been a singer with a band but never made
it and actually sang with ACDC one night when my
voice had given out from my sometimes doing three
gigs in a day/night. He was also eying my position
as singer as we were riding high with CAN I SIT
NEXT TO YOU in the top 5 and he was aware of the
friction between Malcolm, Angus and myself who
were by that time the only founding members of the
band left as Malcolm had already sacked Colin and
Larry also two other members who had brief stays
with the band and our original manager. After the
manager and myself had traded blows - though
broken up quickly by the other guys - the writing
was on the wall for me. It was a wild exciting
ride that first 12 months.
::
AC/DC Italia ::
From
1974 to nowadays, have you ever met AC/DC?
::
Dave Evans ::
I
did meet them a couple of times when I was
recording with RABBIT at the same studio where
they were recording also at a rock festival in
Melbourne even though ACDC and Rabbit were on at
different time. I have also kept in touch with
other former members and only just recently
appeared in a documentary about Colin Burgess and
his brother Denny also a musician and I talked
about Colin's time with ACDC as drummer and
founding member.
::
AC/DC Italia ::
Which
was your best musical experience (with or without
AC/DC)?
::
Dave Evans ::
There
are many but I will will never forget that concert
at the Sydney Opera House as we broke new ground
by playing heavy rock on the main stage for the
very first time.
::
AC/DC Italia ::
Would
you ever imagine that AC/DC could achieve such a
huge success in the world?
::
Dave Evans ::
Yes
::
AC/DC Italia ::
In
your opinion, which are the factors that had lead
AC/DC becoming the no.1 Hard-rock band on
Earth?
::
Dave Evans ::
The
rhythm section is kept very straigh and simple.
Malcolm used to stress this over and over again.
The energy level is to the maximum - excitement
plus and the messages in the songs are very simple
and strong plus Angus's great performances.
::
AC/DC Italia ::
Which
is your favourite AC/DC album?
::
Dave Evans ::
Back
In Black
::
AC/DC Italia ::
We
know you sang in the concert for twentieth
anniversary of the Bon Scott's death: what does it
mean for you organizing that special event?
::
Dave Evans ::
I
will also be linked to Bon's fate as he took my
place as singer for ACDC. If that did not occur he
would probably still be alive today. I am not
resposible in any way of course but our lives
touched and because of that I wanted to do
something special that would be recorded for all
time as a mark of respect.
::
AC/DC Italia ::
In
the present hard'n'heavy scene, which are your
favourite bands?
::
Dave Evans ::
I
still love the classic rock acts - ZZ top, Led
Zeppelin, Deep Purple, singers such as Paul
Rodgers from Free and Bad Company.
