Sleaze Roxx recently conducted an interview with former AC/DC bassist Mark Evans. Evans is the author of the new book Dirty Deeds: My Life Inside/Outside Of AC/DC (Bazillion Points Books). In the interview he talks about his life and time in and out of the band. An excerpt from the chat follows:

Q: I've always wondered how a musician who gets fired from a band that goes on to great success doesn't end up being bitter. How can you not be pissed off about missing out on what could have been?

A: "I think it boils down to your personality. I've never been one to rake over the coals of anything - it's pretty much a family trait, you just get on with things. What would be gained to be bitter about things?"

Q: That's true, but I'm sure if it happened to me I'd hold a grudge for awhile.

A: "When the split from the band happened it was disappointing. It made me sad, I was angry... all those things because you get conflicting feelings. It wasn't a surprise for me that I got sacked from the band, but it was a shock. It was like getting a divorce. I went through a divorce later on in life and it was the same feeling - it was fucking awful. In the same token there was equal amounts of, 'thank God that is over'. There were certain elements of being in AC/DC that where quite difficult, but that all went away as soon as I hit the intro of 'Live Wire'. If it just involved playing live with the band it was no problem. It seems superfluous to say, but it was a great band to play in. I used to look forward to playing on stage because it was the only time you got any peace and quiet (laughs). That was the only time the band really existed is when it was playing.

I've never been a bitter person. If someone said what bothers you about it? I'm not bothered about it at all. I've got great memories of being with the band and I've got a lot to thank the guys for. It was a great learning curve and I was involved in some great music. If you held a gun to my head now and said, 'would you still like to be in AC/DC', you'd be out of your mind to say no. It just didn't happen that way and I've got a fairly physiological attitude to it. If I was the right guy I'd still be there, so it's pretty obvious I wasn't the right guy. They have been very, very successful without me, so I think they may have made the right decision (laughs). Who knows what would have happened? I've pondered that many times, and as I'm sitting here, I really miss playing with the band.

I've got two favorite bands in the world. One is ROSE TATTOO, possibly my favorite band, and the other is AC/DC. In qualification to that I'm a little bit biased, and no disrespect to what the band has done, but if you ask me personally I prefer the stuff Bon Scott was involved in. To qualify that further, two of my favorite AC/DC albums are Powerage and High Voltage, which I didn't play on. Maybe because I'm divorced from those albums, I can appreciate them for what they are. People look at Back In Black and that's an amazing record and amazingly successful - it's just a fantastic rock 'n' roll record. If I had to point to what I think is the best AC/DC album its Highway To Hell. I'm a Bon fan, I gravitate towards that stuff."

Read the full interview at this location.

Evans joined AC/DC in 1975 and remained with them through their barroom days, their first international tours, and the majority of the Bon Scott-era albums: High Voltage, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, T.N.T., Let There Be Rock, and the US-only '74 Jailbreak collection.