Former AC/DC Bassist Mark Evans Depicts Bon Scott Era In New Book

January 16, 2012, 12 years ago

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Bassist Mark Evans, author of the new book Dirty Deeds: My Life Inside/Outside Of AC/DC (Bazillion Points Books), 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. In a new interview with No Treble, Evans talks writing, AC/DC dynamics, the late Bon Scott, and punching out a keyboard player to defend the honor of all bassists.

On writing his book Dirty Deeds: "The band tends to be a little secretive. They're private sort of guys. And it's just paying back all the support from over the years and for people who ask me what it was like to be in the band. So yeah, I just wanted to put fans in the band like it was back in the Bon Scott days. We had a whole lot of fun, let me tell you."

On recording classic AC/DC albums like Let There Be Rock: "From the week I joined them, we'd be doing six, seven, eight gigs a week. So our scheduling was really tight, and we didn't have a lot of time. To record the albums, or at least the ones I was involved with, T.N.T., which was half of the international version of High Voltage, Dirty Deeds, and Let There Be Rock, all those albums, there was only two weeks put aside for each album to record."

On his friendship with the late Bon Scott: "The public perception of Bon was this hard-drinking, hell-raising sort of guy, and he was. There was definitely part of him that was that, but he was a very warm guy. He just had impeccable manners, man, and he was a really great friend to have. He used to say, 'I'm a great bunch of guys,' and he was."

On sticking up for bass players: "I was on tour with an Australian band called DRAGON, and they had a keyboard player that was a great DOORS fan, but The Doors used to drive me nuts. He made a comment that all bands should dispense of bass players, and that bass players were a waste of space. So I punched his lights out for that. You can't be saying that about bass players, man! I struck a blow for all bass players."

Visit Dirtydeedsbook.com for more information.


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