AC/DC Return To Scotland! (Well Malcolm Anyway!)

Malcolm Young and Classic Rock reporter Eric Mackinnin

Great things that you find in Classic Rock Magazine's website - hopefully they don't mind me pulling the copy from their website (I am a subscriber to Rock's best monthly magazine!!).

Anyway this is about Scottish born AC/DC frontman Malcolm Young but also acts as a nice wee travelogue to the Western Isles!

"AC/DC mainman Malcolm Young discovered he’s less famous than his folk musician relative when he took his family to explore their roots on a remote Scottish Island.

He and brother Angus were born in Glasgow and remain proud of their Scottish ancestry.

The rhythm guitarist, wife Linda and son Ross travelled to the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides to find out more about her past, where he discussed plans for AC/DC’s future.

He confirmed they’re working on a potential follow-up to 2008′s Black Ice. But he warned fans are in for a longer wait than expected, after singer Brian Johnson suggested there would be new material next year.

Young explained: “You know what Brian’s like. He just says things and then walks away. It’ll be a little while – a year or two anyway.

“I’ve been doing some jamming on some song ideas but I do that all the time, as do the rest of the band. We are still working. But we had a long rest between Stiff Upper Lip and Black Ice, so I think we need a couple of years to recuperate and work on it a bit more.”

He added it’s unlikely any world tour in support of a future release will grow to the scale of the AC/DC Black Ice trek, which lasted almost two years and sold nearly five million tickets.

His son Ross pitched in: “It would probably be a bit less, a year or 18 months. That was very long last time.”

The family met with Linda’s long-lost relatives in Stornoway and its surrounding villages. They enjoyed a visit to a lifeboat launch and relaxed in the town’s only hotel, the three-room Scarista House, overlooking some of the island’s most picturesque beaches.

Young said: “I still feel very Scottish. I love coming back to Scotland. We’ve never been to the Western Isles before but it’s been really good – it’s lovely up here.”

Stornoway resident Sandi MacIver, a cousin of Linda, is also a well-known local musician. She said: “We were having dinner in the motel with Malcolm and his family. A friend of my aunt came in and joined us. He looked at Malcolm then whispered: ‘Is that the one in the band?’

“Then he saw me and said loudly, ‘Oh – is that Sandie MacIver?’

“Poor Malcolm Young… I was recognised before him! It could only happen in Harris.”