Evans, who was the bassist for AC/DC from March 1975 to June 1977 during the wild Bon years, is a firm part of Aussie rock royalty. He’s also a bit incredulous about how time flies. “It’s incredible,” he laughs. “I can’t believe that it’s been 40 years already. I’ve been focusing on where the gig’s at – it’s at the Hi-Fi, which is right on Swanston Street. It just seems like such a short time ago that I was on the back of the truck doing the clip.”
“I do get a sense of the passage of time when I watch that – there’s a shot where they pan down what used to be a thoroughfare and it looks like a country town. It was 11am on a Monday morning and there are just bits and pieces of traffic on the street. When you look at something like that, it gives you a sense of how truly long ago it was.”
Testament to the bloke’s unbelievably good nature, Evans is gleefully anticipating the event, even though things went south between him, the band and Albert Records. When asked whether the night will be somewhat bittersweet, his response is characteristically gracious. “No, not at all,” he explains. “Like a lot of things in my life, I’m very philosophical about that – things happen and not everything goes the way you’d like it to, but it doesn’t stop it being a celebration of a great band and I still have a lot of respect for all of the guys. We no longer have any contact – so be it, but that doesn’t stop me from looking at what they’ve done and what they’ve achieved.”
“Realistically, I was there for a very short time in the band’s career, although a very important and formative time, but those guys have done the hard yards since and they deserve all of the rewards that they’ve reaped. And the same with Alberts – without Alberts we wouldn’t necessarily have great bands like The Easybeats right through to Rose Tattoo. Australian rock wouldn’t have its taste without Alberts.”
Evans has always been forthcoming in his view that AC/DC is Malcolm Young’s band. So what’s going to happen to it in light of the plan to carry on in his absence while he’s sadly so crook? “Everyone has an opinion about that, but all along the way with the band there have been hurdles,” he muses. “I hark back to the transition between Bon and Brian. The band’s AC/DC though – the decision to carry on would have been a well- weighted one and it would have been a decision from inside. Frankly speaking, that’s good enough for me.”
It’s a joy listening to the old yarns. When asked to recount some of his wildest or highlight moments, Evans describes the band’s fabled lunchtime gig during the school holidays at what’s now the Myer Miss Shop. “It was completely stupid – they were going to put us on doing two half-hour sets. Fucking hell, I think we got one note out before we got chased through the building. It looked like the D Day landing at Normandy beach. Bon ended up with his mate Pat Picket on the other side of the store because it goes out onto Lonsdale Street. They had ripped his shoes off and he only had part of his jeans left on and nothing else. I ended up out the front of the building – after hiding like a big fucking Jessie. I had to catch a cab back to the housing commission flats in Prahran, with my bass around my neck. Everyone took for the hills.
“I remember Michael Browning [the band’s then manager] saying ‘if you get through the first song it’s a fuckin’ miracle’, because he knew what was going to happen – he was rubbing his hands together, pissing himself laughing.”
It’s obvious that Evans’ affection for Bon hasn’t waned with time. There’s one of Bon’s letters to a fan in Evans’ book Dirty Deeds and it’s equal parts funny, wild, dirty and sweet. “That captures Bon in a nutshell,” Evans agrees. “No one could get away with that now though. But if you know the guy… I can’t believe I just spoke about him in the present tense. If you knew Bon, it was all tongue-in-cheek. What did he call himself? A wolf in wolf’s clothing.”
That Evans ended up in the band at all was fate. He’d first seen Bon when he was 14 and was struck by his swagger all the way back then, notwithstanding the fact that Bon was flouncing around in high heels and an orange chiffon shirt. It was three years later though when he asked his mate Steve McGrath, who was one of AC/DC’s roadies at the time, what he was up to for work, in response to which Steve told him about working for the band and their opening for a bass player. Evans has reflected upon what would’ve become of him had he not posed the question. “Oh fuck, it possibly would have been dead boring,” he chortles. “I probably would have played football for a bit longer though I think. I’m still playing football for the Espy Rockdogs and I’m still hoping to be a mature age recruit at 58 for Carlton next year.”
BY MEG CRAWFORD
