AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young learned he was less recognisable in his native Scotland than his folk singer cousin on a recent trip with his family to the country.
Visiting the isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides, Young along with his wife Linda and son Ross, were travelling on a trip to reconnect with their family roots. Speaking to the UK’s Classic Rock, 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.”
The rhythm guitarist also visited relatives of his wife Linda, in Stornoway, including well-known local musician Sandi Maciver, Linda’s folk singing cousin.
Maciver herself recounted to Classic Rock how she was recognised before the AC/DC star, “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.”
Young also spoke about the new AC/DC record, first reported by vocalist Brian Johnson earlier in the year. Although he confirmed the band are indeed working on the follow-up to 2008’s Black Ice, he explained that Johnson may have jumped the gun on the original plans to release new material this year.
“You know what Brian’s like,” he explained “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,” he continued. “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.”
AC/DC’s last studio LP debuted at number 1 in over 29 countries and has sold 6 million copies so far worldwide. Black Ice was also the first time the band had topped the Billboard 200 albums charts since their 1981 release For Those About to Rock We Salute You.
Despite the large gaps between studio albums, there’s no fears of the rock legends fading into obscurity. Unless you’re from Harris, Scotland that is…
