“Gettin’ sold/ second hand/that’s how it goes/playin’ in a band.” The lyrics to AC/DC’s deathless anthem ‘It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll)’ may be delivered with the electric exuberance of frontman Bon Scott, but they hold some hard truths about the difficulties of the touring rock band that as true today as they did when they were written nearly 40 years ago.
The words to the iconic 1975 single have now been given a rich new treatment courtesy of fellow hard rock veteran Phil Anselmo, best known as the vocalist for heavy metal heroes Pantera, and German music magazine Visions.
As MetalSucks reports, a new online video campaign commissioned by the German publication entitled ‘Rock N’ Roll Manifesto’ features Anselmo giving a poetic reading of AC/DC’s ‘It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll)’ against smartly edited imagery of the tougher side of life for a touring band – as the song goes, “I tell you folks / it’s harder than it looks.”
The warts-and-all promo is set to Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio In E-Flat and portrays both the good, the bad, and the ugly of the touring lifestyle in cinematic footage of pre-show warm-ups, band bust-ups, sleeping on couches, moshpit madness, groupies, running and gunning between shows, and (our personal favourite) a producer receiving a fist to the jaw.
Grounding the footage is Anselmo’s grizzly drawl as he intones the AC/DC lyrics as if they were gospel, which leads Metal Sucks to ponder “is Anselmo the Morgan Freeman of metal?” The Panetra vocalist’s reading gives dramatic weight to the darker side of the words, originally written by AC/DC frontman Bon Scott and George Young, older brother of the band’s twin guitarists Angus and Malcolm who produced the 1975 hit.
In related news, Anselmo – who is currently the frontman for makeshift metal supergroup Down, is planning the release of his debut solo album this July. Titled Walk Through Exits Only, the singer told Metal Hammer that fans shouldn’t expect a “paint-by-numbers thrash or metal record.” ‘Rock N’ Roll Manifesto’ features Anselmo giving a poetic reading of AC/DC’s hit against smartly edited imagery of the tougher side of life for a touring band.
Anselmo wrote and co-produced his solo debut, and is releasing it via his own label, Housecore Records, under the band name Philip H Anselmo & The Illegals.
“It’s an angry album that only I could do,” says Anselmo. “I don’t see anybody else out there screaming about the same shit I’m screaming about. On this album there isn’t any wordplay, there isn’t any hidden message. It’s all right there in front of you.”
Speaking of the controversial death of Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, who was shot and killed by gunman Nathan Gal while performing onstage in 2004, Anselmo says he feels sorry for former bandmate Vinnie Paul over their falling out following Dimebag’s untimely death.
“People should pity the guy,” Anselmo said. “I wasn’t there when Dime was murdered but he sure as fuck was. That’s his flesh and blood, murdered right in front of him. The healing process would have been beneficial to him – instead of his knee-jerk reaction to fear, and his therapy through tit-bars and whisky.”
Meanwhile on the AC/DC newsfront, last March bassist Cliff Williams confirmed that the Aussie rock legends had begun work on a new studio album, the follow-up to 2008’s Black Ice, though admitting that progress was slow while the band were “still getting over the last tour.”
Williams did confirm that guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young were “writing material and when they’ve got some stuff together, they’ll give us a holler.”
“They get a bunch of ideas together. Some are more together than others — and then we’ll all hit the studio or a little rehearsal room and we’ll kick it around with a producer. And then we get in a studio and record, and that’s kind of how it runs,” Williams added.
Black Ice, AC/DC’s last studio LP, debuted at #1 in over 29 countries including America’s Billboard 200 albums chart – the first time they’d achieved such a feat since 1981′s For Those About To Rock We Salute You. Black Ice also led to their world tour of the same name that saw the band play to over 5 million fans in 108 cities over 28 countries across the globe.
It also spawned AC/DC’s first live album in 20 years, Live At River Plate, its release coinciding with the band allowing their entire discography – beginning with 1975′s High Voltage – being made available on Apple’s iTunes for the first time ever last November; including an iTunes exclusive set that included all 16 studio albums, including four live albums and three compilations.
