With his home detention completed, Phil Rudd now says he’s a completely changed person. But as to whether or not he’s interested in regaining his spot as the drummer for AC/DC, he’s unsure. In a new interview, he acknowledges that the band may have undergone too many changes for him to want to return.
Admitting that he was “overfuelled” and “all over the place” at the time of his 2014 arrest, he tells the New Zealand Herald, “I’m not like that any more. I’ve never felt better as a drummer or a person. I am not saying I never hope of ever playing with AC/DC again but, then again, is it even AC/DC any more? No Bon [Scott]‘s beautiful voice. No Malcolm [Young]. No Brian [Johnson].”
It’s a change of heart from his words of last summer, when he suggested that he would be welcomed back into the band with open arms. “Me and Angus [Young] kicked serious ass and he knows if I was there, it would be better,” he said. “I know he knows that, because I’ve proven it before. Just give me five minutes in a room with him and I’ll get my job back. I promise ya.”
In July 2015, Rudd was sentenced to eight months of home detention stemming from a November 2014 arrest for threatening to kill two people and possession of cannabis and methamphetamines. This took place not only as AC/DC were planning to release Rock or Bust, but also five weeks after he had delivered his first solo album, Head Job. He has been replaced on the tour with Chris Slade, and has not heard from anybody in the band since his conviction.
And even if he’s not as interested in re-joining AC/DC, he is still looking to promote Head Job. Although he can’t tour America because of his record, he has applied to see if he can play some dates in June in France and Belgium. But even if that doesn’t pan out, he has other ventures to keep him occupied, including his restaurant, his racing cars and a budding line of chili sauce made from peppers he grows in his house. More importantly, the lifestyle he led prior to his arrest appears to be in his rearview mirror.
“I am not glad it happened. But it is not bad it happened. … I can tell you that I am as positive as I can be now that I have given up the crazy s—, and I don’t want to go back to it.”