“Oh dear. Be kind!” quips Cliff Williams when I tell him that I’ve been carefully listening to the bass parts on his new album, Power Up, in preparation for this interview. He’s kidding, of course—you don’t play stadiums for 40 years without developing a thick skin—but at the same time, he’s definitely not on familiar ground today. This is because Cliff is in AC/DC, a band dominated since its inception by huge guitars and vocals, rather than bass, drums, or anything else. The huge production of the semi-British, semi-Australian band’s shows, the cannons, the lasers, the inflatable ‘colleague’ Rosie, the pyro, the crowd participation, the massive sense of uncompromising heritage—arguably these are also more important to AC/DC... Or so you’d think, if you were less well informed on these matters…
