Dave Evans, the original singer of AC/DC has revealed the story behind how the band came up with their name.
Evans was part of the line-up from their formation in 1973, alongside brothers Malcolm and Angus Young [rhythm guitarist and lead guitarist], drummer Colin Burgess and bassist Larry Van Kriedt. He worked with the band for their first-ever live shows and recorded their first two singles, ‘Can I Sit Next To You Girl’ and ‘Baby, Please Don’t Go’.
He would leave the line-up in October 1974, and be replaced by Bon Scott – the singer who recorded the band’s first six studio albums and later died in 1980.
Now, in a new interview, Evans has looked back at the early days with the group and shared how they came up with the band’s name. Speaking with Podpokas, Evans recalled how the members were writing music together as part of an unnamed band, when Alan Kissacks, a man involved with putting the band together, told them that they had secured a New Year’s Eve slot at Australia’s Chequers nightclub.
“We had to get a name because it was only in a few weeks. So we started tossing names around between us, but no one could agree,” Evans explained. “I had some really great names, but they didn’t like them.”
“What we said was that, [in time for] the next rehearsal, we’d all come with three names each, put them in a hat and we’d pick one out. And whatever it was, that was what we were gonna call ourselves,” he added.
According to the singer, he arrived with three potential names the following day, but the band decided to scrap the idea after being suggested the name ‘AC/DC’ by a relative.
“When we all arrived together, Malcolm Young said to us, ‘Look, my sister-in-law’ [wife of his older brother, George] has suggested a name… AC/DC’. And I thought it’s an easy name to remember and it was on the side of a lot of electrical appliances,” Evans told Podpokas.
“AC/DC means alternate current and direct current [and] a lot of appliances were AC/DC. I thought: ‘Free advertising… free advertising on the side of all these appliances, and it’s easy to say, and it means power.’ It all went through my head very quickly. And I said yes.”
Concluding, he recalled: “Malcolm looked at us and said, ‘Well, shall we call ourselves AC/DC?’ And we all put our hands up. It was unanimous. We all shook hands and we were AC/DC… those three names [I came up with], I went home and threw them away.”
This isn’t the first time that Evans has spoken about his time with AC/DC in the early days of their career. As highlighted by Blabbermouth, the singer recalled some anecdotes from the time with Brazil’s Guarda Volume podcast.
Going over how he came to leave the line-up, he said: “We were all very, very young. Our ambitions were forever. I didn’t go, ‘Oh, I’m gonna be in a band.’ No. I had my whole career, my whole life to sing. I’ve been singing since I can remember. It [wasn’t] going stop because of a band I was with, I split from.”
He continued, sharing a conversation he had with Bon Scott: “We had a private conversation about things, which will remain private. So when I found out what happened to Bon Scott [around his death in 1980] I wasn’t surprised. I was not surprised.”
As for AC/DC now, the band announced their North American ‘Power Up’ North American tour dates at the end of last year. They’ll play 13 stadium shows across the US and Canada throughout April and May. Find any remaining tickets here.
The band wrapped up the UK and European leg of the trek in Dublin’s Croke Park on August 17. The ongoing ‘Power Up’ tour is in support of AC/DC’s 17th and latest studio album of the same name, which was released in 2020.
In a four-star review of the record, NME wrote: “While far from a reinvention of the wheel, ‘Power Up’ is a joyous celebration of the unbridled heavy rock that has served them well for almost 50 years and, we can hope, a unifying cry for the future.”
