AC/DC drummer Phill Rudd at trial. Photo (c) BBC
We knew the band carefully cultivated a bad boy reputation, but now it may have gone too far. AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has pleaded to attempting to hire someone to kill a former business associate, in addition to possession of methamphetamine and cannabis. Here’s the BBC with the report:
Mr Rudd was concerned that security at the launch party at his restaurant Phil’s Place was not tight enough, according to the court summary.
A month later, the court heard, he telephoned an associate saying he wanted one of the people he had fired “taken out”.
He later offered the associate NZ$200,000 ($153,000; £100,000) as well as “a motorbike, one of his cars or a house”, which the person assumed was payment “for carrying out his earlier request”.
This most unfortunate development looks more like self-destruction than a realized plan. Rudd apparently also threatened the person in question via phone, which makes us wonder if he was trying to avoid prosecution at all.
He would have killed the man himself if he was really metal. But like I said years ago, AC/DC is about as metal as Gwen Stefani.