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00:00it's on us to go well you know he was this rock and roll pirate who made these amazing lyrics and
00:05sang in this way and apparently allergic to shirts and watch this performance you know from
00:09the bbc in 1977 and just you know tears people's heads off and you go well let's see that's that's
00:15who he was and that's why he's important rock metal frog and everything in between welcome
00:21to this episode of talking rock with meltdown don't forget to follow the audio only talking
00:26rock podcast on all podcast platforms and now it's time for today's conversation here's meltdown
00:33now do you get a nickel every time that um they play it's a long way to the top if you want to
00:39rock and roll before a metallica show i i don't get anything but i i certainly hope that metallica is
00:47reporting that to the proper authorities i'm just teasing you you know you know what i'm talking
00:52about right of course yeah no it's fantastic yeah yeah metallica in that song go hand in hand
00:59and it's like as soon as you hear that that opening riff you're like okay this show is about to begin
01:04absolutely no and it's you know it's that kind of thing that we we can only hope that people continue
01:09to do into the future because it just you know reminds people or introduces them to the first time
01:15or the first time to who bond was you know what he what he was all about what acdc was you know early
01:21on in their career and um you know it's every generation you have to educate people for the
01:27first time and you know pass it down um to the next generation so god bless metallica for doing that
01:34thank you so uh so john before we get started here let's uh let's talk about the role you play so you
01:40kind of told me a little bit off the air but uh but for people that are just uh watching this right now
01:44uh you work for the bond scott estate correct correct yeah his family which was um when he passed he had
01:50two brothers that basically took over you know his his estate and um they have kids who are now you
01:58know the next generation taking it over so um you know a few years ago when bond was going to turn 75
02:04um they decided to create a small team of people that you know we set up a website and social media
02:11and we started doing some merchandising and you know events like this one uh and you know cleaning up
02:18events that were sort of rogue in the past and you know getting some bootleggers out of the way and
02:22stuff and you know just things like registering trademarks and his name and likeness and stuff
02:28like that which is something that you know a lot of a lot of deceased rock people don't do so um you
02:36know you have to you have to do all of that stuff if you want to like establish your business and move
02:40it into the future so that's what we've been working on now uh if i'm not mistaken i can't recall
02:46when he passed away but this year will be 45 years correct correct it's february of 1980 he passed
02:51away in london yeah yeah so it just passed yeah and uh man uh bond scott and his his legacy
03:00is something else it's like some of those songs i mean they just seem to live forever
03:05have you seen acdc on this latest tour i have yeah i went to the uh foxborough mass show
03:11okay um up at you know the patriot stadium and it was unbelievable i've seen him a bunch i i worked
03:17with the band for about 15 years um when i was at sony previously and we did album reissues and box
03:25sets and dvd stuff like family jewels and plug me in and the backtracks box set that looks like a
03:31guitar amp and actually is a guitar amp um so you know i i got to see him a bunch during like the black
03:37ice era uh the rock and roll hall of fame era um the the rocker bust era so yeah but this show was
03:45unbelievable i mean brian was killing it i was you know a little nervous because of his you know
03:50health issues that he's had with his hearing and stuff but it was phenomenal yeah you saw this show
03:57if i'm not mistaken right after the detroit show yeah yep that was the next one yeah yeah they came
04:02they went they went from here to there so it's funny um i was just telling you off the air that
04:08i've been in this business for 35 years and acdc is one of the bands i've never had a chance to
04:13meet interact with or interview it's crazy so have you met those guys a few times angus and that
04:18yeah yeah when i was doing those the the packages you know angus and and malcolm at the time were uh
04:24you know they're in charge of everything so i would have to go and present you know back in those
04:30days it was still printed out you know mock-ups of the packaging and stuff like that and you know
04:35have to go and actually meet with them and show it and stuff so that was always a great time because
04:39they're so if they if they know that you know what you're talking about they're immediately bought in
04:45you know so um it was it was uh it was a great it was a great period yeah they have to keep their
04:51mailbox money i call it because it's like i with all those acdc songs that have ended up on commercials
04:56and whatnot i just i just imagine well not not so much anymore but angus just walking to his
05:01mailbox every day just opening up check after check the big the big giant one that just says
05:08you know one million dollars or whatever man oh man their stuff totally so many so have you had a
05:13chance to meet brian i did meet brian once yeah he was delightful i mean just the nicest guy he was
05:19doing them after the show it was in chicago actually after a show at the united center and um he he
05:25stayed for two hours and talked to everybody after the gig and um it was phenomenal to to spend some
05:32time with him it was him and cliff are the ones that stuck around after the gig that's great so
05:36how long have you worked for the bond scott estate um about five years now okay so before that you so
05:43are you just like this huge acdc fan that just happens to stumble into working with the guys and then
05:48doing this for bond scott well uh i i worked for a division at sony music for about 20 years called
05:56legacy that was due we did all the box sets and reissues and deluxe edition of albums and stuff
06:02like that um and i was actually in charge of their a and r department for you know a good decade and um
06:08during that time you know you'd get to know people and they trust you and i did a lot of work with
06:12like the johnny cash estate and the billy joel team and you know so um during covid when you know
06:19things were going a little sideways with the business i actually decided to leave and start
06:23my own company which basically is doing all this stuff but working for artists and estates rather
06:28than for the record label that owns the you know recordings so it opened up a whole you know uh
06:36batch of opportunities that have nothing to do with the records but it's you know name and likeness
06:41and events and merchandising and you know some legal stuff that's a little it's minutiae but it's
06:48really fascinating of of what you need to do to uh to protect yourself out there and actually you know
06:54monetize things that that um in in the right way so you know obviously we're very respectful of the
07:00band and everything that they're doing and you know they actually have all the music and they do their
07:05own thing but we're just trying to be out there reminding people or educating people of who
07:11bond was why he was important why he was this sort of you know he means a lot to uh you know a
07:18certain demographic of people um you know i was interviewing scott ian about him the other day and
07:25he's just like he says acdc with bond scott is his favorite band of all time um and you know he
07:31collects the figures and the posters and the you know so it it he means a lot to certain people but
07:37you know if we don't do this job he will the the interest will wane over the years and people will
07:44just sort of forget about who he was so it's on us to go well you know he was this rock and roll
07:49pirate who made these amazing lyrics and sang in this way and you know was apparently allergic to shirts
07:55and all of that you know fun stuff so and and you know you you get you say hey watch this interview
08:01with him and he says how he was or watch this performance you know from the bbc in 1977 and
08:07just you know tears people's heads off and you go well let's see that's that's who he was and that's
08:12why he's important so you know it's it's a thing you have to do all the time or that the interest sort
08:18of wanes yeah i know scott pretty well i never i never knew that about him of course we know that
08:24he's a kiss fan you know and the whole thing oh yeah but uh and and scott's uh bandmate frank bellow
08:30is a friend of mine and he shares a birthday with bond as does my brother on july 9th so um you got this
08:37uh second annual birthday bash coming up and this is happening in new york city at the uh bowery electric
08:42and you got some pretty uh pretty cool guests so talk a little bit about that yeah so um we we started
08:47it last year because we we actually figured out that we had a trademarking um opportunity
08:53to you know actually make it but also protect against other people doing bond scott you know
08:59gigs or events or whatever so we made our own and we started last year with uh with um our first one
09:06and then this year we're doing a second one and we're modeling it really after the um like what the
09:11hendrix uh estate experience hendrix does with their red house tour where there isn't a person that's up
09:18there pretending to be jimmy hendrix it's like they invite a lot of different guitar players and everyone
09:23does their own thing and you know brings their own stamp to it and singers you know so for this
09:28um we've got sort of a a backing band and then we have um about a dozen different singers who will
09:34come up and do a track or two each and it's all people from new york that are you know in rock and
09:39metal bands and just love bond and so when we put the word out everyone you know was excited and came
09:46to us and you know it's funny because you say okay well what song do you want to do and everybody
09:51had a different song that they wanted because everyone's good that makes it easy yeah exactly
09:55so you know the the people that wanted to do sin city or you know it's a long way to the top or rock
10:02and roll damnation or you know not everyone was like i'll do highway to hell so uh so that's it's
10:08been it's been fantastic and the the reception from the you know the music community um you know in
10:14the club and everything has just been fantastic um so yeah this year we have you know cory glover
10:19from living color he will actually sing highway to hell oh no yeah we've got jimmy coons from cactus
10:26uh dave anthony from 1010 mojo peter shaw from trans-siberian orchestra um shilpa ray who's amazing
10:34uh devin marie um paul bertolino i mean it's it's people that are are well established in their own
10:41right and then you know they're just huge fans so they're going to come and it's it's going to be
10:45loud it's going to be hot um but i guarantee it'll be fun yeah so that's how to july 9th as we were just
10:52talking about the official u.s tribute um i don't know is has there ever been a documentary about bonnet
10:59i'm sure there has right yeah we actually um did one with the abc uh australian broadcasting company
11:07um about three years ago as part of their um as part of their sort of australian story uh series
11:17and uh the band was uh completely involved you know angus approved everything brian actually was
11:24the host of it um you can see it on youtube uh australian story um bon scott the whole episode
11:29is up on the abc channel but um yeah it was it was a really good chance for the family to show that
11:37you know while acdc is a part of his story and he's a part of acdc's story he his you know his life was
11:44actually much more than that and he was in bands before acdc and you know how he grew up and how the
11:49family moved from scotland to australia the same way the youngs did and uh and and his interest in
11:55music and how he ended up getting to acdc and then that phenomenal five five and a half year run that
12:01they had with him until he tragically passed so that's a really good um doc if if uh if your
12:08listeners want to check it out yeah i'm gonna have to watch it i never i never saw that before
12:12you know i was thinking about this earlier today that um you know like i said i've been in this
12:16business for a minute and uh growing up in the 80s and stuff there were there were rock stars like
12:21bond scott passed before i i became a rock fan but there were rock stars and i don't know if it's
12:29because we live in a time now where you know maybe drinking's frowned upon or whatever the case is but
12:36there doesn't seem to be a rock star like a bond scott anymore yeah i think that the the legend of those
12:44guys you know i think it has to do with the amount of information that we were given because you know back
12:50then it would be an album a year probably with one little picture on it and that's kind of all you
12:55got or you know you'd open the gatefold of you know judas priest album and like that one picture
13:01that's all you had to go on of who these people were and so you sort of you know you talk to your
13:06friends or you read a little article in circus or whatever and uh and and you have to form your
13:12opinion that way and now every everybody's just doing everything all the time and you can see
13:16you know rob halford in his underwear you know on his on his instagram or whatever so it's you know
13:23i think a lot of the mystery has been taken out of it which i think really led to you know the the
13:28legends of those guys back then but almost but today it almost be easier to be like a huge rock star
13:34could you imagine if cell phones and stuff around bond scott's out partying i mean they'd travel all
13:38around you can imagine right i can't imagine yes yes i mean and it's funny we actually um one thing
13:46another initiative that we have that the family has is you know people that did get to see him
13:51and did like photograph him with you know old school cameras um and we had there was a guy from
13:57san francisco who gave us a bunch of photos that had you know he had just developed them he's like
14:02i think i have this film you know uh and and he had all these pictures of them playing um at the great
14:09american music hall in san francisco and like he got to hang with them backstage and they're like eating
14:14the catering and tuning up their guitars and you know bond's like trying on this guy's leather jacket
14:19and everything so if if people have that kind of stuff from from when he was with us uh you can go
14:25to our website bondscottofficial.com and um and submit you can submit a story and we'll publish it
14:31with your pictures and everything so you know sort of a little fan community yeah that's awesome so um
14:37so out of out of the records that bond was on what what do you think is where was the peak
14:41in your opinion i mean i think highway to hell is the you know that was their they were getting to
14:48the best place i mean i love powerage you know and that's a lot of people's the fans favorites um
14:55but you know i think highway to hell song for song is just the best record um but that's just my
15:01opinion uh and and the thing you know about people of of our generation you know and this is something
15:10that scott talked about it was very it was very confusing you know because he ended up passing
15:15away february of 1980 and highway to hell was just like kind of coming up here in the states and then
15:23back in black comes out and it's like oh it's this other thing that they're doing now but then they
15:29decide to release the dirty deeds album which had never come out here so that came out in 1981 for the
15:35first time in america here in america 1981 yep with a different album cover and everything they
15:41sort of re-released it here okay and then the let there be rock movie comes out which is like let
15:47there be rock was a different album that was already out and then it's this other singer but he's now dead
15:53and it's the band hana as this other guy so it was a very confusing couple of years i think for people
15:58even that were huge fans you know sort of after he passed away so you know i'm glad that the history's
16:04been set straight over the years and and and people now understand what his role was and and what he
16:11was doing because yeah go ahead i'm sorry no because what you know what he did writing rock and roll songs
16:18about rock and roll you know amongst other things but girls and cars and you know beating people up and
16:24stuff like that is it's a lot harder to do than people think and a lot of people tried and failed
16:30or have written songs that you know were cool for a minute and then but don't last but i mean his
16:36music and what the way he was able to do it almost like chuck berry or you know an old blues musician
16:42where you could take something as as simple as oh you know people are bothering you i'm gonna go
16:47beat them up for you yeah and making that into a song that is not only catchy but it's consistent
16:55and it's delivered properly and then had you know 50 years later almost is still relevant and people
17:02are singing it in stadiums all over the world it's like that's a pretty tough thing to do yeah monster
17:08hit yeah you know um i didn't really realize about that about the the uh how those records dropped and
17:15all this stuff came out in the early 80s i'm just thinking out loud here i wonder if that added to the
17:21monstrous success of back in black all that stuff added up together oh i think it did yeah i think
17:27atlantic records really benefited from re-releasing um dirty deeds and then the film because they owned
17:35the film too so i think that they really jumped on it and i think i i believe that the band was not
17:42super happy about it at the time because they wanted to move on and do the new thing but uh you know i
17:48think it it really worked out because those records were on the charts together and like sort of
17:52pushing each other up for those you know couple of years now how much of a back in black was written
17:58when he passed away you know uh well in terms of lyrics people like to think that he wrote lyrics on
18:05that record and he did not okay um you know something that i know that they did do was uh you know they
18:11would always keep sort of phrases around particularly malcolm and angus you know so something like
18:18have a drink on me or you know even hell's bells is a phrase that people say or you shook me all night
18:25long i mean that's as old of a blues song as you could possibly imagine and led zeppelin has a song
18:31that goes you shook me all night long and you know so having those sort of turns of phrases i think
18:37were were probably um uh you know in their bank some of their notebook somewhere but he definitely
18:44did not write the lyrics to those songs the way that people kind of hope that he did so how uh how
18:51close is acdc to the bond scott estate now they're very close i mean if they're business partners you
18:57know there's publishing and and uh and uh and master royalties that they do and when the band plays
19:04um live you know they're still doing half songs from his era the set is literally half and half so
19:10you know they they work that out and there's you know public performance uh money that comes from
19:17it's all like legal stuff but it are like are like the guys like angus and stuff they still like touch
19:22base with the estate i mean they're they still oh yeah yeah yeah yeah and the brothers are you know
19:28the the two nephews bond's nephews they're his brother's kids uh you know been to a bunch of
19:33the shows and you know see them and stuff and it's it's very it's a great relationship okay great
19:39yeah yeah i remember yeah um the the young's brothers had the uh the nephews or i can't remember
19:45rhino wasn't rhino bucket they were in what was the what was the uh no wait there was a band that
19:51the young's brothers kids were in back in the early 90s and i met them once that don't be as close
19:58that i got to meeting someone from acdc now now i can't remember the name of them but uh yeah they
20:02were there for a minute but in the early 90s anyways we'll edit this in post don't worry about
20:07it of course yeah for sure well yeah so uh bond scott uh july 9th the official u.s tribute that
20:12happens at the at the bowery electric in new york city like you said cory glover i mean peter
20:18shaw just a bunch of artists playing there that night and that's for his uh 79th birthday i guess
20:24for the 80th you gotta do something really big huh well that's what we're hoping for i mean this is
20:28all building towards you know next july and hopefully hoping to have something that's you
20:33know even bigger even even better so you know if anyone is thinking about making it can't go
20:41you know that sort of thing be just be on the lookout for you know the birthday of 80 and then
20:46beyond because we want to just keep growing it and you know just introduce new people to them and
20:52whether it's you know a little a funko pop doll or a cool t-shirt or a you know whatever it's just
20:58little ways to continue people thinking about them well john thanks so much for the time we'll push
21:04people towards the website and whatnot and uh have fun at that show man it sounds like it's gonna be
21:08killer thank you so much i appreciate your time
21:11you
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