Issue 55 of Rock Candy Magazine has an in-depth look at AC/DC's breakthrough album, 1979's 'Highway To Hell', including an exclusive interview with Tony Platt, the mix engineer on this album and the goliath 'Back In Black' released in 1980. A witness to rock and roll history, Tony was there when a great band started the climb to legend status... including vocalist Bon Scott who was creating his legacy work with 'Highway To Hell' because he was to die in tragic circumstances in early 1980, the band going on with vocalist Brian Johnson to scale the dizzying heights of mega stardom. Talking about the loss of Bon, Tony told Rock Candy Magazine editor Howard Johnson:

"It's always difficult to know how something like that is going to hit you, but there's one phrase that for me summed up what Bon's death meant. I had a conversation with Malcolm [Young] not long after Bon has passed, reminiscing about all the silly things he used to get up to. There were loads of stories of how Bon would often disappear at the end of a gig and go off on his own to get into a bit of trouble. He'd just disappear and then reappear at the next gig 200 miles away or whatever. Nobody ever knew how he'd got there, or what he'd been up to. And Malcolm told me that everybody had got used to the fact that Bon would always turn up. And he said to me, 'Now I've got to get used to the fact that he isn't going to turn up.'"

Tony Platt worked with producer Mutt Lange on 'Highway To Hell' and 'Back In Black' and explained that he had guidance from Mutt as to how the mix should sound.

"The overdubs that the guys had to do right at the start of the mixing process helped me quite a lot because we were all sitting around and chatting and listening to stuff as it was being done. I got a feel for what they were after. Mutt insisted that he wanted it to sound like everybody was in the same room. For me Mutt's major talent is having a clear vision for a project. The work that he'd put in on the songs in terms of arrangement was all about cohesion - and getting a big, fat low end. The bass is pretty much one note all the way through on 'Highway To Hell', so you really needed to have that round bass [sound] that just stuck there... I'd worked on a lot of rock stuff at Basing Street [studio], but I worked on a lot of reggae stuff as well, so I already knew the best way of evening out bass guitars so that they sounded really present the whole time."

Platt also said that the two AC/DC albums he worked on have divided many fans.

"There are definitely two factions amongst the world's AC/DC fans," laughed Platt. "there's the 'Highway To Hell' cohort and the 'Back In Black' faction. I've been in the middle of the debate about which is the better of those two records, and let me tell you it can get pretty heated."

Also in the detail-rich issue 55 of Rock Candy is a moving but uplifting interview with the laser-focused Zakk Wylde about life after the loss of his friend and mentor Ozzy Osbourne, Mr. Big vocalist Eric Martin on what the rocket ride success of their 1991 'Lean Into It' album was like, Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell talks about his much loved Riverdogs side project, and long-serving April Wine guitarist Brian Greenway talks about how this fine wine is developing with age and still going strong. All this and much more, including Steve Perry and Ross Valory looking like 70s rock gods in the Frozen In Time feature, a revisit to Lynyrd Skynyrd's 1975 'Nuthin' Fancy' album, and interviews with Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French, Faith No More keyboard player Roddy Bottum, and Vicious Rumors guitarist Geoff Thorpe.

ABOUT ROCK CANDY MAGAZINE

Rock Candy Magazine is a 100 page, full-colour bi-monthly rock mag, created in the UK. It covers the sights, sounds and smells from the greatest era in hard rock, the '70s, '80s and early '90s. The brainchild of respected UK rock journalists Derek Oliver, Howard Johnson and Malcolm Dome - all frontline writers for the legendary Kerrang! magazine in the golden era.

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Out everywhere on Mindsnap Music, Now. Grab it here:https://orcd.co/joetown_its-a-long-way-to-the-top

Bagpipes & Rock’n’Roll. If not for the venerable Bon Scott & AC/DC these two things would have remained mutually exclusive. But, for Joetown, it served as inspiration for the style and sound of the band to which they are so proud. Joe gave some insight, “Kerry Gollarney (Guitarist and Bagpiper) is a secret weapon! When those pipes come out the crowd goes f’n mental, it’s like a war cry!”. The new single is a remade version of the Bon Scott era AC/DC classic "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" and is complete with video of the band rolling through the city streets in major civic events such as the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. “The video just happened to work out since we have been doing so many public events, I figured, let’s do it like the original AC/DC video they did through the streets of Melbourne. The song and the video are a way to honor how much the song and lyrics have been an inspiration – they are our musical heroes and I think we capture the spirit of what it is all about.”

Frontman Joe Delaney, (also the voice of popular hair rockers Bomber Alley), gives the signal of much more bagpipes in the mix and is excited that the next single is an original tune that features the pipes, “that sound is stuck in my head now and as a songwriter, I hear melody in that register every time, similar to having its a horn section or B3 player.”

The band will be performing at the St Patrick’s Day Parade in Hartford & New Haven Connecticut, USA, March 11th & 12th with a release party at their hometown haunt, Cherry Street Station in Wallingford on St Patrick’s Day, March 17th.

“Good to see this band called Joetown, from another generation and continent, do a very authentic and respectful retake of the iconic AC/DC video that I was involved in 'Long Way To The Top'," says Michael Browning, AC/DC Manager (1974-1979).

Chris Slade (Ex-AC/DC) is quoted as saying, ”Great Pipes!”

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