‘Bon But Not Forgotten’ is back – the tribute to the life and music of Bon Scott opens it’s 2022 edition in Perth this Friday at The Charles Hotel and this time it’s different with James Morley and co tackling both ‘Powerage’ and ‘Back in Black’. So get your dancing trousers on and get down to The Charles for one of the best nights you’ll have all year! We caught up with James to find out all about it!
Mark: Hi James how are you?
James: I’m good mate.
Mark: It’s been a while – I remember talking to you in the early days of The Rockpit maybe about ten or so years ago when ‘Bon But Not Forgotten’ was taking its first steps!
James: Yeah, ten, eleven years. I think you had a chat with Mark Evans when we did our first Bon show in Fremantle eleven years ago!
Mark: And great to see Mark is over on the European Tour with Rose Tattoo at the moment. The first show as you said was in Bon’s home town of Fremantle 11 years ago. When did the idea of a tribute show to Bon come to you?
James: Probably about twelve years ago, when we did that one in Freo at Metros there that was the first one and I’d been talking to Simon Wright about it for a little while prior to that. It was one of those things – something like that takes a little while to get together. Obviously when you’re dealing with people like Mark and Simon and Skenie and Gleeso who were on that tour as well it’s a bit like herding cats with that lot! (laughs)
Mark: (laughs)
James: It’s all about availabilities so it took a while to set into motion but we got there.
Mark: And there has been some great shows over the years from Freo to Joondalup to The Charles!
James: I forgot about the Joondalup show! That would have been a about ten years ago.
Mark: For anyone who hasn’t seen it, it’s a great show – a celebration of a wonderful musician and an iconic local figure and I’ve always loved the fact that it’s an event and a celebration of Bon rather than just another cover band, and the fact that there are some great connections with AC.DC. But this years event is a little bit different?
James: Yeah, for the first time we’ve decided to do the ‘Versus’ thing. So this year we’re doing ‘Back in Black’ versus ‘Powerage.’ The ‘Back in Black’ idea stems from that age old question of whether Bon wrote a portion of the lyrics to ‘Back in Black’ but irrespective, it was definitely a tip of the hat to Bon by the band. So that’s kind of where the link is being ‘Bon But Not Forgotten’ and focussing on Bon plus it’s a helluva album! (laughs) and it sold a few copes too!
Mark: Yes and great to see it getting played. I know here in The West we’re pretty parochial with regards Bon, and some people still don’t accept ‘the new guy’! (laughs)
James: (laughs)
Mark: They both bring different things to the band of course, but Bon was such an inimitable figure!
James: Absolutely, ‘Back in Black’ has some amazing songs on it, the title track and ‘Shoot to Thrill – as soon as they come on you can’t help but start tapping your foot and going for it, you know! It brings a lot to teh party – and the other one ‘Powerage’ is my favourite album of all time and it’s kind of like the unsung hero of AC/DC’s back catalogue. It’s like the gold medallist that never actually got given the medal!
Mark: I’ve got plenty of mates who would completely agree with you, it’s a fantastic album. I’ve always had a soft spot for ‘Highway to Hell’ I think because that was the first album I heard. What was your first experience of AC/DC?
James: It was back in England, I was still a kid, it was 1978. A mate of mine’s old man used to be a record company rep and he has this big old transit van – he said “Come round the back of the van and have a look at what I’ve got” I thought that sounds dodgy! (laughs) but it was far from that – he gave me a copy of ‘If you Want Blood’ the AC/DC live album and I’d never heard of the band before. He told me that they were this Australian band just starting to make waves over here. So I put it on and I was just hooked from the word go! Every track on that album is a killer I mean listed to ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ – I think that track was one that did a lot for them – that was teh track that they used to play at the old school discos and all that kind of stuff back in England, so that was the one that really got some traction before ‘Back in Black’ took over their world I guess. But from that moment I was hoked and it was just AC/DC listening parties every day for the last 30-odd years!
Mark: (laughs) I was talking to Gleeso the other day because The Angels played The Charles and I pointed out to him that it was almost 40 years to the day that the band first played The Charles that iconic venue in Perth’s North. You’re back there on Friday this week the first of July and I can’t think of a better place to play. You must have been on that stage more than a few times now!
James: Oh I’ve played there a million times back to when I was a kid in The Rookies days going back to I guess about 1986 – we used to play at The Raffles, we had a residency there for about four years and that was my favourite gig ever probably in Australia, there was something about it, something magical about a Friday night down ‘The Raffs’, you know. I think back in those days The Charles was called ‘Century 21’ or something else but a lot of those venues like ‘The Raffs’ have gone by the wayside and The Charles Hotel, thankfully teh guys down there that run the joint, have just kept it the way it is. Same old sticky carpets! It’s a reminder of times gone by. They love their live music there and long may that continue! It’s kind of that last ‘Beer Barn’ type venue left in Perth you know.
Mark: It is. And I don’t its changed in the room or backstage since I first went back there, maybe a couple more holes in the ceiling but that’s all!
James: I never look up! (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) What is it about ‘Powerage’ for you that makes it the most iconic album in the AC/DC catalogue? Just imagine you’d been there in the studio – what would you have loved to have seen? What are some of your favourite moments?
James: Oh I think that at that particular moment the band was just on fire! And you can tell that from the recordings. What I love about the recordings is they are so raw, there are no, or hardly any overdubs – when Angus goes to take off on a lead section and there’s no second rhythm guitar there filling in – it’s just Malcolm doing his thing and Angus goes straight into the solo and then comes back into it. And that’s something that’s very old school, that sort of thing doesn’t happen very often if at all these days. But at that particular moment the band was on fire and the guitar tones were just phenomenal, it’s raw, and Bon’s song-writing on that album is at it’s peak. Bon had this real clever, funny, relatable way with his lyrics with all the double entendres and all that sort of stuff and it was around that sort of period – ‘Highway to Hell’ and ‘Powerage’ that I think he absolutely peaked with his cleverness! To me it’s real and it’s raw and Keith Richards said it was one of his favourite albums of all time along with Pete from The Who, both of whom Malcolm looked up to as his favourite players! I think that’s relatable from The Stones point of view because The Stones were so raw and real in the studio, mistakes and all, you know. So that’s whet really stands out about that album for me. I was never sure what was going on with the bass parts though because that was the time that Cliff had sort of come in to play with the band but there were stories of him having a hard time getting a Visa. So whether Cliff might have played on a few of the tracks? But it definitely sounds to me like George has played bass on a couple of tracks there – some of that funky stuff like on ‘Gimme A Bullet’ that’s really George Young all over. I’m not privy to the insides of the recording of that album but the bass really came alive on that album too, if you listen to the stuff prior to it it’s still very buried in the mix, whereas on this on it’s a little more upfront.
Mark: ‘Back in Black’ what is it – 42 years old now, the pandemic robbed us of the anniversary so it’s great to get a chance to celebrate. How is the show set up – are you playing the two albums in full?
James: Oh absolutely both albums in full, plus we have to chuck a couple of classics in there too to round out the night, if we didn’t play ‘Rosie’…
Mark: You wouldn’t get out! (laughs)
James: (laughs) Exactly!
Mark: ‘Bon But Not Forgotten’ always has a great line-up – who do you have this year?
James: Well I’ve allowed myself to play again which is great!
Mark: (laughs)
James: I rang myself last week and said “You’re in!” (laughs). We have Bobby Poulton playing bass, he’s played with a number of band’s over the years but currently he’s with Wolfmother. They’ve just been on tour of Europe and I’m surprised he’s got back in as last time I spoke to him he was in a Coffee Shop in Amsterdam!
Mark: (laughs)
James: I thought ‘He’s never going to make it home!” (laughs) He’s a phenomenal player! We have Eddie Santa Cruz on guitar, he’s a French guy that’s been living in Australia for 15, 20 years and I have no words to describe just how mazing he is on guitar! Everybody who has ever come to see him, the jaws are on the floor! And we have two singers this time – we have Simon McCullough who has toured with the show before, he’s a Melbourne lad of Scottish heritage and he has an uncanny similarity in his voice to Bon. It’s not something he puts on, it’s his natural voice, it must be something in the Scottish water!
Mark: Or in the Whisky!
James: (laughs) And Cynthia Galley and she is hands down to me the best female Rock vocalist that Australia has seen for a very long time. I saw her do a gig in Geelong a few year back and she started singing and I was just stunned! I’d never heard anything like it – so she does the ‘Back in Black’ part of the show – there’s some clips on-line that people can see for themselves. But to hear someone sing that entire album from start to finish, note for note with all the power you can imagine. Brian Johnson would have a pretty hard time doing that these days! It’s unbelievable!
Mark: Sounds like it will be a very special night. I just picked up an album the other day that you might be familiar with. A little album called ‘Freewheelin”
James: (laughs) Oh the Bob Dylan! (laughs)
Mark: No someone a bit closer!
James: (laughs) Sorry about that!
Mark: I actually quite enjoyed it in parts.
James: Well thanks, you and me mum like it and that’s the main thing! (laughs)
Mark: (laughs)
James: (laughs)
Mark: It’s been great to talk to you mate, enjoy the show and great to see ‘Bon But Not Forgotten’ kicking things off in Perth this Friday.
James: Thanks Mark! See you there.
