Rhythm Guitar
January 6th, 1953
Glasgow (Scotland)
|
Malcolm is the sixth child of the Young Family. He was tenwhen his family moved from Scotland to settle in Sydney, Australia. Upon arriving in Australia, Malcolm wasted little time inearning a reputation as a schoolyard brawler. He left school as soon as he could and found gainful employment. He worked as amachine maintenance engineer for a bra company.
Malcolm picked up the guitar while he was still at school. He graduated quickly from acoustic to electric and picked up tips from hisolder brother George whenever the Easybeats returned from a tour. The salary from his work allowed Malcolm to buy moreprofessional guitars.
Eventually Malcolm put a few small bands together. During 1971 he joined up with Australia's Velvet Underground. The VelvetUnderground went through a number of line-up changes during their brief career, but were never considered good enough to makeany lasting impact.
During 1973 George Young, along with his partner Harry Vanda, were working on an album under the name of the Marcus HookRoll Band at Albert Studios. The project had begun in London as a casual, tongue-in-cheeck diversion but took on a more seriousaura after EMI's American division expressed interest in a full album. In the process, George and Harry recruited Malcolm andAngus as supporting players. That was the first thing Malcolm and Angus did before AC/DC.
The Marcus Hook Roll Band project had had a profound effect on Malcolm, who decided that the standard process of overdubbingtracks one by one went against his idea of how rock'n'roll ought to be made. He decided that his band wouldn't do that.
When the Velvet Underground fell apart, Malcolm determined to put together a new outfit. At first this was to be a one-guitarband, with a keyboard player being drafted to fill out the sound. But a sudden change of heart on Malcolm's part led to his decisionto get in a second guitarist to play alongside with him. He turned to his brother Angus. Malcolm's new band called AC/DCrehearsed energically, playing cover versions. The band's first gig took place in the Chequers Club in Sydney on December 31,1973.
|
