Brian Johnson Says He Cannot Discuss AC/DC's Future

Longtime AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson will not speak publicly about the future of his band anymore because, he says, he's been instructed to keep everything in-house.

Johnson was prodded by Eddie Trunk in a recent conversation whether he believed AC/DC would perform live again.

"I'm not answering that — why should I?" Johnson replied. "First of all, there's five members in this band, and to ask one member isn't fair."

Trunk then followed up by asking how Johnson would feel about reuniting with AC/DC for a show after so much time away.

"I cannot answer that," Johnson admitted. "I've been told not to by everybody. It's the official line."

Asked if another AC/DC album was a possibility, Johnson warned that the conversation was "getting tabloidy."

"If I say one thing, it'll be blown out of all proportion," he said. "You just can't afford to talk now. There's too much blabber on the Internet. And I'm not on any kind of ... social media at all — never have been. It's just gossip."

The singer has been especially careful about his words concerning AC/DC in recent years. Even his new memoir, The Lives of Brian, which arrived in October, avoids delving too deeply into anything AC/DC-related that didn't directly involve Johnson.

"That book is for the boys, or whoever was there from the start," Johnson told Billboard about making an AC/DC-focused book. "That's what I want to read. I want to read what it was like when Malcolm [Young] and Angus [Young] just had a meeting and said, 'Right, let's do this' and got the drummer and the singer. I think it would be fantastic if it came out, if somebody wanted to do it. But that's not my book."

Johnson last performed live in September at the Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in London. AC/DC, on the other hand, last toured in 2016.

The band considered playing a short string of dates in 2020 to promote its PWR/UP album, but those plans were upended due to the pandemic.