“It changes every year. We’ve had a tonne of different band members, and that was always the idea.”
James Morley
AC/DC and their music will forever be a part of Australian rock and roll history.
Although the band are still producing new music, Father time is inevitably catching up with them, but their legacy remains firmly intact.
The band have spawned probably more tribute acts than any other band, to varying degrees of success, but Australia is fortunate enough to be home to the finest AC/DC tribute bands the world over.
One of those is Bon But Not Forgotten, an assembling of musicians that not only play the music of Australia’s greatest ever rock band, but, more importantly, feel a connection to the songs they choose to pay homage to.
Initially formed by former Choirboys and The Angels bass player James Morley, Bon But Not Forgotten has featured members from acts such as AC/DC, Cheap Trick, Ugly Kid Joe, The Choirboys, Jimmy Barnes band, The Angels, Baby Animals and Rose Tattoo, with a revolving line-up of vocalists including Skenie from The Poor and Dave Gleeson from the Screaming Jets.
This year, to celebrate Bon Scott’s 76th birthday, Bon But Not Forgotten will be hitting the road to play a number of shows dubbed Powerage VS Back In Black, playing both albums in full plus a select number of popular hits.
Morley sat down with HEAVY to talk about the shows and what it means to play songs by the legendary AC/DC.
“We’ve been doing this show for… I think we’re in the eleventh year since we did the very first one in Fremantle, Bon’s old stomping ground of course,” Morley began. “We’ve done every year – apart from COVID that screwed us up a couple of times – but this time we decided rather than doing the best of every song we could from Accadacca – we’d be playing for hours if we went through all of them – so we thought we’d try something different. We’re gonna do Back In Black versus Powerage and then we’ll do a couple of hits towards the end of the night as well. We thought we would do a slightly different take on it, and Back In Black of course is AC/DC’s tribute to Bon, and depending on whether you wanna read into whether Bon wrote the lyrics or not and that never-ending story, who knows! We thought it would be quite fitting. I mean, it’s a cracker album anyway, and Powerage is probably my favourite AC/DC album. It’s hard to pick a favourite, but that one from woah to go is an absolute cracker. It’s all killer, no filler as they say.”
In the full interview, James talks more about what to expect from the shows, who will be singing this time around, his thoughts on Bon Scott and AC/DC, the early years of Bon But Not Forgotten, former members and why he has a rotating line-up, why BBNF stand out from other AC/DC tribute bands, what he personally gets out of playing other bands music as opposed to his own songs, the Van Halen tribute show playing with them, the Metal Gods shows later this year and more.
Friday July 1 2022: Charles Hotel – PERTH, WA: www.trybooking.com or from the venue
Saturday July 2 2021: The Gov – ADELAIDE, SA: Tickets via www.oztix.com.au or 1300 762 545
Sunday July 3 2022: Corner Hotel – MELBOURNE, VIC: BOOKINGS: www.oztix.com.au
Friday July 8 2022: Cambridge Hotel – NEWCASTLE, NSW: BOOKINGS: www.oztix.com.au
Saturday July 9 2022: Bridge Hotel – ROZELLE, NSW: BOOKINGS: www.oztix.com.au
