Classic Rock
Former AC/DC singer recalls how they got the name
The singer Dave Evans was one of the members of AC/DC in the early days before the band evolved and started to compose their own songs. He was their lead vocalist from 1973 to 1974, recording the single “Can I Sit Next To You, Girl/Rocking In The Parlour”. But he was eventually fired before the group recorded their first album.
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After that, the musician was part of many other groups like Rabbit and Thunder Down Under, starting a solo career in 2000. Since then, he released five studio albums and four EPs, focusing on AC/DC on his live shows, even performing classics composed after he was no longer a member of the group, like “Highway To Hell”.
Former AC/DC singer recalls how they got the name
“I came with three names in my pocket… But anyway, it didn’t matter. Because what happened was when we all arrived together, Malcolm Young said to us, ‘Look, my sister-in-law’ – (his) older brother George’s wife – ‘has suggested a name.’ And we said, ‘Okay, what is it?’ And Malcolm said, ‘AC/DC’.”
“I thought quickly, and I thought it’s an easy name to remember, AC/DC. And it was on the side of a lot of electrical appliances. AC/DC means alternate current and direct current. Alternate current means batteries. Direct current, plug it into the wall.”
“I had a portable record player, which had AC/DC on the side. So I could go to the park and just do it by batteries, then go back to the house and plug it in. AC/DC. Yeah, a lot of appliances were AC/DC. And I thought, free advertising – free advertising everywhere.”
He continued:
“I thought, ‘Wow, free advertising on the side of all these appliances, and it’s easy to say, and it means power.’ And so it all went through my head very quickly. And I said yes. I said, ‘Great, I love it, I love it.’ Then Colin Burgess (drummer), the famous Colin Burgess, he said, ‘Yeah, I like it too.'”
“Then Larry (Van Kriedt) said, ‘Okay, I like it.’ And so Malcolm looked at us and said, ‘Well, shall we call ourselves AC/DC?’ And we all put our hands up, and it was unanimous. And so we said, ‘Okay, we are AC/DC.’ And we all shook hands. And we were AC/DC,” Dave Evans said.
