AC/DC is finally back on the road in 2024 since they announced their first tour in more than 8 years. The shows will celebrate the five decades of their career but it won’t have the classic drummer Phil Rudd and the bassist Cliff Williams.
Angus Young, Brian Johnson and Stevie Young will be accompanied on the shows by two respected and experienced session musicians. They are Matt Laug (Drums) and Chris Cheney (Bass). But who are them and what’s their background? Rock and Roll Garage tells the story of the career of both of them.
Who are the new AC/DC drummer and bassist
Matt Laug (Drums)
It’s the first time that AC/DC will have an American drummer touring with the band since Matt Laug was born in Florence, South Carolina back in 1968, only five years before AC/DC was formed.
After graduating from South Florence High School in South Carolina in 1986, Laug moved to Los Angeles attending college. But he already played the drums really well, being hired frequently to work as a session drummer.
In the following years he played on successful records like Alanis Morissette’s famous 1995 album “Jagged Little Pill”, which sold millions of copies that year and became the number 1 album of the Billboard 200 chart for the decade 1990 to 1999.
The musician also recorded in studio with Alice Cooper, Lifehouse, New Radicals, Melissa Etheridge, The Calling, Slash’s Snakepit and Richard Marx. He also was part of the recording of movie scores like the 2016 “Ghostbusters” movie and “South Park – Bigger, Long and Uncut”.
What Slash said about the new AC/DC drummer Matt Laug
Laug recorded with the Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash already and the musician already praised the drummer. The testimonial is on Laug’s official website. “Matt Laug is one of the best & most professional drummers I’ve ever worked with. Hard hitting, great meter & great tone & a hell of a nice guy too,” Slash said.
In the following years he continued to work with many different artists, including as a full member of a group. He played the drums as a member of Steve Plunkett’s new version of Autograph from 2002 to 2005, for example. After that experience he joined Mike Campbell’s side project The Dirty Knobs and he played on their debut album “Wreckless Abandon” released in 2020.
Mike Campbell, who was Tom Petty’s guitarist, also has only good things to say about his bandmate.
“Matt Laug? Who is this guy? I know him better as ‘Swamp Fox ‘. For the last decade or more, Matt has been playing with me live and in the studio with the Dirty Knobs. Live, he’s a monster and in the studio he’s a beast. I never have to question him. He always just seems to do exactly what I want. Basically, he’s a clock with soul. He listens to the song and the singer. (Then) always comes up with the essence of what the groove should be.”
“He also knows how to strike each drum to get the optimum tone. His musical input and suggestions are essential to each project. Many times he will point out something I am doing wrong that I overlooked, and save my ass. I don’t think we’ve ever had an argument. He always brings his ‘A’ game and will fight to the finish to make it great. I feel blessed to have him as a friend and to be able to depend on him to make my stuff sound better. If the Heartbreakers ever lose Steve Ferrone (God forbid!), Swamp Fox is the guy I would want as our drummer,” Mike Campbell said.
AC/DC fans already had the chance to see him playing with the band since he already performed with Angus and company at their show at the Power Trip Festival in 2023.
Chris Chaney (Bass)
Unlike Matt Laug, Chris Chaney didn’t perform with AC/DC at the Power Trip Festival in 2023. The classic bassist Cliff Williams came out of retirement to play with the group that night. But as the band said in an official statement, he is the one who will “carry the torch” for Williams from now on. So he will be the youngest member of AC/DC at the moment. He was born in 1970, only three years before the band was formed.
Chaney will also be the first American bassist to join AC/DC and besides being a respected session musician, he already played with famous groups. Curiously, like Laug, he also worked with Alanis Morissette, but on a different album.
He played the bass on her 1999 record “Alanis Unplugged”, collaborating with her in many other releases after that. He also recorded with Rob Zombie, Tommy Lee, Celine Dion, Shakira, Avril Lavigne, Glen Campbell, John Fogerty, Adam Lambert, James Blunt, Slash, Joe Cocker and Joe Satriani.
But to the main public he is best known as the former Jane’s Addiction bassist. He was a member of the group from 2002 to 2004 and from 2011 to 2022. Chris played on all their releases from “Strays” (2003) to “Alive At 25” (2017). He only wasn’t part of the record “Cabinet of Curiosities” released in 2009.
He was a really good friend of the late Foo Fighters and Alanis Morissette drummer Taylor Hawkins and even revealed that he got a tattoo with the “Hawk” symbol the drummer had. Chaney had the chance to pay tribute to the musician being part of the shows Foo Fighters promoted in 2022.