AC/DC tribute refreshed for Broome

AC/DC’s greatest hits are heading to Broome this week as the Hells Bells band makes a return visit on Friday.

The tribute band have refreshed their line-up since 2013 and now feature new lead guitarist Rod “Angus” Pearson and Cameron “Chase Lightening” Walsh on bass guitar, who are joining singer/entertainer Wayne Curnow, Mal Osborne and Glenn Warber.

Osborne said there was a lot for local audiences to look forward to in the new team.

“Rod has been an AC/DC fan from day one, he’s one of those guys that’s a little hyperactive and always has to be playing and his style has always been the style of Angus — he’s very bluesy, really light and quick,” he said.

“Chase is an insanely good player and he’s played in band which toured the states called Diamond Eye — more recently he and Rod have been playing in a Metallica tribute band.”

For this performance, Hells Bells waves a fond farewell to the retiring Paul Eckermann as the band enters its 11th year and looks to perform in Karratha during August along with Port Hedland later in the year.

Osborne, the group’s manager and rhythm guitarist, said the band would showcase some of their live versions of Bon Scott classics as well as TNT, Shook Me All Night Long and Thunderstruck.

“Broome’s really lucky that it gets such a diverse style of music coming up here, there’s acoustic blues and roots, funk and reggae, so we fit in with that,” he said.

“It’s going to be a performance by a bunch of guys that love playing live music and come from the same school of rock as AC/DC with early live solos and the greatest hits, we’ll also be in and amongst the crowd acting like lunatics — it’s that essence of AC/DC, that rawness which it’s too perfect and is just the rawness of rock’n’roll.”