AC/DC Auditioned a Surprising Singer Before Hiring Axl Rose

When

Brian
Johnson
had
to
step
away
from

AC/DC
in
2016
due
to
health
problems,
the
band
recruited

Axl
Rose
to
finish
out
their
tour.
Interestingly,
the
job
could
have
gone
to
a
very
different
singer.

Nic
Cester,
frontman
for
the
Australian
rock
band
Jet,
has
confirmed
that
he
auditioned
for
the
gig.
In
a
conversation
with
radio
station

Triple
J,
he
recalled
how
it
all
went
down.

“I
was
staying
with
my
in-laws
and
I
got
up
in
the
morning
and
read
the
paper
and
it
said
that
Brian
Johnson
was
not
in
the
band
anymore,”
Cester
remembered
(as
transcribed
by

Consequence).
“I
remember
saying
to
my
father-in-law,
‘Holy
shit,
you
would
not
want
to
step
into
those
shoes,’
and
literally
20
minutes
later
my
phone
rang
and
they’re
saying,
‘Would
you
be
interested
in
going
to
Atlanta,
Georgia
to
audition
and
potentially
fill
in
for
this
next
round
of
dates
that
we’ve
got?’”

READ
MORE:

AC/DC’s
Most
Historic
Concerts

American
rock
fans
likely
remember
Jet
for
such
early
2000s
hits
as
“Are
You
Gonna
Be
My
Girl?”
and
“Cold
Hard
Bitch.”
The
platinum-selling
group
was
on
hiatus
when
Cester
received
AC/DC’s
call.
Though
the
frontman
had
his
reservations,
he
decided
to
accept
the
invitation
to
audition.

“I
was
like,
‘I
think
I’ll
say
yes
just
for
the
life
experience,’”
the
singer
explained.
“I
wasn’t
really
expecting
to
get
the
gig
to
be
honest
with
you,
but
I
thought,
‘How
could
I
turn
this
opportunity
down?’”

AC/DC
Audition
Was ‘The
Loudest
Thing
I’d
Ever
Heard’

Cester
met
up
with AC/DC
at
a
rehearsal
space
owned
by
the

Black
Crowes.
When
the
singer
arrived
for
his
audition,
he
was
immediately
impressed
by
what
he
saw.

“It
was
a
tiny
place
but
they
were
set
up
there
with
the
enormous
backline
and
I
remember
watching
AC/DC
and
thinking,
‘There’s
no
way
all
of
those
amps
are
on,’” Cester
recalled.
“Let
me
tell
you,
they
were
all
fucking
on!
It
was
the
loudest
thing
I’d
ever
heard
in
my
entire
life.”

“[Angus
Young]
put
me
through
my
paces,”
the
frontman
continued.
“Everything
was
a
test
to
see
how
I’d
handle
it
–
the
volume
and
him
going,
‘OK,
let’s
do
this
song’,
and
I
didn’t
know
[some
of
them]
off
the
top
of
my
head
so
he’d
just
go,
‘Go
over
there
and
learn
it’
and
the
whole
band
would
be
waiting
there
for
ten
minutes
and
I’m
just
going,
‘Oh
fuck’.
It
was
pretty
intense…
But
I
realize
now
[Angus]
was
a
super
professional
guy
and
he
wanted
to
push
me
to
my
absolute
limit
to
see
how
I
would
react.”

READ
MORE:

AC/DC
Lineup
Changes:
A
Complete
Guide

By
Cester’s
own
evaluation,
the
singer
handled
AC/DC’s

Bon
Scott
material
well,
but
struggled
a
little
with
the
Brian
Johnson
tunes.

“It’s
a
very
unusual
way
of
singing,”
he
said
of
Johnson’s
style.
“And
then
someone
told
me,
‘You’re
making
the
mistake
of
thinking
[Johnson
is]
pushing
out
an
enormous
amount
of
volume,
which
is
how
I
sing.
But
he’s
not,
he’s
whispering.
But
he’s
whispering
directly
into
a
microphone
with
this
enormous
volume
behind
him
so
it
sounds
like
the
loudest
thing
in
the
world
but
it’s
not
at
all,
he’s
barely
pushing
out.”

Cester
recognized
that
he
wasn’t
the
only
singer
auditioning,
and
he
wasn’t
surprised
when
Rose
got
the
gig. “It
was
all
very
[secretive],”
the
singer
recalled,
noting
how
nobody
was
allowed
to
talk
about
the
auditions
publicly. “Axl
was
there
at
the
same
time.
And
someone
accidentally
left
his
name
on
a
[sheet].”