Phil Rudd: Buster Brown, a sweet spot in Nassau and the AC/DC backbeat | Highway to Hell

Why fans still care

PHIL RUDD plays so little and it hits so hard. He’s the drummer on Highway to Hell, Back in Black and You Shook Me All Night Long. Modern Drummer called him the very definition of rock drumming, and drummers from Metallica, Anthrax and KISS all put him near the top of their lists. He hardly ever fills. He doesn’t need to.

Early life

He was born in Melbourne on 19 May 1954. Despite what some sources say, he’s Australian-born, not English. He learned his trade in Melbourne’s pubs in the early 1970s. In 1973 he formed Buster Brown with singer Angry Anderson. Their only album, Something to Say, came out on Mushroom Records in 1974 with Lobby Loyde producing.

Career chapters

1. 1973Buster Brown, Melbourne
2. 1975joins AC/DC
3. 1975 to 1977It’s a Long Way to the Top, T.N.T. and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
4. 1977Let There Be Rock, with Whole Lotta Rosie
5. 1979Highway to Hell
6. 1980Back in Black, recorded in Nassau
7. 1983Flick of the Switch, then leaves and settles in Tauranga
8. 1994rejoins AC/DC
9. 2003Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
10. 2015Chris Slade takes over for live shows
11. 2020back for Power Up
12. 2025plays with the Full Metal Orchestra in Auckland and Christchurch

Joining AC/DC 1975

He left Buster Brown at the end of 1974 or early in 1975, and 1975 was his first year in AC/DC. He isn’t on the original Australian High Voltage, though. Tony Currenti played on all of it except Baby, Please Don’t Go. Rudd’s own recordings start with It’s a Long Way to the Top, T.N.T. and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, which Modern Drummer singles out as signature tracks. Bon Scott was the singer, alongside Angus Young, Who’s Who number 30, and Malcolm Young, Who’s Who number 28, on guitars.

Highway to Hell and Back in Black 1977 to 1983

Let There Be Rock brought Whole Lotta Rosie in 1977, and Highway to Hell came in 1979. In April 1980 the band went to Compass Point Studios in Nassau with producer Mutt Lange and engineer Tony Platt, now with Brian Johnson, Who’s Who number 1, singing. Back in Black came out on 25 July 1980 and is now 26 times Platinum in the US. You Shook Me All Night Long became AC/DC’s first US top 40 hit that October. After the Flick of the Switch sessions in 1983 he left the band.

Tauranga and the return 1983 to 2015

He settled in Tauranga, on New Zealand’s North Island, in 1983 and has lived there since, and he ran a helicopter business there. In 1994 Angus and Malcolm asked him to jam, and he was back in the band. In 2003 AC/DC entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted by Steven Tyler. In 2015 Chris Slade took over the drums for live shows.

Power Up and since 2020 to 2026

On 30 September 2020 AC/DC posted a photo showing Brian Johnson, Rudd and Cliff Williams back in the line-up. Power Up came out that November and went to number one in the US, the UK and Australia, and in 18 countries in all. Rudd hasn’t played AC/DC shows since before the Power Trip festival in October 2023. Matt Laug has been AC/DC’s drummer on stage since then. Closer to home, Rudd played a sold-out Full Metal Orchestra show at Auckland’s Spark Arena in July 2025, then Christchurch that November.

Craft, sound and style

Play for the song

Modern Drummer described his drumming as “no-nonsense, rock-solid, play-for-the-song”, with “dogged consistency” and a backbeat that never moves. Rolling Stone, naming him in its top 100 in 2016, pointed to his “economic style and monster groove”. Anthrax’s Charlie Benante says he rarely fills. When he does, it’s simple and tasteful.

The hi-hat

Bonedo’s 2025 drum workshop on AC/DC takes the feel apart. Quarter-note accents on the hi-hat sit inside eighth-note patterns, under a plain “boom-tschak” backbeat. There are few ghost notes, and the timing gives a little, so the tempo often lifts into a chorus. On Highway to Hell a two-bar fill builds into the chorus. On Back in Black the verse is kick and snare with a syncopated figure, and the chorus puts a crash on every downbeat. On Whole Lotta Rosie the drums follow the riff.

The Back in Black sound

At Compass Point, Platt walked the room and found a spot about halfway back and slightly left of centre that sounded fuller. That’s where the kit went.

Big drums

Sonor lists him as one of its artists. Its Phil Rudd Special Edition kit, from 2009, has a 22 by 18 inch bass drum with no tom mount, a 13 inch tom and 16 and 18 inch floor toms, in gloss black. “I have always preferred the big, powerful sound of large toms and floor toms,” he said when it came out. Bonedo adds that he plays heavy Paiste cymbals.

Stories people still tell

1. Not on the first album.

   Plenty of fans assume he drums on the original Australian High Voltage. Tony Currenti does, on everything but Baby, Please Don’t Go.

2. Not on Thunderstruck either.

   That one is Chris Slade. Rudd’s big streaming number is Highway to Hell, which has passed 2.4 billion plays on Spotify.

Legacy

Rolling Stone put him at number 86 of its 100 greatest drummers in 2016 and said he influenced players around the world, naming Rammstein’s Christoph Schneider and KISS’s Eric Singer. Tommy Lee credits Rudd, along with Alex Van Halen, with teaching him about power and timing.