As 92 shipping containers full of AC/DC’s stage set-up swarm into Melbourne for the long-awaited “Black Ice” tour, a quieter delivery of classic rock iconography has landed at The RAW Gallery in South Melbourne. MELANIE LEWIS speaks to the man behind the images, photographer Philip Morris. Photos by PHILIP MORRIS.

Philip Morris was a young shooter-about-town taking photos for Australia’s first popular music newspaper, Go Set, when AC/DC was born in 1973. Capturing the original lineup (with Dave Evans on vocals), their first ever shows, the introduction of a cheeky young bloke called Bon Scott, the making of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, and the last ever Australian gig Bon played before his death, Morris’ images of the band are unparalleled in Australian rock photography.

It seems almost serendipitous that in the couple of years before AC/DC formed you’d already photographed future AC/DC frontmen Brian Johnson [at Geordie’s 1974 Sydney show] and Bon Scott [in Adelaide prog-rock outfit Fraternity]. Did you notice anything particularly special about either of them when first you saw them perform?
Well, Bon was pretty different in Fraternity. He was quieter. He didn’t have an upfront presence. I remember one time, Go Set did a “Day In The Life Of Fraternity” so we went to the house where they all lived in Woollahra [in Sydney’s east] then down to Centennial Park, kicked the football around and took candid shots.

That was a fun session, but there were times when we were doing them live where Bon would be playing the recorder on the mic, or he’d be singing, just standing there. They were a pretty serious band, like a musician’s band, you know. They weren’t terribly wild on stage. He totally changed when he joined AC/DC. It was quite a contrast. But Brian was pretty easy going. He had a great voice and was very good live.

AC/DC’s original singer, Dave Evans, purportedly got the arse for being “too glam” but they all looked pretty damn glam in those first band shots.
[Laughs] I didn’t really think much of it because at that time, you know, there’s David Bowie, Lou Reed, Gary Glitter, Roxy Music — even Mick Jagger was wearing makeup. It was a glam period (1974-75), so I guess they were just going along with it.

Angus being the exception.
Angus stands out as more memorable because of the school uniform. That was a bit different. Apparently, he’d just come home and play guitar still wearing the school uniform.

You took the iconic images of Angus at Sydney’s Victoria Park in April 1974. Most reports claim that was the first time he wore the uniform onstage, at his sister Margaret’s suggestion, but that’s not true is it?
Well, the first gig I photographed them in [January] 1974 was at Chequers nightclub and he wore the uniform there with the school satchel on his back. That was the very beginning. He went through stages: it’d be upgraded to velvet, or a white outfit. But the very first gig he wore it.

For someone so famously active onstage it must have been challenging to get live shots of Angus.
Well, actually, it was really easy. Every shot would be a good one because of the action. His expressions, he’d hit the floor and spin around, he’d get up on top of a table and take his shirt off, so there was always plenty of good action shots.

Bon got the frontman gig around this time. As you said, it was quite a contrast to the Fraternity days. He’s more engaging in your AC/DC photos, more playful. What changed?
He was more upfront [as well as] the frontman. And he was older — he was the eldest in the band and they were playing different music. They were playing rock’n’roll, whereas Fraternity were more melodic musicians, so he was given a lot more freedom. And in the songwriting as well, so it really bought out the wild rocker in him. He was more of a larrikin.

“There were only about a hundred people in the pub and AC/DC just walked on stage and jaws dropped.”

Your personal favourite image of Bon was taken during the making of the ‘High Voltage’ film clip. How big a production was that?
Well, Albert’s hired the studio for the day and they had their other bands there too — John Paul Young and The Allstars — but there’s a film clip for ‘High Voltage’ where they filmed it live and then in the studio and matted both together. So that shot of Bon when he’s going, “High Voltage”, with his hand in the air, that was edited into the actual live footage and you can kinda tell … that some of it’s in the studio and some of it’s actually live.

By the time you shot the ‘Jailbreak’ promos – with crew members dressed up as cops – you must have been enjoying a good rapport with the band.
It was more relaxed, more fun, off the cuff. There was no time limit on the sessions. It was just, “Let’s try this”, and the roadies would dress as up as the police and [AC/DC] would spray a bit of graffiti and one thing led to another and so the shots were more candid. There was a few where they were throwing punches around a bit and spraying too much on the walls. But we went for the more commercial shots.

Tell us about the Dirty Deeds sessions.
That was a great opportunity. When AC/DC were recording Dirty Deeds… they said, “Look it would be good if you could come in and get some shots of them doing the session”, so I got some exclusive shots of them recording in the studio in 1976.

I tried to not be too obvious — to get some fly on the wall shots. I was there for a couple of hours, so every now and again I’d set up a shot, or go in when Bon was doing a take. It was a great chance to get some candid shots … George Young and Harry Vanda, who produced the album, were pretty much in control. They were directing most of the session and doing the takes. Sometimes George would play a bit of guitar and piano: they all worked well together.

George and Harry would have been pretty comfortable with you, too, given your history with their band, The Easybeats.
Well, I was the photographer for Go Set when Albert’s Music approached me and I started doing the band [photography] for them and doing all their promo stuff. Because I’d photographed [The Easybeats] live, and for interviews, ’cause Go Set was at most of their gigs, we got on quite well. They were the resident producers at Albert Studios in the ’70s [so] they’d be in the studio most of the time when I’d drop in.

Tell me about that last show you shot in 1979 before Bon passed away.
Their sound guys told me to come along to The Strata because AC/DC were going to do a surprise gig. I went along with my girlfriend at the time — her name was Rosie [laughs] — so when we got there AC/DC were behind the back of the stage with George and Harry, just sitting around drinking. And they were ready to go, but the audience didn’t know that. There were only about a hundred people in the pub and AC/DC just walked on stage and jaws dropped. I was taking photographs about five feet away from them, with the flash on the camera, just following them around. There was just so much movement and so much action going on. It was just amazing.

And just twelve months later Bon was gone.
Yeah, I heard about it on the radio. It was [pauses] a shock. It was pretty bad. They were doing really well in the States, just starting to get more notoriety, so it was pretty untimely. [Pauses] I’m lucky that I’ve got the photographs, because you don’t remember until you pull out the photos and think, “Ah, that takes you back.”

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AC/DC: 1974-1979 opens tomorrow at The RAW Gallery, 250 Park Street, South Melbourne. It runs until February 28.