Johnson burned by AC/DC cannon

Under fire: Brian Johnson

AC/DC singer Brian Johnson says he’s spent 30 years being burned by the cannon fired during their track For Those About to Rock We Salute You.

He’s also experienced a number of near-miss accidents when swinging from the Hell’s Bells stage prop.

And the veteran singer says the band would consider making more festival appearances in future after breaking their own rule to play the Download event at Donington, UK in 2010.

Johnson recently revealed the Australian giants were preparing to discuss work on a new album after taking time off following their two-year Black Ice world tour.

He’s already ruled out another global trek of that magnitude, describing it as “body-breaking” – and suggests their no-festival policy is a thing of the past as a result.

Johnson tells Fox News: “I wouldn’t like to do another one like the last one. We never want to go on stage and have people saying, ‘Oh, you should have seen them ten years ago.’ So I doubt we’ll be doing a big one. If we could do some festivals I wouldn’t mind that at all – that would be lovely.”

It’s 32 years since the Geordie frontman took over from Bon Scott following his tragic death. Since that time AC/DC have gone on to become one of the biggest bands in the world – during 2010 one in every 15 major concert tickets sold across the planet was theirs.

But Johnson admits it’s not all cheers and applause: “I could write a book about about standing under the cannon for 30 years. These horrible sparks come out of them – at the end of the show I have burn markets all over my shoulders.”

Discussing the giant bell he says: “A couple of times it’s been raining and I’ve had to run to get up to the rope. There’s been a couple of dodgy times when I’ve slipped just before I launched myself.”

Surprisingly the singer says he has no warm-up routine to speak of, explaining: “I just go into the bathroom, make a big loud noise and then come back to the boys and say. ‘Well, that’s me ready’.”

Asked how highly he’d rate AC/DC in a list of all-time great rock bands, Johnson replies: “It’s not my place .We definitely have a shot at being up there somewhere but I wouldn’t like to put myself in that position.

“I try to give as much passion up there, and as long as I can keep in tune for the band I’m happy. It’s just a very singular band with very singular members.”