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AC/DC’s Cliff Williams retires

By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 21 September 2016

AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams has announced that he is retiring, following the completion of the band’s ‘Rock Or Bust’ tour in Philadelphia last night. He becomes the latest member of the band to depart in the last two years, though the first to make the decision entirely on his own terms.

It was announced that guitarist Malcolm Young would not return to the band in 2014, after receiving a diagnosis of dementia. Drummer Phil Rudd was then arrested and later convicted on charges of threatening to kill and drug possession. Then in March, vocalist Brian Johnson was forced to pull out of the tour after being warned that continuing could cause him to completely lose his hearing.

“It’s time for me to step out, that’s all”, says Williams in a video statement on the band’s YouTube channel. “Not because we’ve lost Mal, Phil or Brian. Everything changes when something happens like that. When Bon [Scott] died, it changed then. Everything changes. So, it’s not that, it’s just… I’m just ready to get off the road and do what I do in between tours”.

“I’m happy”, he adds. “I just need family time now, to just chill out and not do this. I’m all good”.

Williams has been a member of the band since 1977, joining for their fifth album ‘Powerage’. His final performance with the band last night was the last in a run of US dates rescheduled from earlier this year after Johnson was forced to pull out of the shows. His announcement suggests that, contrary to many expectations, AC/DC will actually continue to perform after this tour.

Perhaps this time next year, AC/DC will just be Axl Rose and some people you’ve never heard of.