Photo fuels speculation Cliff Williams is back in AC/DC

Back in August 2018, several furtively captured photos appeared online that apparently showed singer Brian Johnson, drummer Phil Rudd and guitarists Stevie and Angus Young outside Vancouver’s Warehouse Studio where AC/DC recorded their previous three albums ‘Stiff Upper Lip’, ‘Black Ice’ and ‘Rock or Bust’.

Adding weight to the rumours that Brian Johnson is back in AC/DC, last month grindcore trio Terrorizer revealed on Facebook they had bumped into Brian at an airport where he apparently confessed he’s on the legendary band’s new album.

Terrorizer wrote on Monday 28th January: “We ran into Brian Johnson from AC/DC at the airport today after the flight home and we asked him about the rumours of him being on the new AC/DC album and he said 'yes' and that he is 'sick of denying it.' So that was a cool surprise ending to the tour."

The line-up speculation has left a big question mark over who will be playing bass in AC/DC following Cliff Williams’ retirement at the end of the Rock or Bust World Tour.

However, a photo has now emerged which shows Brian Johnson and Cliff Williams with a personal trainer called Scott Frinskie at the Shangri-La Hotel in Vancouver.

Dated Friday 14th December 2018, fans are guessing that Cliff was in the Canadian city to participate on the AC/DC in the studio.

Scott Frinskie had earlier posted a photo in September of himself with Brian – just a month after the photos outside The Warehouse Studio emerged.

> A little “Highway to Hell” #KC/DC 🤘🏼🤘🏼 pic.twitter.com/PdsKuRIWkO > > — El Toro24 (@24eltoro) September 9, 2018

Despite the online speculation, it's important to stress that AC/DC have made no official announcements about their current line-up or whether they are making a new album.

Last week, however, American DJ Eddie Trunk claimed that AC/DC had finished work on the album. He said on his podcast: "I have a source that will remain nameless, but a very, very, very well-placed, reliable source regarding AC/DC.

"He told me, to his knowledge, the album is done, that they went to that studio in Canada and made this record and what people speculated on – that these were riffs and ideas and is more of a tribute to Malcolm Young – is true, that Malcolm had a bunch of stuff recorded that they worked off of and incorporated into the record.

"This is a unity thing – to come together and put out some of Malcolm’s music and celebrate AC/DC."

Trunk added: "This source also told me that he doesn’t know what they’re going to do with this record, when or how it’s going to come out and, as far as he was aware – and he would know – there’s no plans for live shows.

"He didn’t tell me anything about Axl or who’s on it."