AC/DC‘s Phil Rudd had a court date today, and he appeared to be having as much fun as fans of the band have at their shows.
According to the New Zealand Herald, the drummer was a half hour late to High Court, causing the presiding judge to briefly issue a warrant for his arrest. Rudd, clad in jeans and a black t-shirt emblazoned with an image of an old-time car, sauntered into the courtroom “seconds” after the warrant was issued, so the judge cancelled it and let the scheduled proceedings continue.
Rudd was arrested last month on charges of trying to “procure a murder,” which were later dropped. But he still faces jail time for drug possession and threatening to kill two men.
At today’s hearing, Justice Timothy Brewer ordered the case to be sent down to a lower, District Court in light of the most serious charge being dropped. While leaving the courthouse, Rudd declined to answer any questions – though he did bang out a drumbeat on a loading dock — and then jumped on the back of his bodyguard who piggybacked him to his Nissan GTR. The drummer then quickly backed the car up, into the path of a delivery truck, missing a collision by mere inches.
Over the weekend, Rudd continued his DGAF-about-those-charges residency in New Zealand by rocking out on a guitar in the street in front of his home for about an hour with what appeared to be a fan, according to the Daily Mail.
Next up for Rudd is a court date on Tuesday, December 2 — coincidentally the day AC/DC will release it’s much anticipated new album, Rock or Bust. While the drummer plays on it, the rest of the band has been non-committal as to whether he will be joining them on the tour in support of it, rumored to kick off in the spring. Earlier this week, AC/DC released a video for the title track of the new record. which can be seen below.
The song will also be featured on tonight’s edition of The Voltage Factory on VanyaRadio, which airs from 8 p..m. to 10 p.m. EST.