AC/DC deny retirement rumours, plan to reunite and 'have a plonk'

AC/DC have denied recent rumours that they were planning to retire, with frontman Brian Johnson revealed that there are in fact plans afoot to record new material together.

After days of rumours alleging the Australian rockers would be announcing their split imminently - due to the ill health of one of its members - Brian Johnson has told The Telegraph the claims aren't true, and they'll soon be going into the studio. 

"We are definitely getting together in May in Vancouver," Johnson revealed. "We're going to pick up some guitars, have a plonk, and see if anybody has got any tunes or ideas. If anything happens, we'll record it."

Johnson did confirm, however, that one anonymous member of the band is indeed suffering from ill health, saying: "I wouldn't like to say anything either way about the future. I'm not ruling anything out. One of the boys has a debilitating illness, but I don't want to say too much about it.

"He is very proud and private, a wonderful chap. We've been pals for 35 years and I look up to him very much," he added. The band member in question is thought to be guitarist Malcolm Young, although Johnson did not confirm this.

"AC/DC is such a tight family. We've stuck to our guns through the Eighties and Nineties when people were saying we should change our clothes and our style. But we didn't and people got it that we are the real deal."

AC/DC released their last album of new material in 2008. Black Ice was their fourteenth record.