Chris Stedile
Castlegar News
The guys of BC/DC are gearing up to bring the noise to the Element Club on April 3. The band has played at the Element six times over the years, selling out each time and delivering masterful performances, some believe to rival their inspiration.
Lead singer Brendan Raftery, aka Brian (Bon) Johnscottson, is looking forward to performing in Castlegar once again.
“It’s a great room to play. We always get a really great response. It’s like a big-city club in a small town.”
To add to the excitement, the band will be rocking alongside fellow musicians and friends Heavy Airship. In case you didn’t immediately get the reference there, Heavy Airship is a Led Zeppelin tribute band.
“Haven’t played with Heavy Airship yet,” Raftery said, “but I’m looking forward to it. Some of those guys are friends of ours and we’re really looking forward to doing the show with them and maybe some more after that.”
The band may be called BC/DC but they haven’t limited themselves to Western Canada.
“We were just in China in November and Bangkok after. It’s definitely different playing in China. Most of the people had never heard of AC/DC so it was almost like playing original music over there,” Raftery laughed.
It may not feel brand new to those attending April’s concert but nonetheless people sure do love BC/DC.
The men have been playing together for over 16 years; that alone is a testament to both BC/DC and AC/DC’s performance and music quality.
“AC/DC is timeless stuff. We have everyone from six to 60 years old at our shows. It’s the gift that keeps giving really. We just picked a good band to rip off.”
Raftery continued: “We stick to all the songs that 95 per cent of the people in the crowd are expecting to hear and want to hear.”
This was the singer’s way of saying they won’t be performing any of AC/DC’s most recent hits.
Sixteen years ago, the bandmates never could have imagined they’d have come this far — in fact Raftery said they expected it to last just six months.
Six months have passed, and then some, and BC/DC plans on keeping on for as long as they can. Raftery sees AC/DC still going strong and knows BC/DC can carry on just as long. “It’s so fun. There’s no reason we’d ever want it to stop.”
