cover image Dirty Deeds: My Life Inside/Outside of AC/DC

Dirty Deeds: My Life Inside/Outside of AC/DC

Mark Evans. Bazillion Points (Baker & Taylor, dist.), $19.95 trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-1-935950-04-2

A product of a rough but supportive environment, former AC/DC bassist Evans had resigned himself to a life working in the post office when a friend mentioned that an up-and-coming band was in need of a bass player. Evans got the gig and found himself swept up in a tornado of shows, booze, and girls that lasted for years. Though not founding member, Evans was there when the band's star began to rise with the recording of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Strangely, these musical landmarks are treated as asides in favor of a workmanlike telling of the day-to-day experience of being a band member. Evans goes to great lengths to describe the band's many living arrangements while rehearsing and recording, and these domestic concerns take up much of the book. There are a handful of entertaining anecdotes about fellow rock stars%E2%80%94George Harrison among them%E2%80%94and insights into the band's strange family dynamic (thanks to brothers Angus and Malcolm Young), but they're the exception rather than the rule. Those hoping for a cover-to-cover expos%C3%A9 full of dirt will be disappointed. Hardcore fans will probably appreciate the book, but those interested in the band's early days will likely be better served by one of the other AC/DC biographies on shelves. Photos. (Dec.)