Dave Evans unveils the origins of AC/DC

Dave Evans, the original singer of AC/DC, revealed the story behind the band’s name.

As a part of the band’s original line-up, alongside brothers and guitarists Malcolm and Angus Young, drummer Colin Burgess and bassist Larry Van Kriedt, they produced the singles, Can I Sit Next To You Girl and Baby, Please Don’t Go.

Evans said, “We had to get a name because it was only in a few weeks. So we started tossing names around between us, but no one could agree. I had some really great names, but they didn’t like them.”

“What we said was that, [in time for] the next rehearsal, we’d all come with three names each, put them in a hat and we’d pick one out. And whatever it was, that was what we were gonna call ourselves,” he added.

The artist recalled that he presented the iconic rock band with three name ideas however, all of them ended up naming the themselves AC/DC, a name that was suggested by a relative.

“When we all arrived together, Malcolm Young said to us, ‘Look, my sister-in-law’ [wife of his older brother, George] has suggested a name… AC/DC’. And I thought it’s an easy name to remember and it was on the side of a lot of electrical appliances,” Evans stated.

“AC/DC means alternate current and direct current [and] a lot of appliances were AC/DC. I thought: ‘Free advertising… free advertising on the side of all these appliances, and it’s easy to say, and it means power.’ It all went through my head very quickly. And I said yes,” he added as he had a conversation with Podpokas.

“Malcolm looked at us and said, ‘Well, shall we call ourselves AC/DC?’ And we all put our hands up. It was unanimous. We all shook hands and we were AC/DC… those three names [I came up with], I went home and threw them away,” Dave Evans concluded.