Later he also joined "Big Machine" to perform "Back In Black", "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" and the Led Zeppelin track "Rock And Roll".

Pictures of Brian Johnson with Big Machine can be found at www.bigmachinerocks.com/

Big Machine getting bigger

Long ago, in a beachfront home not very far away ...

Brian Johnson, vocalist for AC/DC and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, wrote some songs with Doug Kaye, who's performed just about every task imaginable in the industry.

"Brian and I have been hanging for quite a long time, and when he's not out with AC/DC, his creative juices are still flowing," Kaye said. "We'd go back to his house, and I'd have an acoustic guitar, and he'd be banging with a drum stick."

The collaboration continued in spurts through the years. But that's as far as it went.

Then, a few months ago, Johnson asked Kaye: "Why don't you do something with those songs that we wrote? Put a little band together, and see what happens."

So he did. Kaye recruited Kelly Shaefer, former lead vocalist for Neurotica (who had been discovered by Johnson and managed by Kaye), to be the frontman.

Jeff Klosterman of Julliet was added on drums, along with Joe Scibilia of Last Great Hope on bass. Don Jaurols, formerly of E3 and Seraphine and a member of Shaefer's post-Neurotica band, Unheard, joins Kaye on guitar.

And Kaye gave the band an appropriate moniker for its star power: Big Machine. On Thursday, the band makes its live debut at Khrome, 1096 Washington Blvd., Sarasota, with Johnson joining in.

To hear Kaye tell it, it's just going to be a "fun party." Unheard and Last Great Hope are still going strong (see Dawn Scire's "Noise Ordinance" column on Page 10), and all members are involved in other projects.

But here's the thing: Some representatives from a New York entertainment law firm were so impressed with a demo Kaye produced with the band late last year, they're coming to the Khrome gig.

So Big Machine may become bigger than anticipated.

"They went nuts over it," Kaye said. "So be careful what you ask for."

Opening for Big Machine will be the Greg Billings Band -- featuring, naturally, Billings, a former member of the '90s metal band Stranger.

Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance at Mel's Diner in Bradenton, 923-6070, and $20 the day of the show. Call 366-0381 for information

www.heraldtribune.com

Looking to stretch his own musical muscles a bit, Brian compiled in BIG MACHINE a band of monsters that would best portray his classic songwriting style, and rip it a new ass on stage.

It all starts with a frontman that can cast his own shadow so to speak along side the story that is BIG MACHINE. That guy is former NEUROTICA/ATHEIST vocalist Kelly Shaefer. Shaefer was also one of the final four vocalists chosen for the frontman spot in VELVET REVOLVER.

Johnson discovered Shaefer in a small club in South Florida a few years back and offered to produce Shaefer's then-band NEUROTICA's first record "Seed". Johnson also sang alongside Shaefer on the track "Deadly Sin" that Johnson and Kaye penned for the band, marking it the first and only time Johnson has produced in his illustrious career.

With music making a retro fitted return to "classic" songwriting qualities, BIG MACHINE spits out a sound ironically reminiscent of the Bon Scott-era of AC/DC. Shaefer's vocal on "Somebody's Looking" casts an eerie resemblance to that of the late Bon Scott.

BIG MACHINE's demo is currently making the rounds to industry insiders, and the stage is set for this band to emerge and flatten the "pretenders" to the throne of rock and roll. How fitting that the beating would come from the man who has carried the torch to that sound for over 20 years!

The buzz on this band is so hot that its first live appearance, on March 24 in South Florida, is sold out two weeks before the date of the show. Not bad for a band that just got together at the top of the year.

Johnson will also be making an onstage appearance with BIG MACHINE on March 24.

BIG MACHINE is:

Donny Jaurols - Guitar
Doug Kaye - Guitar
Joe Scibilia - Bass
Kelly Shaefer - Vocals
Jeff Klosterman - Drums

This five-piece outfit promises to be a breath of fresh air in these times of "ProTooled" cookie cutter bands that plague the airwaves. With Jaurols and Kaye's relentless wall of guitars, Klosterman and Scibilia's rhythm section providing the perfect soundtrack for Shaefer's throaty approach, songs like "Party Time for 2" and "All Women are Crazy", along with the radio-ready "Wild Wild West", bring back a fun, but daring time of rock.