Rétro: Trust and AC/DC

If there is one band who I can point to as setting off my interest in French music, it has to be Trust.

During an early trip to France as a teenage metal fan, I heard a band that made me realise that not only was there a world of music outside the English speaking enclave, but some of those acts there were amazing.

Of course, for a teenage metal head, Trust were an obvious starting point, influenced as they were heavily by English speaking acts, AC/DC in particular.

I'll write more about Trust at some point. In the meantime, I'm thinking a lot about AC/DC with the opening of an exhibition about the band opening in Glasgow this weekend.

AC/DC were friends of Trust, and AC/DC's legendary vocalist Bon Scott duetted with Trust, on a version of Ride On recorded in 1980 in London just days before his death.

Its worth remembering that at the time AC/DC were not the massive multinational that they are today, and although very much in the premier league of rock bands, they were not so widely known outside a rock audience as they are today.

Trust recorded covers of Ride On on their 1979 debut album, as well as live versions of Problem Child and Live Wire recorded during their 1980 tour and released on their 1992 live album documenting that tour.

However, the Trust song Ton Dernier Acte stands as a powerful tribute to Scott, a close friend of Trust vocalist Bernie Bonvoisin. The song came out on the band's 1981 Marche ou Crève album. There was also an English language version, Your Last Gig, on the English language version of the album, re-named Savage.

The band are so infused by the spirit of AC/DC that it sounds exactly like something Bon Scott would have sung. It's not a question of imitation or impersonation, instead a genuine mark of respect forged by friendship and loss.