AC/DC Drummer Phil Rudd Arrested Again In New Zealand

Drummer Phil Rudd, who hit the skins on some of AC/DC’s biggest albums, is back behind bars once again. The New Zealand Herald reports that the 61-year-old rocker was taken into custody at his home in Tauranga, New Zealand on Saturday night on unspecified charges. Prostitutes were reportedly present inside Rudd’s residence at the time of his arrest.

Lawyer Craig Tuck, who represented Phil Rudd in his most recent criminal conviction, confirmed his client’s arrest. Tuck did not disclose details regarding any new allegations, indicating the matter would be dealt with at Rudd’s first court appearance, which is scheduled for Monday morning.

On July 9, Rudd began serving an eight-month term of home detention as part of his sentence stemming from a murder-for-hire plot. He was also charged with possession of methamphetamine. Despite the serious nature of the charges against him, Rudd managed to avoid a lengthy prison sentence, but Entertainment Weekly notes that he was cautioned by the sentencing judge in that case that he would be incarcerated once again if he violated the terms of his release.

“I stone-cold guarantee that’s where you’ll end up,” Judge Thomas Ingram warned Rudd in an AP report quoted by Entertainment Weekly. “I’m not your headmaster, I’m not your father — I’m a judge.”

Unhappy with the outcome of that case, Rudd reportedly filed an appeal after his sentencing according to rock and roll news source Loudwire. The disgruntled rocker was also caught on video griping about the sentence, telling reporters, “Now I have to get a f***ing job.”

Although he has taken leave from the band for relatively brief periods over the years, Phil Rudd has been affiliated with AC/DC for the better part of four decades. Rudd has not been playing with the band since his spate of legal woes began, but the their management has not definitively severed ties with him.

AC/DC is currently touring Europe in support of its new record, Rock Or Bust. Drummer Chris Slade, who has performed with AC/DC in the past, has replaced Phil Rudd in the band for the foreseeable future. Slade is even scheduled to play a number of shows in New Zealand for the final leg of the Rock or Bust tour and there are reportedly no plans to include Phil Rudd in any of those scheduled events.

[Image by Joel Ford/Getty Images]