Phil Rudd: What Happened to the AC/DC Drummer? Legal Troubles

Every AC/DC fan can pick the band’s drum sound out of a two-second drumroll — but fewer know the story of the man behind it. Phil Rudd’s career has been a long, loud loop of leaving and returning, and his 2015 legal case in New Zealand briefly put him on front pages worldwide. Here’s the full arc, from a murder-plot charge that fell apart to his 2025 status in the band, with verified facts separated from the rumor.

Born: 19 May 1954 ·
Joined AC/DC: 1975 ·
Number of stints: 3 (1975–1983, 1994–2015, 2018–present) ·
Notable legal issue: 2015 threat-to-kill charge ·
Net worth (estimated): $20 million

Phil Rudd: key facts

Eight rows, one pattern: the personal details have stayed consistent for decades — it’s the AC/DC status that keeps changing.

What happened to Phil Rudd?

The story everyone thinks they know starts in late 2014, and most versions miss the key twist: the word “hitman” made the headline, but the charge behind it did not survive a second day in court.

Legal troubles in 2015

• On 6 November 2014, Rudd was charged in New Zealand with attempting to arrange a murder, drug possession, and making threats to kill; the court suppressed the names of the alleged victims and the alleged hitman (BBC News (UK broadcaster)).
• A day later, prosecutors withdrew the murder-plot charge, saying there was insufficient evidence — the alleged plot had targeted two men (NPR (US public radio network)).
• The remaining drug and threat charges moved forward, and in 2015 a New Zealand court sentenced Rudd to eight months of home detention (BBC News (UK broadcaster)).

For AC/DC, the timing was brutal: the band was finishing Rock or Bust and preparing its supporting tour. Rudd was not on the road with them.

Hitman plot accusations

• The prosecution’s filing alleged Rudd tried to arrange the killing of two men — the basis for every “hitman” headline that followed (NPR (US public radio network)).

That one-day window — charged on 6 November, uncharged on 7 November — is why official records treat the murder allegation as an accusation, not a conviction.

Departure from AC/DC in 2015

• BBC reported in 2015 that Rudd was not a current member of AC/DC and had not been invited to join the band’s tour (BBC News (UK broadcaster)).
• For the Rock or Bust tour, the band brought in Chris Slade as the live drummer while Rudd sat out the entire cycle.

The “entire cycle” included the album’s promotion and the world tour — a painful gap for a drummer who had been with the band through its biggest era.

Return in 2018

• Rudd returned to AC/DC’s recording sessions, and he plays on the 2020 album Power Up (Planet Rock (UK rock station)).
• The studio comeback did not become a live comeback: Planet Rock reported in 2025 that Rudd had not performed live with AC/DC since June 2010 (Planet Rock (UK rock station)).

Recent tour exclusion

• Rudd sat out AC/DC’s 2023 Power Trip performance and the 2024 Power Up Tour (Wikipedia (open encyclopedia)).
• As of mid-2025, he remains on the band’s membership list but is not part of the touring lineup (Noise11 (Australian rock-news site)).

The pattern is consistent: Rudd’s exits have always been quieter than his entrances. The 2014 case froze him out of one tour; the 2020s have frozen him out of another — without ever removing his name from the band.

What was Phil Rudd accused of?

The case had three separate layers, and collapsing them into one “murder plot” is where most coverage goes wrong.

Threat to kill charge

• Rudd was accused of threatening to kill a former employee (BBC News (UK broadcaster)).
• This is the charge that produced the 2015 outcome: eight months of home detention in New Zealand (BBC News (UK broadcaster)).

Drug possession

• Police alleged Rudd possessed methamphetamine and cannabis (NPR (US public radio network)).

Alleged hitman plot

• The most serious allegation was attempting to arrange a murder — the charge that became the “hitman plot” headline (NPR (US public radio network)).
• The prosecution said the plot involved two intended victims; the charge was withdrawn a day after it was filed (NPR (US public radio network)).

What this means: the legal record is specific even when the headlines aren’t. The murder allegation was withdrawn; the threat and drug charges were the ones that moved forward.

Is Phil Rudd still a member of AC/DC?

The short answer in 2025: yes — with a very large asterisk about live performances.

Current status

• Noise11’s mid-2025 band roster still lists Rudd as a member of AC/DC (Noise11 (Australian rock-news site)).
• The same report says he no longer tours with the group, and the band has made no announcement about a formal exit (Noise11 (Australian rock-news site)).
• In 2025 reporting on his status, Rudd said he has made peace with being left out of the touring plans (Noise11 (Australian rock-news site)).

History of membership

• Rudd joined AC/DC in 1975, was fired in 1983, and rejoined in 1994 (BBC News (UK broadcaster)).
• He left the touring lineup after the 2015 sentence, returned for the Power Up sessions, and then sat out the 2023 Power Trip show and the 2024 Power Up Tour (Wikipedia (open encyclopedia)).

Why this matters: “member of AC/DC” in 2025 means different things on paper and on stage. For Rudd, it means the title, the legacy, and the album credits — not the drum stool on the current world tour.

Does Phil Rudd live in New Zealand?

Yes — and New Zealand is where both his current life and his worst headlines are based.

Current residence

• Rudd is based in the New Zealand city of Tauranga (Wikipedia (open encyclopedia)).
• The 2014 charges and the 2015 sentencing both took place in New Zealand (BBC News (UK broadcaster)).

Why New Zealand?

• Rudd set up his life there in the 1990s, around the same time he rejoined AC/DC in 1994 (BBC News (UK broadcaster)).
• He has been married to Phillipa Rudd since 1981, and the couple’s family life is based in Tauranga (Wikipedia (open encyclopedia)).

The location mattered when the case broke. AC/DC was preparing Rock or Bust on the other side of the world, and the band’s first public response was that Rudd’s arrest would not change the album or tour schedule (The New Zealand Herald (NZ national newspaper)).

The pattern: New Zealand became Rudd’s anchor — personally and legally. His address never became the story; the arrests filed at that address did.

Who is the richest member of AC/DC?

By the available published estimates, the answer is Angus Young — and the gap is not close.

Net worth comparison

Angus Young (est.): $150 million ·
Phil Rudd (est.): $20 million ·
Brian Johnson: not stated in cited sources

Three careers, one contrast: the member who never left the road dominates the estimated fortunes, and Noise11’s 2025 roster confirms who is still on it (Noise11 (Australian rock-news site)).

Neither net-worth figure is confirmed by the band or by Rudd’s representatives. The estimates come from published celebrity-wealth trackers and shift between outlets; what the roster confirms is who plays and who doesn’t.

Brian Johnson

• Johnson is the band’s lead singer and remains part of the active touring lineup (Noise11 (Australian rock-news site)).
• The cited sources do not provide a Johnson net-worth figure, so the table leaves that cell open rather than guess.

Angus Young

• Young is the band’s lead guitarist and its most visible figure in the current lineup (Noise11 (Australian rock-news site)).
• Published estimates put his fortune at roughly $150 million — more than seven times the $20 million estimates attached to Rudd.

Phil Rudd

• Rudd’s estimated $20 million places him well behind Young in the available figures, even though his drumming anchored AC/DC’s classic lineup.
• Because Rudd is not on the touring circuit, his share of the band’s live income is the smallest of the three (Noise11 (Australian rock-news site)).

The trade-off: Rudd kept the title and the album credits, but the members who stayed on the road built the fortunes that dominate the conversation. The 2015 case cost him more than court time — it cost him a place in the highest-paid touring circuit in rock.

Timeline: Phil Rudd and AC/DC

Eleven dates, one through-line: every exit was followed by a return — until the 2020s, when the returns stopped being live ones.

The through-line holds: Rudd’s name never left the band’s paperwork, even when his drum kit did.

What’s confirmed and what’s still unclear

The confirmed list is built from court reporting and band-roster coverage; the unclear list is where the rumors live.

The balance of evidence: the core events are documented by court reporting and band records; the exact figures and the full story behind the 2014 plot are not. That gap is where the rumors live.

What they said

Two voices frame the arc: the drummer who watched from the sidelines, and the band that kept the schedule moving.

“I’ve made peace with being left out.”

Phil Rudd, on AC/DC’s current touring plans (2025)

The comment is the closest Rudd has come to a public verdict on his own status — and Noise11’s roster still lists him as a member, even as the tour goes on without him (Noise11 (Australian rock-news site)).

“Rudd’s arrest would not affect the band’s upcoming tour or album release.”

AC/DC’s statement, as reported by The New Zealand Herald (2014)

That statement proved true in the narrowest sense: the Rock or Bust album and tour both happened. What it did not anticipate was how long the legal fallout would keep Rudd off the road (The New Zealand Herald (NZ national newspaper)).

Read together, the two statements explain the decade: the band kept the machine moving, and the drummer made peace with watching from a distance.

The takeaway

Phil Rudd’s story is no longer the 2014 headline — it’s the quieter story of a member who records but doesn’t tour. The murder-plot charge lasted a day in court; the home-detention sentence lasted eight months; the professional consequences have lasted a decade. For fans who grew up on his drumming, the distinction is worth holding onto: the hitman story was withdrawn, the threat-to-kill charge was real, and the band has never formally cut him loose. For Rudd, the trade-off is now settled: he keeps the title and the legacy, while the touring stage — and its income — belongs to the lineup that kept playing.

Related reading

• Lindsey Buckingham: Biography, Stevie Nicks, and Firing — another rock legend whose band tenure came with dramatic exits.
• Syd Barrett: Biography, Death, Mental Health, and Legacy — the cost of leaving a world-famous band behind.

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