AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has made bail after being charged with attempting to procure two murders. Rudd is also charged with threatening to kill a third person and of possession of cannabis and methamphetamine.
Rudd's home was raided Thursday morning and he later appeared in Tauranga, New Zealand District Court this afternoon to face charges. The names of the two people he was allegedly trying to have murdered and the name of the person he hired to do it have not been released.
According to court documents, Rudd is accused of attempting to hire one person to kill two people around September 25 and threatening to kill someone else on September 26.
Rudd refused to talk to media gathered at the court and left in a car driven by his wife.
Rudd was notably absent from AC/DC’s recent promotional material in the lead-up to the release of the band’s first album in six years. The first image released to promote the album, Rock or Bust, did not feature Rudd and he was absent from two video shoots over the past few months.
Lead singer Brian Johnson reportedly told fans Rudd was not at one of the video shoots because of a "family emergency."
Biographer Jesse Fink, author of the new book, The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC, told the Daily Mail Australia he was "absolutely stunned" by the charges. Fink said Rudd had "deteriorated" in recent years.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee moved to New Zealand in 1983 and owns a restaurant in Tauranga.
It's unclear how Rudd's arrest will affect the group's upcoming 2015 world tour.
-Spencer