AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd’s judge-alone trial is set to start in mere hours. As we previously reported, Rudd is charged with threatening to kill and drug possession. The musician has pleaded not guilty to those charges and will appear in a New Zealand courtroom on April 21, where a judge without a jury, will hear his case.

Last year, Rudd was accused of threatening the life of a man and his daughter and was originally charged with attempting to procure murder (aka murder-for-hire). That latter charge have since been dropped but during a police raid of Rudd’s house, authorities allegedly found .71 grams of methamphetamine and 130 grams of cannabis in his home. As a result, drug possession was added to the threatening to kill accusations.

Rudd was originally set to get his day in court on Feb. 10, but his lawyer at the time, Paul Mabey, quit right before the proceedings. According to New Zealand's Waikato Times, Rudd has continued to deny that he made threatening phone calls to his former contractor and the contractor’s daughter. He has been out on bail since his arrest.

As for the remaining members of AC/DC, they've replaced Rudd with drummer Chris Slade. They played the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California for the past two weekends and will kick off their Rock or Bust Tour on May 5 in Holland. The band will be back in the states on Aug. 22, when they play in Foxborough, Mass. AC/DC's Brian Johnson recently addressed some of the hardships they have dealt with as a band of late saying, "You pick yourself up, dust yourself down and just keep going."

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