New Zealand police at the home of AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd. Credit:Stuff Media applied for permission to film and photograph Rudd in the dock. His lawyer Tony Rickardsson argued against that saying the media just wanted to get photos of Rudd "at his worst". But Judge Bidois allowed filming of Rudd. Rudd had been in custody since 7am when his house was raided by police. In releasing Rudd on bail he ordered that he should have no contact with the man he allegedly tried to hire to carry out the murder. According to the charges laid by police, Rudd had tried to get two men killed - their names and that of the intended hitman were all suppressed by the judge.

Phil Rudd in New Zealand's Tauranga District Court this afternoon. Credit:www.sunlive.co.nz Rudd was driven from court by a blonde woman in a silver Mercedes Kompressor convertible. He refused to talk to gathered media. Police custody ... Phil Rudd, 60, dressed in jeans and a grey sweater. Credit:www.sunlive.co.nz Rudd's arrest comes after police raided the drummer's home on the Tauranga waterfront at Matua this morning.

He is also charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of cannabis and threatening to kill. AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has been questioned by police. The charges against Rudd are the latest development in a turbulent year for AC/DC which began with news that Malcolm Young would not participate in the recording of the next album due to ill health. The band recorded the album with Malcolm and Angus Young's cousin, Steve, filling in on guitar. A few months later Malcolm Young's long-term departure from the band was announced with the rhythm guitarist and songwriter diagnosed with Alzheimer's and confined to a care facility in Sydney. His place on the upcoming world tour will be taken by Steve Young. Rudd is the only Australian-born member of the longest-running version of AC/DC, with the Young brothers, Malcolm and Angus, born in Scotland (as was their most famous vocalist, Bon Scott), and singer Brian Johnson and bass player Cliff Williams born in England.

In 2003, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the other members of AC/DC. That recognition came in what was Rudd's second stint in the band he had joined in late 1974 after the recording of the debut album, High Voltage. His first stint ended acrimoniously in 1983, at which time he moved to New Zealand, where has lived on and off since. "The thing with AC/DC is you've got to finish harder than you start. When you start you've got to get f---in' on it from the start and there's only one way to go and you've got to be tough," Rudd said. "It is a tough gig, but I'm a pretty tough drummer, it's what I do best." In his time in AC/DC, the band has sold more than 200 million albums and become one of the biggest touring acts in the world, rivalled only by the likes of the Rolling Stones, the Eagles and U2. However, if Rudd were to leave or be forced to leave the band it would leave Angus Young as the only member who had been there since their breakthrough with the song It's a Long Way to the Top in 1974. "After playing with Angus and Malcolm for 40 years ... it's pretty hard to play with anyone else when you play with AC/DC, mate," said Rudd, whose solo album, Head Job, was released in August. "I mean you try and find someone who's got the same sort of game as they've got. It's all about the feel." The new AC/DC album, Rock or Bust, is released on December 2.

"The band is in good shape," Rudd told Fairfax in August. "[But] you'll never see another guitarist, another rhythm guitarist like Malcolm Young, ever, in your lifetime or any time." - stuff.co.nz, with Bernard Zuel and Martin Boulton