Hong Kong ( CNN ) Phil Rudd , the drummer for legendary hard rock band AC/DC , has pleaded guilty to charges of threatening to kill and possession of drugs in a New Zealand court . Rudd , who previously denied all allegations , made a surprise guilty plea Tuesday before the trial began . The 60-year-old Australian was arrested in November last year after police found methamphetamine and cannabis while executing a search warrant at his home in New Zealand . According to a court summary , Rudd fired several employees because the release of his solo album in August had flopped in the charts . A month later , he called an associate and said he wanted his personal assistant `` taken out . '' He later then called the victim -- his personal assistant -- on the phone and said , `` I 'm going to come over and kill you . '' Rudd made several calls to his personal assistant over the following days , but he terminated the calls after realizing it was Rudd on the phone . `` As a result of the threats made by the defendant , the victim was genuinely very fearful of his safety , '' read the summary . The drummer 's lawyer , Craig Tuck , told reporters outside the court that the charges were `` essentially just an angry phone call . '' `` I will be seeking to have him discharged without conviction , '' Tuck added in an email to CNN . Rudd could face up to seven years in prison for the charge of threatening to kill . He is currently released on bail until the sentencing hearing on June 26 . In November , the court dropped the police charge of `` attempting to procure murder '' after prosecutors decided there was n't enough evidence .
AC /DC drummer Phil Rudd pleads guilty to threatening to kill and drug charges . - The band is forced to cancel a show in London due to the death of singer Chris Cornell, who was found dead at his home on April 20 from an apparent heroin overdose.