Get ?LOADED? with Duff McKagan - Win Guitar, CDs and Personal Phone Call!Win a copy of Duff McKagan?s Loaded new ?Sick? CD, and qualify to win his autographed guitar AND a personal phone call! 25 winners will get the new ?Sick? CD and one grand prize winner will be chosen to win Duff?s autographed guitar and a personal phone call. Hey, maybe you can ask him about some of your favorite riffs!
Just tell us why you should win the CD, the guitar and the chance to talk to Duff. Entries will be judged on sincerity, humor, and general ?rockness?. Blow us away - in 200 words or less! Only enter once, or your entries will be tossed. And don?t leave those fields blank - how will we get in touch with you when you win the guitar??
About Duff McKagan
Following 2008?s ?Wasted Heart? EP from DUFF MCKAGAN?S LOADED, the band will release, ?Sick? on April 7th. It?s the first full-length studio album in eight years from the former GUNS N? ROSES and current VELVET REVOLVER bassist.
Duff McKagan. A man with a big reputation through his involvement with major bands. Guns n? Roses and Velvet Revolver?you know the drill. But this isn?t about mega headlines, superstar status and volcanic ego mania. Loaded isn?t a band merely to fill in time, to allow the famed bassist to massage a hyper publicity drive. This is all about?music!
?When this band started in 1998, I was at college studying business,? recalls McKagan, who actually plays guitar and sings with this lot. ?But I was sickened by all the crap music going around at the time. Seriously, I hated all these big bands who were coming through. So, I put together Loaded to play rock music the way I wanted to do it. We had no great gameplan or philosophy. We just wanted to get into the rehearsal room, begin writing songs and play music we felt.?
To some, Loaded might appear to have a punk rock influence. Actually, this is closer to the mark than you might believe. Forget about the musicality being close to punk, it?s the attitude, as McKagan is keen to explain: ?When I was about 14, I saw The Clash play at the Paramount Theater in Seattle. That was in 1978, and it was amazing. I was expecting this superstar band to come onstage. Instead, the opposite occurred. The Clash were telling everyone that, ?We?re all in this together. The musicians, the fans, we?re part of one family?. That idea?s never left me.?
McKagan has hand-picked the members of this band, feeling that each brings something special into the camp. ?It?s not as if I bumped into all of them on the street and things happened by accident. I saw Geoff Reading play drums with Green Apple Quickstep (a cult mid-1990s Seattle band) and he was just an animal behind the kit. I knew then that I wanted to work with him at some point. Mike Squires and Jeff Rouse (guitar and bass, respectively) I watched with their band Alien Crime Syndicate, and again they really impressed me. ?It?s not that I?ve taken these guys out of other bands, either. It?s not like that in Seattle. Good musicians tend to play in more than one band. And our producer, Martin Feveyear, is also part of the band in many respects. He?s also our tour manager and our live sound engineer! It?s the Seattle way. A small town mentality?.
The band released albums in 1999 and 2001, namely ?Live Episode? and ?Dark Days?, before other commitments meant Loaded were put on the back burner to some extent, although they never split up. ?No way! We?ve been playing Xmas charity shows in Seattle on an annual basis over the last few years,? says McKagan. ?These have been growing in popularity as well. Then last Xmas, we started to talk seriously about doing a record, which is what has led us to this place. Now, I?ve been stockpiling songs for Loaded all the time. I?d write something and store it away for future use, so the idea of doing a new album has always been in my mind.?
The process of working on the new record, has excited Duff beyond expectations. ?We all knew it would be fun to go into the studio (Jupiter in Seattle) and do a new album, but it?s actually been so inspirational. This isn?t a stellar Pink Floyd kinda effort. But it perfectly represents what we do so well.?
An EP, ?Wasted Heart?, has already given everyone a taste of what?s to come, and the foursome?s togetherness is reflected in the fact that they took the opportunity to work on fresh songs during their recent tour of the UK and Europe.
?We practically lived on a tour bus, and we?d break out the acoustic guitars and write some new material. So ?Sick? is constantly evolving.? That tour itself has given Loaded another major boost. ?We never expected the gigs to be so packed, and there were a lot of younger people turning up as well. Everyone seemed to appreciate what we?re about. Gilby Clarke [former Guns n' Roses guitarist] came to see us in Los Angeles at the Viper Room not so long ago, and he couldn?t believe how we did things. He called up the next day and was just amazed that we were so down to earth. No egos. No big star trips. Four guys enjoying the music and loving being in the same band.
?To me, Loaded is a group of equals. This isn?t a solo project where I pay some hired hands to play my songs. I might have the name, but we?re a real band. These guys aren?t afraid of me. And people are coming to the shows because they like Loaded, not because they?re fans of something else I?ve done.?
So, how would McKagan sum up this band for those who?ve never seen or heard them before? ?Loaded is the band to make you realize how seriously the music industry takes itself.?
ENTER TO WIN: Contest Entry Form
For more info, check out:
Duff McKagans?s official website,
http://duff-loaded.com/What do you win?
25 Wiinners each get:
(1) copy of Duff McKagan?s Loaded new ?Sick? CD
AND
One GRAND PRIZE WIINNER gets the ?Sick? CD AND Duff?s autographed guitar AND a personal phone call!!
ENTER TO WIN: Contest Entry Form
http://houseofhaironline.com/2009/03/get-loaded-with-duff-mckagan-win-guitar-cds/