Duff McKagan in Classic Rock Magazine

[FunkyMonkey]

Monday, May 11, 2009

Duff's Appetite for Dinner

In the latest issue of Classic Rock magazine, Duff McKagan spills the beans on Chinese Democracy, writing for Playboy and the continued hunt for a VR singer.

Here's what he had to say about his former bandmates.

What did you think of Chinese Democracy?

I was glad to hear Axl's voice. I've always been a fan of his voice. He's one of the real ones. I'm in sort of a different position listening to that record, because I'm not listening to it for it to sound like anything I was part of, because I know it's not that. I think Axl sang his ass off. He made the record he wanted to make and I'm happy for him. I thought he did a great job.

Do you think there will be a point where the five of you will be friends again, able to just sit down and talk about the old days?

Wouldn't that be great? I think Guns were five dudes with this shared vision. We met and it was the exact right five guys. I'd been in enough bands before to know that there's always a weak link in a band. The moment we got in a room and played the first three chords, we all knew it. We didn't have any illusions that we were going to be huge or anything. But people started coming to our gigs and then labels started coming to our gigs and we made the record we wanted to make. And all of a sudden it hit, and it seemed like a whole generation of the world had an affinity for that record.

We went through some growing pains together. Everybody knew who we were. Man, you'd go to the grocery store and people would be like: "Whoa! Dude!" How do you cope with that? All we had was each other to help us understand. We all survived. And that's pretty amazing, that we're all alive to talk about it.

So yeah, as part of a perfect world we could all go out to dinner without our wives or anything and say, "Congratulations. We're all alive, and people still freak out over what we did." Will that happen? I don't know. It's probably utopian.

http://chinese-democracy.blogspot.com/2009/05/duffs-appetite-for-dinner.html

[GypsySoul]

Do you think there will be a point where the five of you will be friends again, able to just sit down and talk about the old days?

Wouldn't that be great? I think Guns were five dudes with this shared vision. We met and it was the exact right five guys. I'd been in enough bands before to know that there's always a weak link in a band.

So yeah, as part of a perfect world we could all go out to dinner without our wives or anything and say, "Congratulations. We're all alive, and people still freak out over what we did."

So does Duff think GNR ended after AFD?? 

Whatsamatta, Duff, no love for Matty??  Maybe you could at least bring him back a doggie bag or some rice pudding or something. 

[lynn1961]

Do you think there will be a point where the five of you will be friends again, able to just sit down and talk about the old days?

Wouldn't that be great? I think Guns were five dudes with this shared vision. We met and it was the exact right five guys. I'd been in enough bands before to know that there's always a weak link in a band.

So yeah, as part of a perfect world we could all go out to dinner without our wives or anything and say, "Congratulations. We're all alive, and people still freak out over what we did."

So does Duff think GNR ended after AFD?? 

Whatsamatta, Duff, no love for Matty??  Maybe you could at least bring him back a doggie bag or some rice pudding or something. 

Somehow I think you know what he meant....no need to twist it around.  Look at the original question.  Regardless of what anyone thinks, it was the particular combination of those 5 guys and AFD that made Guns famous in the first place.   I'm sure it was a great time in their lives, for all of them. 

[FunkyMonkey]

Another interview with noisecreep.com:

Duff McKagan Stays True to Punk Rock Roots

5.11.2009 2:00PM

By: Allyson B. Crawford

"We thought it would be funny to look like we were getting ready for a big gig at Madison Square Garden and then we walk out to a bingo hall," says Duff McKagan of Loaded's video treatment for "Flatline." Truth be told, Duff McKagan is as wickedly funny as he is deadpan smart.

While McKagan waits for a consensus regarding the future of Velvet Revolver, he has his hands busy with side project Loaded and several financial writing gigs. The original bad boy alcoholic cum college graduate and financial expert is a bit paradoxical for the music world ? but to McKagan it's all just a day's work. "I've got a mortgage payment, just like anyone else," explains McKagan. "I'm out here on the road - I work from the moment I get up to when I go to bed. It's not an eight hour job." Not an eight hour job indeed as McKagan fills his days with interviews, soundchecks and personal appearances.

Through it all, McKagan has embraced his punk rock roots while not turning on his status as an elite musician. "I am absolutely proud of everything I've done in GnR (Guns n' Roses). It's a huge part of what I've done...I created that thing with four other guys. We went against the grain then. People didn't give us half a chance... but apparently we broke through a whole generation of youth at the time."

Perhaps playing with Loaded while on hiatus from Velvet Revolver provides McKagan ample story ideas for his financial columns with both Playboy.com and 'Seattle Weekly?' McKagan freely admits that Loaded's newest album 'Sick' was recorded on a $20,000 budget ? and that publicity is earned the old fashioned way ? through fan chatter.

Still, McKagan isn't hitching to gigs like the early GnR days. While Loaded might be a lot of do-it-yourself rock, the band is afforded some luxuries: "[It is] sort of like when I did punk rock tours in my teens...except we have a bus," admits McKagan.

Duff McKagan's Loaded will tour Europe this summer and open select shows for M?tley Cr?e.

[GypsySoul]

Do you think there will be a point where the five of you will be friends again, able to just sit down and talk about the old days?

Wouldn't that be great? I think Guns were five dudes with this shared vision. We met and it was the exact right five guys. I'd been in enough bands before to know that there's always a weak link in a band.

So yeah, as part of a perfect world we could all go out to dinner without our wives or anything and say, "Congratulations. We're all alive, and people still freak out over what we did."

So does Duff think GNR ended after AFD?? 

Whatsamatta, Duff, no love for Matty??  Maybe you could at least bring him back a doggie bag or some rice pudding or something. 

Somehow I think you know what he meant....no need to twist it around.  Look at the original question.  Regardless of what anyone thinks, it was the particular combination of those 5 guys and AFD that made Guns famous in the first place.   I'm sure it was a great time in their lives, for all of them. 

Yeah.  We all know that what Duff meant was that nobody wants to go to dinner with Yoko Hudson. 

[gcluskey]

Duff's class, even Axl agreed he might work with him again some time, that'd be amazing