DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED: 'Sick' Details Revealed

Following the arrival of the band's 2008 "Wasted Heart" EP, DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED will release "Sick" on April 7 via Century Media Records. This marks the first full-length studio album in eight years from the band the former GUNS N' ROSES and current VELVET REVOLVER bassist formed in 1998 and grouped up with again in 2001. This is an all-out assault of pure rock and punk-infused fury that pulls no punches. LOADED encompasses what rock 'n' roll should be all about, creating memorable songs with infectious hooks.

The album's first single, "Flatline", is now streaming at Playboy.com (where Duff also pens the weekly "Duffonomics" financial column). In addition to his new blog on Playboy.com — where McKagan says he hopes to "shed some no-nonsense light on day-to-day money issues" — Duff has penned a two-page "Success" column in the new March issue of Playboy magazine. He also continues to contribute his "Reverb" column to the Seattle Weekly.

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 plays guitar and sings with the group. "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 game plan or philosophy. We just wanted to get into the rehearsal room, begin writing songs and play music we felt."

Of LOADED's current lineup, McKagan says, "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. I watched Mike Squires and Jeff Rouse (guitar and bass, respectively) 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.”

LOADED released "Live Episode" (1999) and "Dark Days" (2001),before other commitments meant LOADED were put on the back burner to some extent, although they never split up.

"No way!" Duff says. "We've been playing Christmas charity shows in Seattle on an annual basis over the last few years. These have been growing in popularity as well. Then last Christmas, 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."

"Sick" track listing:

01. Sick
02. Sleaze Factory
03. Flatline
04. IOU
05. The Slide
06. Translucent
07. Mothers Day
08. I See Through You
09. Forgive Me
10. No Shame
11. Blind Date Girl
12. Wasted Heart
13. No More