DUFF MCKAGAN Says New LOADED Music, Cover Art Were 'Leaked' On BLABBERMOUTH.NET

Duff McKagan (VELVET REVOLVER, DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED, GUNS N' ROSES) has penned the latest installment of his column, which appears on Reverb at SeattleWeekly.com. An excerpt follows below.

"On Tuesday, three of [DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED's] new songs and the cover art from our upcoming record, 'The Taking', were leaked on BLABBERMOUTH. A few years ago, digital streams as leaks spelled doom for a band's future record sales; now they are looked at as almost a good thing, something that can get a prospective audience pumped and talking about the upcoming release of the full-length. It is almost like it is free advertising, like 'Here, check out some of THIS. It is so good and precious, that someone figured out how to hack into the label's mainframe computer and unleash this new kick-ass music.' Hey, for me, and everything that I have seen over the years in this business, who cares? As long as people are talking."

[For the record, "The Taking" cover art and the songs in question were originally posted on the official Soundcloud account of DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED's record label, Eagle Rock Entertainment, where they can still be found and where they can be accessed by anyone with an Internet connection.]

DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED will release "The Taking" on April 19 via Eagle Rock Entertainment. The CD was recorded at a Seattle-area studio with veteran rock producer Terry Date (SOUNDGARDEN, PANTERA, DEFTONES).

"The Taking" cover artwork can be viewed below. Also available are audio streams of fours songs from the CD — "Cocaine", "We Win", "Dead Skin" and "She's An Anchor".

"The Taking" track listing:

01. Lords Of Abaddon
02. Executioner's Song
03. Dead Skin
04. We Win
05. Easier Lying
06. She's An Anchor
07. Wrecking Ball
08. King Of The World
09. Cocaine
10. Your Name
11. Follow Me To Hell

A trailer for the upcoming feature-length film about Duff McKagan and LOADED can be viewed below. The movie is based on "The Taking" and is being helmed by Seattle filmmaker and documentarian Jamie Burton Chamberlin.

Commented McKagan: "The LOADED movie will be more in line with a very twisted 'A Hard Day's Night', a movie where the songs on the record did all the 'talking,' and the band was just trying to make its way through a bunch of insane circumstances to get from point A to point B. If you like male prostitution, killing a child predator, ferries, motorcycles, hang-gliders, bi-planes, and Mary Kay Letourneau, this LOADED flick may just be for you.

"Filmmaker and general visionary Jamie Chamberlin is helming this project, and I must say he may be West Seattle's best kept secret, artist-wise.

"While MOTÖRHEAD is in town this Friday at the Showbox, the great Lemmy Kilmister has agreed to play a cameo role in the movie, which I am psyched about.

"It is very likely too, that we may be playing some surprise and unannounced acoustic shows around town for the filming: 'Flash gigs,' if you will."

Eagle Rock Entertainment will re-release DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED's 2009 album "Sick" in May. This special reissue of the CD also packs a bonus DVD, featuring 11 tracks from a live set at The Garage in Glasgow filmed in December 2008.

"Cocaine" audio stream:

"We Win" audio stream:

"Dead Skin" audio stream:

"She's An Anchor" audio stream:

Photo credit: Daniel Zetterstrom