DUFF MCKAGAN Talks VELVET REVOLVER, JANE'S ADDICTION And His Upcoming Book

Steven Rosen of Ultimate-Guitar.com recently conducted an interview with Duff McKagan (GUNS N' ROSES, VELVET REVOLVER, DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: You, Slash and Matt [Sorum] put together VELVET REVOLVER and recorded two really good records.

Duff: I'm glad we did and we made a couple really strong records. I don't know if they really represent what we could be. Maybe the first record was, nah, I don't know if either of those VR records are really representative and maybe we haven't made that record yet and maybe one day we will.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: You did some writing recently with JANE'S ADDICTION. What was that like?

Duff: I went in and wrote with JANE'S right before we did this record. We were done writing the LOADED record and there was a space of about three months where between writing the LOADED record and recording it, I had freed up to help JANE'S with their new record. I started just sending 'em my weird fuckin' songs and they loved 'em. You know, Dave Navarro plays guitar weird and he's fuckin' great. He was like, "Dude, this is great. These are fucked up chords; what the fuck are you doing? This is how I play." I didn't really grow up with the kind of G, A, B major chords. I mean I know 'em but it's more about inventing stuff.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: You and JANE'S ADDICTION seemed like a really good fit. What happened?

Duff: Oh, I just went in to write with them. My main band is LOADED and I think things got a little out of control and especially on the Internet and on the sites. Not that I go and visit all the sites but I do interviews so I know what's said on the sites. So I was left to answer some of these questions like, "What? So LOADED is not a band?" And I'd have to answer it and explain it over and over and over. I write a column for the Seattle Weekly and I wrote a column and said, "OK, for all of those that are questioning whatever I'm doing, here's the final story." I simply went into write with them; there were a couple gigs booked that were booked when Eric [Avery, former bassist] was still in the band and I played with 'em. I talked to Eric first about it like, "Hey, here's the deal; they want me to play these gigs." I respect Eric way too much just to go," Yeah, fuck yeah, I'll go play" without talkin' to him. So they are guys I've known since the '80s and I'm friends with them and it was a great experience for me.
Ultimate-Guitar.com: What did you think of the Slash record?

Duff: Oh, I thought it was great. I was happy for him because obviously I'd known him for a long time. I know he wanted to make this record in like 1992 and he finally got his feet underneath and pulled himself together. A lot of these songs he's had stashed away for a long time. I thought it was really great.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: You've finished your own memoirs?

Duff: I wrote a book; I wouldn't call it a memoir at all. There are a lot of those. I've been writing for the last two years now and I write a lot and I decided in writing my Seattle Weekly column there was some discovery in there; when you write something there are statements and then you've got to follow it up by supporting things. You look back in your rearview mirror and it's easy to accuse others of your own faults. And in writing, I started to discover my part and really be kind of honest about my own part in my demise in drugs and alcohol. Maybe it wasn't everybody else's fault this whole time. It starts off in the present day being a father and it goes back to how did a guy like me get so into those stages of addiction and then how did I get my way out. Two of the biggest common questions to me are, "How much did you fuckin' drink and how much drugs did you do?" and "How did you get sober?" So it's not really my GUNS N' ROSES story; it's not my story about my relationship with Slash or Scott Weiland. It's about my journey down and my journey back out. That's it.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Talking about Scott Weiland, might there be a third VELVET REVOLVER record?

Duff: Well, in a perfect world there would be that record that's just fuckin' raw and brutal. But we'd have to have a singer and it would have to like it was in 2003 and 2004 when it just seemed right and things appeared in front of us. We can't force it so I don't know. To be honest with you, I don't know.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: And finally, you jammed with GN'R in London recently for the first time in 17 years.

Duff: It was a bumble, you know? No pun intended. Yep, I did. I go to London a lot for non-music-related business and I stay at the same hotel every time I go and Axl's room was next to mine this particular time when I arrived. So it gave us a great opportunity to reconnect and that was it. One thing led to another and I'm onstage and looked out at all the people and went, "Oh, I'm gonna have to answer interviews about this." There's nothing more to it than that, really.

Read the entire interview from Ultimate-Guitar.com.