From his tenure as bassist in Guns N’ Roses, to his earnest and honest solo output, Duff McKagan reflects on his growth to Steven Loftin of The Line Of Best Fit.
Having penned pages on his life so far, McKagan is no stranger to delving into his past, warts and all. But it becomes apparent that, creatively speaking, being tasked with picking his choice cuts is a new endeavour for him. The way McKagan has navigated life is similar to his approach to his Personal Best. It’s a list of songs that string together his musical map, each plucked from his mind as an instant reaction to these segments of his life. “It's not often I get asked to pick five songs from my own catalogue. As a matter of fact, never,” he chuckles. “So I thought I would just do the first ones that came to my head, and these were the ones that came. I wasn't trying to paint a theme to them all.”
Duff selected five tunes, one of which was “Illegal i Song” by Velvet Revolver. He commented:
“So it's called ‘Illegal i Song’. It doesn’t sound like it all, but at first, it reminded us of ‘Immigrant Song’ (by Led Zeppelin), and that was the working title. We had so many songs at that point, because we had been writing way before we got Scott (Weiland, vocalist) in the band, and there was this riff. Matt Sorum (drummer) was like, ‘Dude, I don't have a drum beat for this. I don't know what it's going to be. You play the drums.’ So Matt got on the bass, and I played the drums. I can't play what Matt played, but I insinuated a few things. It was kind of like almost a Devo beat I learned when I was a kid – The ‘(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction’ beat influenced a lot of my drumming. Matt said, ‘Dude, that's it,’ came back around and played that sick drum riff, and the song just exploded. It was always one of my favourites.”
“It's not one of the top songs people talk about if they're talking about Velvet Revolver, but it was one of my favourite songs to record. It’s got a nice ferocity to it. It pointed Slash’s guitar playing in a different direction for 2004. He was rediscovering areas he could go with Velvet Revolver. I think he did a really good job of becoming a modern rock guitar player as well as being f*cking Slash. He added to his repertoire with that song, as I saw it. It's great that I got to see it happening.”
“With the second record, things became a bit more disjointed. Looking back, the second record’s got some cool stuff on it, but we weren't in a rehearsal room for eight months… It was more writing riffs on the road, and everybody bringing in their riffs all at once. Then it became jumbled, like too many riffs, and then, ‘Oh shit, we got to make this record,’ and throwing stuff together. I think the band was good enough that we could pull it off to a certain extent, but some things got in the way of that band later on that stunted that creativity. But for that time – ‘04, ‘05 and ‘06, when the band was cooking, it was such a great relationship we had with our audience. At that point, in 2004, rock and roll was dead and it was that band that was like, ‘We beg to differ.’”
To see what rounded out Duff's Top 5 Personal Songs, visit this location.
Duff McKagan is celebrating the five-year anniversary of his acclaimed second solo album, Tenderness, with Tenderness Live In Los Angeles, a brand new double-live collection. It was released on Friday, May 31. Order here.
McKagan has shared the full concert via his official YouTube channel. Check it out below.
Recorded June 13, 2019 at Los Angeles’ historic El Rey Theatre just days following Tenderness’ May 2019 release, Tenderness Live In Los Angeles sees McKagan taking an intimate journey through his own canon of songs along with a few deeply personal cover versions, backed by 3x Grammy Award-winning Tenderness producer Shooter Jennings and his band. Tenderness Live In Los Angeles is heralded by today’s premiere of an electrifying rendition of "River Of Deceit", originally performed by McKagan’s close friends, Seattle supergroup Mad Season – comprised of guitarist Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), drummer Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees), and the late Layne Staley (Alice in Chains) and bassist John Baker Saunders (The Walkabouts) – and available everywhere now. Watch video below.
“It was such a complete pleasure and honor to be able to work with Shooter Jennings and his stellar band for the recording of the songs that became the Tenderness record,” says Duff McKagan. “Having Aubrey and John playing fiddle and pedal steel guitar on the tracks, really led the music in a brand new direction for me. I strive for change and growth in life, and these guys ushered me into a brand new musical world. This relationship was made more special, when Shooter and the band agreed to tour Tenderness with me. Remember, Ted Kemp, Jamie Douglas, Aubrey Richmond, John Scheffler, and Shooter had been touring for years together. They are a tight-as-hell unit. I won the lottery!
“This live recording from the El Rey in Los Angeles showcases not only the songs on the record, but some cover songs we started to fold into the live set as we toured. We’ve highlighted a couple tracks from this show – Tenderness being one of course, and our version of the Mad Season song, 'River Of Deceit'. Such a beautiful song written by guys from back home that I know now, and a couple who are no longer with us. It feels like a celebration to me. All of these live shows we did on that tour felt like a shedding, a prayer to better things, and a beautiful coming together of all you bad motherfuckers.”
“One of the highlights of my life was making Tenderness with Duff McKagan,” says Shooter Jennings. “A thoughtful songwriter and even more thoughtful person. Touring with Duff checked another box of personal dreams come true! We had a blast out on the road. “I remember playing the El Rey. The crowd was packed. I remember leaving the stage feeling like we had done something really special.
“Getting to mix the album all these years later was such a treat. To be able to mix it on the 1976 Frank Demedio custom API console (the same console that Prince recorded and mixed Purple Rain on) in legendary Sunset Sound Studio 3 (a.k.a. Snake Mountain), was like being able to distill a righteous memory through a flawless diamond. Sitting in that studio listening to the band play through those big speakers allowed for me to get lost in the music and let it guide me to bring this experience to record players everywhere!”
Newly mixed in the legendary Sunset Sound Studio 3 (a.k.a. Snake Mountain) by Jennings using the famed custom API console on which Prince recorded and mixed Purple Rain, Tenderness Live In Los Angeles is further highlighted by powerful takes on The Clash’s classic "Clampdown" and such Guns N’ Roses fan favorites as "You Ain’t The First", "Dust N’ Bones", and "Dead Horse". But at its heart, the set casts a spotlight on McKagan’s own striking songcraft, with live versions of tracks originally featured on Tenderness, including the volatile rocker, "Chip Away", which earned extraordinary praise from the Maestro himself, Bob Dylan, who recently declared the song a personal favorite.
Tracklisting:
"You Ain’t The First"
"Breaking Rocks"
"Tenderness"
"Chip Away"
"Feel"
"Wasted Heart"
"River Of Deceit"
"Dust N’ Bones"
"Last September"
"It’s Not Too Late"
"Falling Down"
"Cold Outside"
"Parkland"
"Clampdown"
"Dead Horse"
"Don’t Look Behind You"
"Deepest Shade"
"River Of Deceit" video:
Catch Duff McKagan live at the following shows:
September
30 - Dublin, Ireland - Dublin Academy
October
2 - Glasgow, Scotland - Oran Mor
3 - Manchester, UK - Manchester Academy 2
5 - London, UK - Islington Assembly Hall
7 - Utrecht, Netherlands - TivoliVredenburg
8 - Cologne, Germany - Kantine
9 - Munich, Germany - Freiheitshalle
11 - Brno, Czech Republic, Sono Centrum
13 - Warsaw, Poland - Stodola
14 - Berlin, Germany - Heimathafen
16 - Milan, Italy - Magazzini Generali
17 - Solothurn, Switzerland - Kofmeh
19 - Liege, Belgium - OM
20 - Paris, France - Trianon
22 - Stockholm, Sweden - Nalen
November
4 - Boston, MA - Paradise
6 - New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
8 - Chicago, IL - Outset
10 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
13 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey
18 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
20 - Seattle, WA - Showbox
(Photo - Charles Peterson)
