2004.12.DD - Kerrang! - Yearbook With Duff

Like Lazarus, the craggy-faced bassist returns from the rock wastelands. Take note Mr Rose - here's how you make a comeback in style....

K: HELLO DUFF. 2004: how was it for you?

Duff: "My 2004 was absolutely brilliant, thanks for asking."

K: How come, exactly?

Duff: "Because I'm back with a great new band doing exactly what I love, playing music. This time last year no one really knew about Velvet Revolver, and so it was kind of a strange situation to be in."

K: Did it worry you at all?

Duff: "I knew how good we were but it's always difficult telling people because they think, `Oh sure, you're bound to say that'. Now at least we have an album out ['Contraband'] and people can hear that it's a great album. And we've been playing live and people can see that we're a great live band as well."

K: So has the year been everything you hoped it might be?

Duff: "Yeah, I'd say it has. One of the things that was great to get back to was going on the road. That was something that I really missed. We played a lot of shows before the album even came out, and those shows, sort of in theatre-sized venues, sold out straight away. Every one of those dates on that [US] tour was sold out. And the response we got was just great, which made me think that we were on to something here. And then the album came out and people really went for it, you know?"

K:Tell me, how does a has-been like you score a number one album in America?

Duff: [Laughing] "Thanks, man."

K: No, come on, really.

Duff: "Because we made an album that just rocks, man. You can hear that, right? Let's face it, it would have been so easy for us, you know, a so-called supergroup, to have released an album that was lazy, that didn't really have any songs on it, that was indulgent. I know that, and I know how many people might have thought that we were going to do just that. But we didn't."

K: How did you manage to avoid that?

Duff: "For a start, our band has a great chemistry. But that's not enough-lots of bands have great chemistry but on album they suck. So we worked hard on the songs. Slash, Matt [Sorum], myself and Scott [Weiland] come from bands that people know all about, and still we managed to make an album that sounded fresh and new. We knew that people would be interested in it, but if they didn't like what they heard then it wouldn't have lasted. And the music is strong enough for it to last, I think."

K: How about personally? It must have been tiresome having people question Scott's - what shall we call it? -'durability' all the time.

Duff: "Yeah, it was a little bit tiresome. But again I understood that that was one of the things people were going to want to talk about, at least at first. It was an issue, you know. Scott's had his problems in the past, and those problems have been played out very publicly, so as soon as he emerges with a band who are making their music public people are going to wonder how long it will be before he goes off the rails again. But I can tell you that that's not going to happen:'

K: You sound very certain about that. How do you know?

Duff: "I've seen him at work, I've seen how professional he is: he shows up to sound check, he does everything that needs to be done. And as time goes on I think that those issues will become less and less relevant, and people will have less cause to ask about those kinds of things, because they'll matter less and less.”

K: How does being on the road with Velvet Revolver compare to your time being on the road with Guns N' Roses?

Duff: "A compare and contrast kind of thing?"

K: Yeah, you've been to college, you know the deal.

Duff: "Well, being able to remember things is one difference. There are whole weeks and months when I was on tour with Guns when I can't remember anything that happened really That was the kind of the way I used to live my life back then-being fucked up drugs, fucked on booze, just generally fucked up. But now I can remember what I was doing six months ago. I can remember the journalists who have interviewed me before. Little things like that."

K: Does it feel like you've been given a second chance?

Duff: "I wouldn't necessarily be as evangelical that but, yeah, it is nice to do it differently the second time around. You know things change in your life. When I was young and in Guns being in a band was the only thing in my life. So it was easy to dedicate your whole life to that. It was easy to say, 'Oh these are my brothers, I'd die for these guys’, you know, stuff like that. It was easy screwing chicks and [taking] drugs and doing all the shit that we used to do cause that was all there was to do all day. But now I have a wife, I have kids; also I no longer drink and I longer do drugs... to still be playing in a great band and loving music when the circumstances around it are different feels fantastic, I have to tell you. I may have cut everything else out from my life but at least I can still rock!"