2023.08.27 - Sunday World - Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan Talks Sobriety, His Irish Roots And Not Remembering ‘92 Slane Gig

'ROLLING THE DICE' | Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan talks sobriety, his Irish roots and not remembering ‘92 Slane gig

'I was drinking a gallon of vodka a day and doing all sorts of drugs’

By Eddie Rowley

AMERICAN superstar guitarist Duff McKagan has played Slane Castle twice with Guns N’ Roses — but says it’s the 2017 show he remembers.

Back in 1992, the former hellraiser rocker’s outing at Slane was a booze-fuelled performance.

Two years later, McKagan, who holds an Irish passport, nearly died at the age of 30 when his pancreas exploded as a result of drugs and booze abuse. It filled his body with poison and left third degree burns internally.

“I was drinking maybe a gallon of vodka a day and doing all sorts of drugs, so after a while your body’s just going to rebel,” he said later.

Having a terrifying brush with death was a wake-up call to change his lifestyle, and today the guy I see chatting with me on Zoom is the picture perfect of health, fitness and vitality.

Sitting beside him is his stunning supermodel wife, Susan Holmes McKagan, who first met Duff in 1996 after they were set up on a blind date by a friend.

The glamorous couple, who married in 1999 and have two daughters in their 20s, are clearly besotted with each other during their interview with the Sunday World.

Now hosting a weekend show together on Ireland’s Radio Nova station, they tell how the Covid lockdown years reaffirmed the strength of their relationship. “We realised we are ideal for each other,” Duff says.

“We hear about other couples, that their marriage didn’t last. How is that? It strengthened ours. I’m in a very fortunate situation with her… our thing grows and it strengthens. You’ve been through those things where you butt heads and you realise, we butted heads over A B and C in the past for no reason, let’s stop butting heads, we are in this together.”

Susan chips in: “We want the best for each other. We kind of enjoyed it [lockdown] and each other because he’d been touring so much that it happened to fall at a time when we needed a little rest. It was the glass half full… we got to spend time with our daughters and our dog, so it was pretty nice.”

After overcoming struggles with booze and drugs, does Duff feel they were very lucky to have found each other? “Fortune, luck…you roll the dice,” he responds. “Susan and I both did the right things in life to have been able to have met each other and then take advantage of that when we did meet. And that takes a little skill and good fortune.”

Susan nods and adds: “It was right timing. We both met at a time when we’d got a lot of stuff out of the way in our careers.”

They understood each other’s work? “Models and musicians, you see a lot of them wedded together because you are used to travelling and understanding each other’s lifestyles,” she nods.

McKagan, whose latest album is called Lighthouse, says songwriting helps him to deal with the panic attacks he has suffered all his life. “I’ve written songs that have got me through this thing that I was born with,” he tells me.

“Susan knows about it and she helps me when these awful panic attacks come out of nowhere. I’ll be watching a movie and I’ll have one.

“So I have songs that I have written during a panic attack. I now realise if I have an acoustic guitar I can go to it if I’m having a panic attack and get myself through one by writing a song. Music is incredible, the power and depth of music.”

When the talk turns to his Irish roots — McKagan’s grandfather, Jon Harrington was from Cork — they mention an Irish cousin called Joe and his extended family, who they meet whenever they are in Ireland.

“We usually go to dinner when we are over and we have fun,” Susan says. “Joe looks like a movie star and is a real sweetheart.”

McKagan is clearly chuffed to be the holder of an Irish passport, but says they are still working on securing one for Susan. “I got my citizenship and it was no easy feat,” he says. “Now the trick is to get her’s. You know, it’s like the most-liked passport in the world we hear.”

He was excited to play Slane Castle in ’92, but says their second time at the Meath venue in 2017 was a more memorable personal experience because, without booze and drugs, “I had my wits about me.”

Talking about their Radio Nova show, Duff adds: “I loved Radio Nova because we listened to it on an app called TuneIn, and now to be on Radio Nova is fun.

“Our show is called Three Chords & The Truth, and we really wing it. We don’t want to play the usual rock ’n’ roll that every station plays. The variety of what Radio Nova plays is great and our playlist is all over the place.

“We also play up-and-coming bands and give them a shout out. Irish bands can DM Susan on her Instagram, @susanholmesmckagan.”

Three Chords & The Truth broadcasts every Saturday on Radio Nova at 6pm with a repeat on Sunday at 9pm.

https://www.sundayworld.com/showbiz/guns-n-roses-duff-mckagan-talks-sobriety-his-irish-roots-and-not-remembering-92-slane-gig/a1889894037.html