2023.10.27 - Rock Antenne - Interview with Duff

Excerpts from Rock Celebrities:
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Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan recently spoke to Rock Antenne and revealed which singer continues to leave him starstruck.

When asked when he realized he belongs to the same club as Iggy Pop, with a group of musicians known for being over the top, the bassist replied, recalling his experience of working with Pop in his ‘Every Loser’ record:

“There’s me, and there’s Chad Smith. We’re a couple [people]. ‘Yeah, man.’ We’re cool. When Iggy comes in the room, we’re 15 years old again. We’re like, ‘Oh, Jesus.’ So there is a difference, and playing the shows with him, it’s like, ‘We’re playing with Iggy.’ He’s in the Chili Peppers. I’m in Guns N’ Roses. Andrew Watt, the guitar player, produces the Stones and everybody, but when we’re with Iggy, it’s like, ‘Okay, whatever you say, boss.'”

Detailing the impact of Iggy on him, McKagan continued:

“It’s just a treasure because he is the chief truth-teller. Yeah, he is the truth-teller in chief, and for me, there’s Prince, and there’s Iggy, and there’s Lemmy [Kilmister], and Iggy is the one who’s there, and he’s with us. He’s a treasure, and I got to do stuff with him, and he offered to do a spoken word on my record. I’m like, ‘Ah, okay.'”

The bond between McKagan and Pop stretches back to when the musician featured on the frontman’s 1990 album, ‘Brick by Brick.’ He both played and co-wrote on the record, along with his GNR bandmate Slash. The bassist shared his thoughts on collaborating with Iggy in a 2008 chat with Revolver, saying:

“That was a great experience. Playing with Iggy pulled me back in for a while and reminded me of what I love about music.”

For album promotion, Pop also announced that his supporting band would be named The Losers, including Chad Smith, McKagan, Josh Klinghoffer, and Andrew Watt. Iggy and the Losers were on the road for their West Coast US Tour from April 20 to 29. They don’t have any scheduled shows for the next year yet.

https://rockcelebrities.net/duff-mckagan-shares-the-singer-who-still-makes-him-starstruck/

More excerpts from Blabbermouth:
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In a new interview with Germany's Rock Antenne, Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan was asked if he plans on touring in support of his just-released third solo album, "Lighthouse". He responded (as transcribed by Blabbermouth.net): "I toured on the 'Tenderness' record and I had Shooter Jennings and his band. And we went and played about a dozen shows in Europe and about a dozen shows in the U.S. It was in 2019.

"I am obviously thinking about what band I want to portray these songs [on 'Lighthouse']. And what's the inspiration? There's two guitar players — I've got Tim [Dijulio], who played on the record, who's amazing. I have to get people that can sing, 'cause there's so many backing vocals on this record. And I want it to be — if I'm gonna do it live, it's gotta be stellar. It's gotta be that record, and it can't be an approximation. So I would love to go play Europe. I mean, if I can play somewhere in Munich and in Berlin that enough people will come that I can do it. So now we've gotta figure that out… I don't know when — maybe spring or some point I'll do this. And I'll probably have some more material when I come tour — 'cause I have so much material.

"I put out an EP last spring; I put [out] a song called 'This Is The Song'. I put, like a three-song EP, just to start getting songs out. So I would have a lot of songs to play, really. I would have the 'Tenderness' record, 'Lighthouse' record, my EPs, a lot to choose from, to play live. But I've gotta finish this [Guns N' Roses] tour I'm on.

"We were supposed to be done touring," McKagan explained. "My record was gonna come out, like, three days after we got done touring, but we extended our tour. So, it's a little strange having my own record come out and I go out and do a Guns show that night. I mean, it's great. It's an embarrassment of riches, as they say. So I will get serious about who I find as a band and whatnot. But I wanna do just some really cool [solo] shows. Not a million shows. I do that with Guns N' Roses; we play a million shows. But I would love to play Munich, Berlin, Rome — play in Poland. Poland was great on 'Tenderness'. Some place we went in 'Tenderness' that was really great I'll go back to. You know, play Milan, play London, and just do it right. Do it as big as I can, as the crowds allow."

https://blabbermouth.net/news/duff-mckagan-wants-to-play-some-really-cool-shows-in-support-of-his-lighthouse-album