2024.09.25 - Frontman Magazin (Czech) - Duff McKagan: I am a man who doesn't change his gear

Original article in Czech:

https://www.frontman.cz/duff-mckagan-jsem-clovek-ktery-sve-vybaveni-nemeni

Translation with Deepl:
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Duff McKagan: I am a man who doesn't change his gear

He's done almost everything. He is a member of Guns N' Roses, one of the most successful bands in rock history, with whom he stormed the charts in the early 1990s. His then uncontrolled lifestyle nearly cost him his life. But then a turning point came, and bassist Duff McKagan chose the path of sobriety. The wild rocker who lived by the motto "Too Fast To Live" suddenly became a loving husband and responsible father, who in the meantime was in the supergroups Neurotic Outsiders and Velvet Revolver, led his own band Loaded and proved himself a capable songwriter on his last two albums Tenderness and Lighthouse. Duff meets all the attributes for a rock star, yet he couldn't be further from that designation. He keeps his feet on the ground, and he doesn't lack humility or modesty. He oozed positive energy and wit during the interview, and when he talked about music and his heroes, he exuded the kind of enthusiasm that makes it seem like he's still that punk rock teenager. Duff McKagan will perform on 11 October at the Sono Centre in Brno, where you can win tickets on our Facebook page.

Duff, you're always working on something, whether it's touring with Guns N' Roses, recording solo albums or guesting on your bandmates' records. It doesn't look like you're looking to slow down. Do you consider yourself a workaholic?

I guess so. I'm in a creative phase right now. I've been in it for the last eight or nine years. I've written songs for my Tenderness and Lighthouse records, for Ozzy, Iggy and so on. Things are flowing nicely. Most importantly, I also now have my own studio since sometime in 2019. It's about four minutes from my house. The way I write songs is I'm probably like, "I'm going to do some interviews this morning, but I have to go record this song later." Because it's just around the corner. Plus, the sound is great in the studio, so those things kind of push me to want to create and work.

And as far as Guns goes, that's just awesome. We're touring, playing great shows all over the world. It's unbelievable. My friends ask me to play on their records. For example, I'm playing on Jerry Cantrell's album right now. I know I'm probably giving you a long answer, but yes, I just like to work.

Last year you released a great album called Lighthouse. How do you feel about the record in hindsight? Are you satisfied with it or is there anything you would change if you could?

No, I wouldn't change anything. I had plenty of songs for Lighthouse to choose from. This is like the first chapter of all those records. I know what the next album is going to be, even the one after that, because I really have a lot of material. So everything is set, from Tenderness to Lighthouse to the next record. It's been really fun rehearsing the last month with the band I'm going on tour with. I've been doing the songs myself, maybe I've got a drummer to help me out, but putting a band together is really cool. It makes the songs come alive.

You started out as a drummer and on Lighthouse you drummed some of the songs yourself, just like on your solo debut Believe In Me. Do you play the drums often and regularly or do you only return to them occasionally?

I should practice more often. I keep telling myself, "Go practice the drums, learn some new beats," but I just don't.  Sometimes there's no drummer on hand, especially during the Covid days. I've learned how to play with a metronome, which is quite new to me. Sometimes I have a drum beat that would fit in a song, a beat that I just want to have in the song. If it's an unusual beat, I'm probably the right person to play it. Because some people sometimes look at my idea like, "What? I don't get it." Yes, I play drums, but I don't practice them as much as I probably should.

I heard you used the same drum kit as on Believe In Me, is that true?

You know, I'm a man who doesn't change his gear. If something works, it works. I'm not one to go looking for new instruments and equipment at all.

I think it was the Yamahas?

Yeah. I've got a few different rhythm machines that I've collected over the years, and I've also gotten new cymbals when I needed to, of course. Those drums sound great though.

When you gave up drugs and alcohol in 1994, martial arts helped you on your way, both physically and mentally. Did it also affect you as a musician? For example, you suddenly had more discipline and self-discipline, so you started practicing the guitar more?

I was scared at first. The first few weeks I was sober, I didn't know if I could even stand up on stage anymore. I was like, "People might stare at me and it's going to make me nervous. Am I going to screw up because I'm so tense? There's nothing to make me relax, no alcohol, nothing." I played my first gig with Steve Jones, with the Neurotic Outsiders.

Steve's my hero. He asked me the day before if I'd play guitar with them. I learned to play guitar from Steve Jones and Johnny Thunders, so I thought, now he's going to find out I'm actually ripping them off. (laughs) I said, "Steve, I don't know if I can do it. I've never played a show sober in my life." And he's like, "You're gonna be fine, man." I've got a whole new energy since that first gig.

Yeah, I've been practicing a lot. I still watch bass and guitar videos and learn. I never did any super technical slaps or anything like that in Guns, I didn't need it. But it's fun to learn this stuff. Just to know your instrument's neck better and stuff like that. I practice a lot and the sobriety really helps me.

The sound of your bass is very distinctive, it's sharp, harsh with a bit of chorus. That sound was influenced by the band Magazine, according to you. You used to use the Ibanez Stompbox Guitar Chorus, do you still play it?

Yeah. (smiles) Once again, I love my gear. During the Use Your Illusions period, my engineer Mick Bob said to me: "Dude, let's get you a proper chorus." It was an SPX90. It just didn't sound right. It was too fancy, so we went back to my Stompbox.

First you played drums and guitar, when did you decide to play bass?

It was at the end of 1984 when the cops came to my house and confiscated the guitar I had. All I had left was my bass. By that time I had moved to Hollywood. It turned out that the guitar had been stolen five years earlier somewhere in L.A., and I bought it from some dude in Seattle. I used to give it away sometimes to pay the rent. Well, when you give stuff to a pawn shop, they take your I.D. So one day the cops come to my dirty little apartment, "You got this guitar? It was stolen five years ago in L.A." and I'm like, "I bought it in Seattle seven months ago," and they're like, "We believe you, we're not gonna arrest you, we're just gonna take the guitar."

I think the store in L.A. was called Valley Guitars. The cops suggested that they would try to give the store owner my phone number and that maybe I could make a deal with him. The guy called me and offered to sell me a guitar for 500 bucks. "Man, I don't have five hundred dollars, I don't even have thirty dollars," I replied. And that's how I became a bass player for good.

That's when we started forming Guns, the lineup that made Apettite. We took it seriously, started playing with Steven (Adler, ed.) twice a day to build a good rhythm section. "Let's be the best!" There were some really good bands around. For example, Jane's Addiction's rhythm section was killer at the time. We said we had to take it to the next level.

I was trying to figure out what kind of bass player I could be. I always loved the bass sound that Magazine had, then there was Lemmy or the great Paul Simonon from The Clash. Those were the great bass players of that era, or Nikki Sixx. But I was very influenced by bands like Killing Joke, then post-punk, and Paul Simonon. His bass lines, his choice of notes is so cool. I also listened to a lot of Prince, Cameo and groovy stuff. And then I put it all together.

Speaking of Magazine or The Clash, the bass has always been a very prominent instrument in British punk bands. The Clash, The Stranglers, The Damned, The Jam... Their sound is basically based on the bass guitar.

Everything I listened to around 1984 was bass-oriented. It was a golden age for that kind of music, so there were a lot of influences to draw from. Later on, when I was in my thirties, I started listening to people like John Paul Jones. I knew Led Zeppelin well, of course, but it wasn't that I listened to bass lines. I didn't grow up playing in cover bands, I never learned other people's music, all I played was original tunes. I didn't get into it until later, in my thirties, forties, fifties and now. Learning other people's songs is a great way to get into their heads. It can really influence and expand the way you play.

Those would be your bass inspirations, but who have influenced you as a drummer or guitarist? Is there anybody who's influenced you, who you've learned from?

I've been influenced by two people as a drummer. One is Paul Cook from the Pistols. That's easy, when you hear me play drums it's immediately obvious. Last summer with Guns N' Roses, Generation Sex was the opening act. I stood on the side of the stage and just drummed my way through their whole set. I know every transition. (Laughs) And Paul says to me, "Dude, you know those transitions way better than I do."

And then there was a dude named Chuck Biscuits, the drummer for D.O.A. from Vancouver. He later played with Social Distortion and Danzig. But he was special in D.O.A. As far as guitar goes, that's easy, Johnny Thunders and Steve Jones.

Yeah, you mentioned Neurotic Outsiders with Steve Jones. What was it like playing guitar alongside him?

Man, I gotta tell you, when Steve hangs his guitar around his neck and turns on the amp, it could be a Strat or a Magneton, whatever, but when he plays an A flat, you're like, "Oh, that's Steve Jones!" He's got it all in his hands. When he plugs in a Les Paul over a Marshall half stack, nothing and nobody sounds like him. He's a beauty. He's such a good player.  And underrated. When we played together, I knew roughly what he was going to do because I knew his guitar work. I'm a big fan of The Professionals and everything he's done. Playing with him was really special for me.

Your singing has definitely improved over the years, your voice is stronger and more confident. Have you taken any singing lessons?

I work on everything. I'm working on my bass playing, my guitar playing, well, just a little bit on the drums. (laughs) Jamie Douglass, who is the drummer in Shooter Jennings' band and played on my last few records, turned me on to his wife, who is a vocal coach. And so I've been training with her since 2018, and I'm committed to her vocal philosophy, which has helped me expand my range. I've been working on it, singing a lot, just like I play guitar or bass. I sing in my garden, in my car and work on my singing technique. So thank you for making it seem better.

If you listen to me on Believe In Me, I was completely fucked up. (Laughs) You can literally hear all the cocaine and booze in my voice. It's a good picture of my life back then. Then when I got sober, a lot of things got better physically. I think anyone can sing if they learn how to use their range. Like Iggy, his range got bigger as time went on. He can go very low with his voice now, but he still gives highs. He's working on it.

In your solo projects, where you also sing, you mostly play guitar. Is it easier for you to sing and play guitar than bass? I'm a singing bass player myself and I know it's a hell of a lot of work sometimes.

One hundred percent easier. If you play bass and sing, it makes you a better player. You gotta think about people like Sting or Geddy Lee. I've decided that when I do my solo stuff, I pick a good bass player and play guitar myself. If you listen to the bass lines on Tenderness and Lighthouse, I really messed around with them because I knew I wasn't going to sing them and play bass at the same time. (laughs) Mike, who's going to be playing bass on the Lighthouse tour, can play them and he also does a lot of backing vocals. I'm really excited about him. It's really easier for me to play an A, D and G chord in the vocals than it is to play bass.

You've worked with a lot of great and different musicians in your life, you've recorded with Iggy Pop, Ozzy... Is there anyone else whose record you would like to play on?

It's funny, but I've been asked this question a few times recently. Maybe it's my age? So who's left for you? It's like my life is coming to an end, which it's not. Relax! I'd love to write a song with Bob Dylan. I think that would be really cool. It's cool that I'm playing with Guns. I really appreciate those two guys, Slash and Axl. They're masters. I've played with Lemmy, I'm an honorary member of Motörhead, I have a plaque. Those are things I'm super grateful for.

I've also played on two of Iggy's records, played five shows with him, with Chad Smith on drums. I played on a Fear record, I got to mix their first record as well. I was like, I can't touch that, but they sent me the tapes and there were other things that didn't appear on the final recording at the time. So I added a few things, put more kick, more rhythm section.

I got a chance to listen to them from those tapes, how they were having fun during the recording and stuff. I was like, "Fuck! Could you imagine when you were 15 that this would happen?" So I mean, I've been able to attend a lot of great events and anything else will just be icing on the cake. Guns and I took The Pretenders on tour last year. Hell, you listen to The Pretenders every night before you go on stage. I've met a lot of my heroes, played with some of them. I'm very lucky that's the case, so I'd rather not push the envelope.

What a difference it made recording with Iggy in 1990 on his Brick By Brick and now in 2023.

On his last record, me, Chad Smith and Andrew Watt had a recording session in L.A. We know The Stooges, we know Iggy. We were advised that it was okay if we went for the Stooges sound, or if we put in 60s garage rock, Sonics and stuff like that. So we took that information and wrote the songs with that in mind. And then he did the vocals in Miami. So that's how we work now, because today's technology allows it.

But in 1990 on Brick By Brick it was like Iggy had some demos where he was playing acoustic guitar and singing. We then met him at Ocean Way Studios in Hollywood. Me, Slash and Kenny Aronoff on drums, Don Was was the producer, and we arranged the songs together and recorded them straight away. Both ways of recording are good.

The song Lonely Tonite from your first record Believe In Me was recorded after a GNR show in Dallas. You finished the show at one in the morning, and less than two hours later you were in the studio recording this track until three in the afternoon. Can you imagine working at that pace today?

Oh God, no. I'm much better at recording from, say, two in the afternoon to nine in the evening. Those are my magic hours. Honestly, I get a little shaky if I have to stay up late. It reminds me of the old days. Let's say we have to fly somewhere after a concert and I'm up till 4:00 in the morning. I don't sleep on planes, so I'm up. It's like I'm suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. I don't like that time of night because only bad things happen.

So I really can't imagine working like this now. If I had to, I would. Like if we had a song for Guns and we were like, "We've got to go record it right now." Of course I'd do that. But if it had already happened, I'd be in it with the friends I've been through all those things with. I'd be safe.