2024.10.29 - SiriusXM's Trunk Nation - Interview with Duff

Trunk: Here's a guy that you not only know as the bass player in Guns N' Roses, but you also know him now for his solo career and also being a SiriusXM listener. You no doubt know him for his radio shows. He's a man of many talents. Duff McKagan joins us live right now. Duff, how are you, brother?

Eddie Trunk. How are you doing, bud?

I'm good, man. I'm good. How was this? I've been watching some of the video. I've been hearing some of the stuff. How was the whole run you just came back from with the band, the solo band throughout Europe and the UK? It looked awesome.

Yeah, it's funny. You know, I think you and I spoke when my record came out, which was last October.

Yes. Lighthouse.

So October 20th - Lighthouse, sorry, right, Lighthouse record. And I was supposed to be off Guns N' Roses tour and kind of have some space to, you know, kind of have my record come out and maybe do some shows and stuff, but we extended our Guns N' Roses tour. So my record came out during our tour, which is fine, you know, like it's totally fine, but I kind of pushed back everything tour wise. And so it was really interesting going out 11 months after the record came out and going to Europe first. I had done Europe on the Tenderness tour. So, you know, either crowds there were going to be more used to my acoustic, more acoustic driven stuff and more would show up or... they thought one time and less would show up. But more people showed up and it was really, the band I have together for this thing right now is super killer. And the gigs, it's just one of those things. It was very magical.

You know, it's interesting, Duff, to talk about that because, you know, so many times I talk to artists and they put out a new record and I'll say to them, "Hey, how much of it are you going to do live?" And they'll be like, "Well, we got to kind of spoon feed it because it's going to take a while for the audience to know it. So maybe one song, maybe two..." But there may be in a kind of certain way that maybe worked to your advantage because people had almost a year to live with Lighthouse and really get into it and, you know, really know the material when you went out and finally played it live. Did you pick up on that at all?

I mean, that's astute of you. That's exactly what kind of happened. People knew, um, when I go out and tour a record, I, I tour that record. When I toured tenderness, I toured those songs, you know, basically I had some covers and stuff, but, uh, but now I have tenderness and lighthouse to tour. Um, and I played, I played like seven songs off of lighthouse and people. After 11 months, you know, they, it's not a bad idea because you're right. They know the songs, they're invested in it. They're singing along.

02:55
all that kind of stuff. So yeah, it worked out. Well, it also, you got the benefit of having, you know, you could spend time in a mega band playing songs. Everybody knows while your solo thing seeps in a little bit. So you've got that luxury, which not everybody else would have. No, it's, you know, I've got it. It's good for me right now. And he is, you know, like I'm in a, um, um, a powerful killer rock.

03:24
big rock band, you know, and Guns N' Roses, and we're back doing our thing and we've been doing it for, you know, we've been doing it since 1985, you know, really. And to see the audience of that band change and morph and grow and all that kind of stuff is wonderful. So I have that. I have this solo career that kind of stems from me writing books. The lyrics I write are could be like my third book, but they're...

03:53
Instead I've made them into records. And, um, and then, you know, truthfully, like the most important thing, my home life is, is great. And when you have all that, you know, I didn't want to go out straight out and tour a lighthouse after two years on the road with guns, I wanted to, it's time for me to have a little work home balance in my life, you know, and maybe, maybe the pandemic taught me that. Like spend some time while you can, which, you know,

04:22
with, in my case, Susan and the girls and our dog. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Hey, you know, I'm curious, you kind of made a reference to this. So for people that have heard Lighthouse and Tenderness and know what you do on those records, you kind of alluded to it. It's more singer-songwriter, a little more acoustic-based. It's very different in some regards to what Guns N' Roses is, you know, which, of course, Guns N' Roses has all those elements too, but.

04:48
What you do, this is more of a stripped down thing. It's a different delivery. It's a different approach. Yeah. Do you find, do you find like, to me that makes a lot of sense. Cause I've always said, if you're in a major band, you're going to do something solo. It should kind of be a little bit different. Cause if it's the same exact thing, then why not just do it in that band? But do you find like a big percentage of the Guns audience coming to your shows?

05:14
Or is it really a little bit of a different audience that you see turning up when you play your own shows? Or is it a mix of the two? Yeah, I would say on the Ternedice tour 2019, it was probably, you know, half guns fans not really known to expect. And then the other half was people that were invested in that, in the new thing I was doing with Shooter at that point. Um, at this point, you know, there's definitely guns fans who've probably

05:43
morphed in and like this other side of what I'm doing. And then there's an audience that I kind of gained just from doing this kind of music. There's a lot of people that do, I don't do somebody else's type of music. I think what I do is just like super, I do it alone. You know, so I have no idea what I'm doing. I've just write these songs and then layer guitar, you know, I played drums a lot of times and especially during the...

06:13
the shutdown, you know, it was like Martin, Fabian, my producer and I in a studio day after day. But my audience is, is grown at least in Europe. You know, that's all I got to go by is this tour we just did the four weeks in Europe and it seems to have grown into like just a new audience for this music I'm doing.

06:37
Because it's always interesting to me when you look at an artist that comes or is still in your case still in a major major band, and they do something on the side, a separate, you know, and almost every artist has at least two bands these days, it's pretty much the norm. But it's always fascinating to me because it doesn't matter. Like you're Duff McKagan and associated with Guns N' Roses, but still you that audience does.

07:07
fans had this misconception that like, oh, if you do something solo, the world is just your oyster and all those fans come over. It just doesn't work that way. You still have to kind of build it from the ground up and put that work in, don't you? Especially, you know, I mean, you've seen me with Loaded. I mean, I play guitar. Loaded was more of a punk band than anything else. It wasn't trying to be Velvet Revolver. It wasn't trying to be Guns N' Roses.

07:36
That was a hard rock band though, no doubt about it. And this, um, this is not, this is, you know, this is kind of something I've been leaning into since I wrote that song wasted heart for loaded in 2009, kind of this more acoustic. I think, you know, Susan was like, uh, it was like a year ago and she's like, do you know what yacht rock is? I'm like, no, I'm not really. I mean, I've heard the term and I'm serious. She's a yacht rock station, right?

08:05
And they played like, let's go check this out. And it was like, ELO. I love that. Great. And there was 10 CC and climate, whatever they're called blues band and, and, uh, you know what? Yes. That band. And they're great. You know, like, I'm like, but the instrumentation on all these songs is exactly what I'm doing for my music. I'm like, do I play, do I write yacht rock songs? But I think it's closer to, uh, you know,

08:34
the benchmarks would be yellow or that kind of 70s, you know, rock than anything else. Right, right. Well, it's interesting because we're talking about this direction and of course, you know, Lighthouse, which as you mentioned, has been out almost a year. But now, you know, when I saw you last, I think it was, it was actually a year ago at PowerTrip when we sat and I talked to you in your trailer, you were there playing with guns.

09:04
And we had you on. And you were telling me around that time, because I was talking to you about your music, and you were saying that you just have albums and albums worth of material. You have so much stuff in the bank that you could put out conceivably like a record a week. So to that end, you've actually, we're talking about Lighthouse, but you've actually put out some other new music that's

09:34
punk roots, so tell us about that. Right, right, right. So I do have a lot more songs, and Eddie, that was a year ago, you and I talked at Power Trip, more than that. So I do have a lot more songs recorded and done since then. So probably I have three, I mean, seriously, like three records ready to go. And because I have my own studio, it's almost a disease, man. It's four minutes from my house.

10:02
And I can go and record that riff and melody I wrote last night today. Um, so, but yeah, the song, so I, in recording all of these songs, to your point, um, I do, you know, I got punk rock songs in there, I got all kinds of songs in there and for this tour, I, I'd written a song, the working title is called heroes is not Bowie's heroes. It's my own song and I recorded it in July.

10:30
And Martin, my producer said, you know, you should try doing heroes by Bowie as well. Like we just got on that just because of the name working title, my other song. And we recorded it and it came out pretty cool, you know, and, and, um, what are we going to use this for? I don't know. Um, and right before I did the European tour, we released my version of David Bowie's heroes. So there was kind of something new, something fresh out there for the, for the audience right before the tour.

11:00
And then right before this American tour, uh, but last Friday or something, uh, I, for me, you know, you know, my background and for me to have leaving from fear opening for me, uh, on East coast gigs is just, you know, it's like the best thing that could ever happen. And so one of these songs, my manager, Brian came up with the idea of having Lee being, um, co-sing the song with me. And it was a song called all turning loose.

11:29
I had. So we did that. And then on the west coast, I have Joey Shithead from DOA, which was like my kiss in 1978, 1979. DOA were the biggest thing in the Northwest. And so Joey Shithead, we had another song called My Name is Bob and we had him co-sing that. And we put those out last Friday. And we're gonna have like a cool seven inch vinyl single for available on the tour.

12:00
Yeah, and those are unlike the more stripped down stuff we talked about. I've listened to those. Those are ripping two and a half minute, uh, you know, punk nuggets right there. It sounds like classic punk, but that's newly written material that you wrote and then incorporated these guys into. Right. Yeah, I had no, um, intention to incorporate them when I wrote the songs and I was wrote and sang the whole things right. And like, okay, we'll figure out where these go at some point. And then, uh,

12:27
Like I said, Brian, my manager came up with this idea, like let's have them co-sing it and there, there are a couple of my heroes that I grew up with. Um, it's really, you know, it's, it's awesome for me. You know, you mentioned Duff, like, you know, these punk guys were your kiss. And for me, kiss was my kiss because that was my gateway as a kid and all that. I had kids as well. I mean, kiss alive one is a classic that every kid my age had, you know, so I'd kiss.

12:57
But I had DOA, you know, the punk rock thing was like, you liked kiss and the ACDC was considered punk rock band first. They were in punk magazine before anything else, you know? So you had ACDC and you know, we, everybody loved UFO, you know, and, and everybody loved the clash. And so it was kind of a, I could have DOA being my kiss and also kiss being my kiss.

13:22
is my point. You know, speaking of that, I don't know, I know the broad strokes of punk, but I don't know it all that well, but you obviously do, and it's a big important thing to you. You know, about a week ago, the news came down that Paul Diano of Iron Maiden passed away and I spent a lot of time talking about Paul and we've had different people on the show talking about early Iron Maiden. And there are a lot of people-

13:47
that have referenced that those first early Iron Maiden albums with Deano had a punk attitude to them. And Paul actually had a punk look and the way he presented in that band. And I'm curious for you as a kid, the first two Maiden albums, did they connect with you and was there a punk, did you think there was a punk element to them? Well, I did because, and there was, there was more than that. There was like a tank, you know, and there was of course, motorhead.

14:17
and girls school all kind of British, they all had punk connections like, this is the greatest thing ever. So yeah, yeah, definitely identified with that, for sure with Paul and Maiden, all the punkers did. Like, oh, that guy's a punker. Yeah, fronting a metal band, but he brought that element to it in some ways, both visually and also in just sort of his attitude, I think.

14:47
Yeah, the delivery for sure. Yeah. So I'm assuming, you know, just talking punk here and the genre for a minute, I'm assuming that it was your idea for Guns N' Roses to do Ain't It Fun back in the day, right? You know, I mean, we all were so intermixed in what music we listened to at that point. We listened to each other's, you know, when we first met in 85, like we all shared each other's music we were into.

15:16
And, um, and we all started listening to each other's music and it became ingrained in our, in our band. And I, I think that Axl picked out Ain't It Fun. Really? To be honest with you. Yeah. Cause I always loved that version of that song. It's on Spaghetti. It's really good. I thought that was a great cover. Yeah. And it's a good cover because the way Axl sings it, you know, it's so kind of desperate, um, and it was a great.

15:45
Dead Boy song, of course, you know? Um, but, uh, yeah, I, if you're coming to a gig, Eddie, or if anybody's coming to a gig here, that's listening to Eddie show, uh, I know you're a fan of live music, Eddie, and, uh, this band I have together is extraordinary. It's one of those bands. Like I go to soundcheck looking forward to play, you know, we, we, we're going to rehearse tomorrow and on Friday and Saturday.

16:14
just because we've been off the road for like a week. And then we got these new songs to fold in and all that stuff. And I look forward to rehearsing. The players are so good and it just grow, every time we play it grows dynamically. And so if you get a chance to come out and see the gigs, oh dear. Let's run them down. Let's run them down for people because there's not all that many, there's a handful. It's not a full extensive tour. So it starts in Boston on November 4th, you're at Paradise Rock Club.

16:44
And then New York city on the sixth, Chicago on the eighth, Denver on the 10th, LA on the 13th at the LRA, then the 18th Portland, Oregon, and then your home of Seattle on November 20th at the show box. And on these dates, you actually have Joey on some dates opening and Lee Vingsband opening on some. And then on the LA date, your daughter's opening. Man, I...

17:11
So when we booked the shows and we're booking, leaving and I'm like, Oh man, that's a big get Lee wanted to do the shows. I'm like, yes. And then Joe shit had to want to do it, but there was LA and I thought I'd call grace, you know, um, she tries to stay out of like the nepotism area of she's a singer for those of you that don't know. And she has a killer band and, um, but she tries to stay out of. Yeah.

17:39
the nepotism area of doing the thing. She does everything on her own. I've asked to help her, like, I got a song for you. That's all right, Dad. Do you wanna play a gig? No, that's okay, Dad. But this one I asked her, I said, do you wanna play this show with just me and she knows the guys in my band? And she goes, you know what? I'd actually love to. So that was another big get for me. And like I said, any chance I could just...

18:08
with my family in any way, whether it's doing a gig with them or, you know, or whatever. I try to grab on to. Yeah, and why not? You know, and I appreciate her having that kind of position on all of that, but who did I just talk to about this recently? Because now that we're older and you and I are pretty much the same age. I mean, you know, you've got kids that are older and kids making their own path and doing their own thing, but

18:36
History has shown a million times that just because you are the son or daughter of a famous musician, it in no way guarantees anything. There's a million that have flamed out and not made it with whatever, you know, whatever benefits they've gotten from that. So you still got to deliver the goods. You still have to make it and still have to pay those dues because, you know, it's not it's not a guarantee by any stretch. Yeah.

19:05
Yeah, I know. And I think like with her, it's like she's had to kind of, it's, it's, I wouldn't want to be in a position she's in. Yeah. It's kind of duck and hide. She chooses to, you know, duck and hide around it. And I, I don't blame her. She's, you know, her band's in LA. She doesn't want to get that. Sort of, oh yeah. One of the guns and rose guys, daughter. Sure. You know, she doesn't want that kind of, cause her music is pure and genuine and cool as any.

19:34
new artist tries to strive to be, you know, so, um, even me talking about it right now, she'd probably be like, don't talk about my band. Uh, so I'll stop now. That's pretty punk rock. She doesn't want any, any exposures. She's so punk rock. She doesn't even want to talk about, well, just in her own, you know, in that whole circle. I mean, she, she has a show now. She,

20:04
The Heidi and Frank show in L on KLOS in LA, the interns, the morning show, and they really like her. They really like her and they gave her her own show on I heart radio. It's on Fridays, uh, card, heart to heart. And it's just, it's an hour of her, uh, taking calls and playing music. She has playlists and then she'll have a guest on for the second hour. And um, and they play music. But

20:33
The music she plays, I mean, I've been around both my girls a bunch and that turns me on to all this new music, Eddie. That's just like, whoa, mind blowing. I would never come across it. And there's a bunch of new young artists that are doing some pretty cool and out there and genuine stuff. That's what I always go for. Like the truth, you know, is this the truth? Are they trying to spread the truth? And when I latch onto a band that is,

21:02
You know, it's all over. Yeah. And I tell people that all the time. I think you're that way. I, I think you're that way. I know you, you, I I've seen some of your, uh, posts on, uh, a band playing live versus a band playing the, you know, maybe not all the way live or whatever's going on there, you know, we don't know what goes on behind the curtains there, uh, but you can tell sometimes, can't you? Oh yeah. Hey, why don't you just play the, play it. Yeah.

21:31
But Duff, I say all the time, if it's controversial that I believe a live rock show should actually be live, then we got problems. You know, I mean, it's just like, it's crazy. I mean, it's like, well, that guy's radical. He thinks paying money to hear a band play live, you should actually hear it live. I mean, to me, there's no more juice I get than going and hearing the buzz of amps and hearing a full live, raw, fly by the seat of your pants rock show. I mean, I just saw Rival Sons a couple of weeks ago, one of my favorite bands that,

22:01
That's as real as it gets. I mean, it's just so, so good. Soul Asylum, you know, Dave Perner bouncing that Telecaster off his knee, you know, off mic, he's off mic. I mean, I love that shit. That's what it's all about, man. And what you do. Yeah. I mean, it is what it's all about. I mean, it's almost goes without saying, you know, but you, you do say it sometimes you and you have a voice and you comment and it's kind of cool that you're at this point in your career, you know, going to, Hey, Hey, you know,

22:31
play the shit live. You know, I paid to come here and see you play live. Let's do that. Well, being honest, I'm fortunate that normally I don't have to pay if I'm gonna be totally honest. Okay, well, whatever. It's more being an advocate for all the people that do and just the purity of rock and roll, man. That's what it's all about. That's the whole point of going to a live show. So yeah, that's a...

22:56
that's a drum that I'll always beat because I think it's super, super, super important. And I see it getting away from us every day and it's a little bit scary. So I appreciate what you and so many others do to do that. So it's vital, man. It's vital. But I want to ask you as well about, so you've got these two new songs, All Turning Loose and My Name Is Bob. Both of them kick ass, like I said, both of them like two and a half minute.

23:25
you know, punk rocker nuggets. But I loved your version of heroes. Now you touched on this and there is a great video that really captures like you walking to the stage. You're with your wife, you greet the band, you go up there. It sounds so good. And then you've got Steve Jones speaking of icons, Steve Jones up there playing it with you. So I know you've got history with Steve. I know you did neurotic outsiders with Steve.

23:53
But was Steve just happened to be there and or was that planned? Was he on the road with you? Tell me about that. No. So Steve, cause the pistols, I don't know if you saw that news, the pistols played some shows. But they got, uh, that new singer, Frank Carter, who I got to go see them do a dress rehearsal at shepherd's Bush, uh, August 11th.

24:19
And I wasn't going to be able to be there for the show. So they had like this full, they played the full set at the, at the venue. And Susan and I went, we were going on our 25th anniversary trip to France. Super fancy. Uh, so we got to see the pistols with Frank Carter. And so it was just killer. And I think they're going to tour America to get a chance to see it. It's, it's, it's awesome. And Frank's from this band called the gallows. I could go into that for a million years. Anyhow, Steve Jones.

24:48
Was in London. He sees he rented a place there for six months and, uh, he and I are our dear friends. He's like an uncle to my daughters and good friends with my wife. And so I said, Steve, do you want to, you wanted to come to the show? Great. Come to the show. You want to bring a couple of friends and old school friends. Great. Um, Steve, do you want to play? I mean, I, if you're coming, do you want to play? I don't want to put you in a position you have to. Doug. Yeah, man. I, he's seen my band. He's seen the tenderness band. He's.

25:18
played with the Tentative band. So he likes this kind of acoustic driven stuff. So we did, um, uh, can't put your arms around a memory by Johnny Thunders, uh, and right into heroes. And to have Steve up there on stage with me in London, um, you know, he's the guy I, he's my touchstone, you know, my rock and roll touchstone. Um, so.

25:46
He and Iggy and I mean, like all, and Lemmy, like these are people that taught me everything. Joe Strummer, he taught me everything about what I do. And so to be on stage with Steve, it was quite a thing for me. You know, and you mentioned that this is a cover of the Bowie song, Heroes, which everybody knows, of course, great song. But the idea of all the Bowie songs in the catalog to do Heroes,

26:15
was because you had done, you had also written an original song, Heroes, so it put that name in your producer's head. That's why you landed on that Bowie song. That's how it works in the studio, you know? You just try some idea. I don't know what my song, Heroes, is gonna be called at the end of the day. I have no idea. It's a cool song, you know? I can't call it Heroes, because there's a pretty good song already called Heroes by David Bowie. So we just...

26:44
We're like, oh man, you know, I was playing it on a, Martin brought it up like heroes and I played it in, I seen the key of a G or whatever and I played it and I'm like, I sang and I'm like, it's in my range, you know, it's pretty much in my range. And we just recorded it and one thing led to another, you know, and it's a, the recording came out pretty good, you know, and live this band really, really killed it. And,

27:14
So here we are, you know, and people really do sing along to that song and people know the lyrics, you know. Oh, you can see it because there's audience shots of people watch the video. And I mean, it's, it's emotional. I mean, people really into it and it's really moving and it's, it's, and you do a great job with it. Did you ever meet Bowie? Did you know Bowie? I mean, I met him a couple of times. He was at the.

27:40
filming at the cat house when we did the filming for it's so easy. You ever seen that video for it's so easy. We're playing live and there's like an X rated part of the video. It never came out. Like, I don't think MTV played it because there was an X. Yeah. Wait tough now, now that you bring. Yeah. But now that you bring this up, I was talking to, I had Ricky Rackman on the show because Ricky was promoting.

28:06
these speaking shows he was doing. And he told me some story about Axl chasing Bowie down the street or some crazy thing that went on that night. I don't remember the exact story, but Ricky told a story about that, that Bowie came that night. I mean, I heard that story too, but I didn't see that happen. Just know that Bowie was at our show. And you know, Flash grew up with Bowie. Bowie's a good friend of his mom.

28:36
Right. And they actually, they actually even dated for a while. David was like, you know, just the stepdad for a minute, you know? And, but slash got to know him. And so when I met slash, when we, you know, you were like 19 years old, he's like, we were going through and like getting to know each other and then David, you know, I'm like, David who David Bowie, you know, David Bowie. And like, oh, he's a friend of your, he's a friend of your family. Wow.

29:05
So I got to meet him a couple of times, you know, um, always been a fan of David Bowie, you know, but back then, you met him back then when he was dating slash his mom, like that early mom in the seventies, but, but, and then, you know, like Ola son's band got signed slash, you know, his mom's name is Ola. And so he was like trying to come in like the slash the kid.

29:34
Now, you know, in Guns N' Roses, you know, play a show and lend support. Ah, it's amazing. It's amazing. All the different connections there here and there. So, um, Hey, so do you want to do more of these? Like I know, as I mentioned, you've got six, seven dates, but do you hope to add more or is this all you're going to be able to get in because, you know, I'm hearing rumblings that Guns will start up again next year. So is this just a schedule thing that you've got this few, or do you want to

30:04
kind of feel it out and maybe do more if your schedule opens? You know, that's a great question. I'm leaving it open-ended at this point. If there's a demand, you know, I don't want to go places that they don't care, you know? I'm not going to do that. I'm going to go places that we got a pretty good gauge that, you know, they kind of give, you know, S about it.

30:29
And so that's important to me to go to an audience that's already connected to this thing, how you figure that out. I don't know what we're, what we're doing it. Um, so, you know, it'd be amazing to go play like Mexico city and Argentina and Brazil, I think, you know, with this thing. Uh, so maybe I'll do that kind of stuff. Um, is Australia there maybe, and, uh, I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out.

30:57
And just lastly, what can, if anything, what can you tell the audience about guns? We know your work in this, we know Slash is in the studio now. Axel got up and sang with Billy Joel recently in LA and New York, which was very cool. But I'm imagining you guys are going to reconvene next year. Is there a plan in place that you can share and tell us anything? Not a plan I can share, but you know how that works with us. Things are rumbling.

31:27
And as soon as I can share it at, you'll be the first guy that knows. Is there any, one other question, is there anything that you can share as far as a desire or plan for new music or is that not in the cards right now for guns? No, there's definitely a desire and a plan for new music. Yeah, for sure. Okay. Well, hopefully 25.

31:56
25, you know, would be, I mean, I imagine the year off, because you guys hit it hard when you were out there hitting it. So I imagine this this kind of time away is giving everybody a chance to kind of recharge a little on the guns front as well. Right? Yeah. And you know, we ended so, you know, you can go on a tour and you can have peaks and valleys on the tour like, and we we never do. It's always like, every gig is

32:23
is super special. Even when we extended our tour, you know, after touring for so much, extending it for another four weeks, that can destroy a band. You know, it can, I've seen it happen. Like that's too long. You went too long and everybody's starting to snap at each other and the crew and all that stuff. But it doesn't happen with our band or our crew. So we ended on this really highlight, you know, which was Mexico City, this huge gig we did. And we played two nights at the Hollywood bowl right before that. It was really

32:53
special, you know, they had the black keys opening at the Hollywood bowl, really cool, um, different sort of show. And, um, so I think we, we ended and like, Oh man, let's not end, you know, let's, let's get back to this soon. And, but I think for me, I know I had to rest, I had to rest my body, uh, a lot of hours on stage, a lot of, you know, a lot of traveling and I got a list of my body these days, you know, I, you know,

33:23
I got to listen. So I had to rest. I think we all need a rest. Flash, he'll go out and tour, you know, like four weeks later and do that. I'm like, okay, dude, more power. I'm going to Hawaii. I'm going to Hawaii, man. I'd be in your camp, man. I, I texted slash the other day about something we were talking. He's like, yeah, I'm, I'm going to be, I gotta go to.

33:50
in the studio, I'm going to Florida, I'm going here, I'm going there. I was like, they went right. And I saw him right when Guns ended because he did my show in L.A. because he had the blues record right on the heels of that. I was like, I have never seen a guy with a work ethic like that in my life. It's incredible. No, it's I mean, I got it. I think you have a great work ethic and I do. And but his is like, just it's it's, I don't know, some other level, you know, like he cannot sit still.

34:20
Uh, and his blues thing, I went and saw that in Seattle and it was so good. I got to go see him at a rehearsal down in LA and then got to see the real show and in Seattle and it was, it was so good and that is his roots. You know, he was playing blues guitar when I met him, you know, I'm like, who's this 19 year old guy in 1984 playing blues guitar, you know, he was such like a quandary.

34:48
But blues is his roots and seeing him with that blues band, like, it was like, he was home, you know? Yeah, it's a cool record and there's some great guests on there too and some great vocals on there and performances. It's people that we did a whole thing on it in LA. He actually came into the studio and the day that he came in, the guest before him on my show was Joe Bonamassa. So I texted him, I go, you picked a perfect day because you got the guy that's waving the flag for the blues. And I said, if you're cool with it.

35:18
I'd love to have him sit in with both of you, you know, do a crossover with the two of you. He's like, yeah, fuck yeah, man. So I had him and Bonamassa together at the same time. It was a lot of fun. That's cool. That's real cool. Hey, I got a last thing I'll let you go. You know, you mentioned one of my all time favorite bands earlier, UFO. And speaking of Axl, he recently sang on a Michael Schenker record, one of my favorite songs of all time, Love to Love. Did you hear that?

35:48
Did you hear it? Yeah, of course I heard it. Yeah, I thought he did a great job with it because to me, like the way you are with punk that and that song in particular is like the most sacred territory. And I was like, okay, no Axl's Axl, but he's going like into my sweet spot right now. And I thought he did a great job with it. I really did. Yeah, I did too. It was really, it was really, it's cool for me to watch actual good ass.

36:16
to do stuff, you know, because me and slash get to go, we play on all kinds of people's records and go out and play gigs with, and you know, Axl being the lead singer, it's just, I think it's just less of a, you know, these, so I don't know what it is. It's different, you know, I think people are intimidated. I think Duff, I think people are intimidated. I mean, I, you know, I've interviewed Axl a couple of times, he's always been a sweetheart to me, but I think there's this

36:43
You know, there's this thing, you know, he's this aura around him where I think people are almost afraid to ask him. Yeah, maybe, maybe that's it. Maybe, you know, I don't know how, I don't know how the Shanker thing happened because, um, you know, I know slash is on the record too, on a different track, but, but how they even approached him to do it, I don't know if they got to axle through slash or what, but I thought it was great that they both did.

37:08
Yeah, we were in Europe. I remember we were in Europe and that thing came up and I'm like, God, man, it'd be great if Axl did that song. That'd be it. I already knew it'd be great, you know? And especially when he takes something on, like, okay, I'll do it. He already knows he can crush it, you know? I'm pretty sure. Yeah. So. He did. There was a night. Go ahead. No, no, go ahead. Oh, so Tim DiGiulio, who's in my band, speaking of UFO.

37:38
Uh, Tim's usually plays, he's one of the lead guitar players. And both guitar players are lead guitar players. They're both killer, but Tim has this UFO. Do you know about flight to Mars? Yeah. With McCready. UFO band with Mike McCready. Yeah. Tim is the real guitar player in that is the guy that plays all the leads and stuff. Uh, in that UFO cover band. So he's, he is like, he has, he's also in a band called Hello Queen.

38:07
which is a Queen cover band to do. He does all these, but his UFO stuff, if you ever get a chance to fly to Mars, it's amazing. Well, I've had Mike on when he's done those shows, talking about it and, you know, Mike and I, I mean, hell, we don't even talk about Pearl Jam when we talk about our love of UFO. And it's funny, same with Kirk Hammett. Whenever I talk to Kirk, we just talk about UFO the whole time, but.

38:33
It's, Mike told me he only does that band. I guess he does it for his Crohn's charity or something. Yeah. And they only do a show or two a year and it's always in the Seattle area. But I would love to see it because there aren't many UFO tributes out there, but the ones I've seen have been pretty good, but I've not seen that one. This one, I mean, it's shut your eyes and it's UFO and it's just, there's so much energy in it and they're all super stoked to be playing those songs and they're really good. Actually my drummer.

39:02
both of them, Tim and my drummer, Mike Musburger, both in that UFO band. So yeah, I've got a little bit of UFO in my bank. Yeah. We got to tell McCready to stop with that Pearl Jam thing and focus more on his tribute. I know, right? Come on, Mike, get your priorities straight. Go do clubs with UFO covers. Forget about playing Five Nights at the Garden. I'll tell you a thing, man. You brought up Kurt Hammett.

39:30
Susan and I went and saw Metallica whenever they were here in Seattle, seven weeks ago at the stadium, you know, and, uh, we got there and Kim Thale and sound guard, we were on this like little, um, riser, right? They put us on this little riser and you're right. You're only, it's about four feet high. So you're right amongst the Metallica family of fans, right? You're just on this little weird riser and it was Kim Thale.

40:00
Sean Kenny from Alice in Chains, Mike Borden, Beto Moore, myself. And it was funny because Metallica, when we did the Metallica tour, Mike Borden was like, remember we did those shows? And I'm like, oh yeah, we did those with Beto Moore and Metallica. And then Kim was bringing up the Soundgarden. We did Metallica, Guns, Soundgarden. And it was just this amazing moment. And did you see, have you seen the Metallica tour?

40:29
in the round. I saw, no, I saw them at power trip, but I have not seen the two nights in one city in the round thing yet. Yeah. It was, it was, it was, I mean, the weather was perfect. The band was, we've got to see Pantera with Zach, you know, I mean, that was really cool. You know, it was cool to see Bill and, uh, do that thing. And then Metallica in the round and seeing that Metallica family, you know, it really is like, it gives you,

40:58
faith in rock and roll, like all these people, 50,000 people. You know, and I get to be in the audience. I'm not playing the show. I get to see everything and the camaraderie and all that stuff. And I'm with my old friends, you know, Kim Thal and Sean Kenny and Mike Borden. It was really a wonderful night and they're, they're just, Metallica is so good right now. Yeah, no, it's amazing what they're still capable of doing, playing that music of that sort of intensity. I mean,

41:27
It's incredible. They did a show a couple years ago. I used to work for a record label, their original label, Megaforce. And when the owners of that label died, Lars sent me a text and he said, we're gonna do a special show in Florida. And he said, we're gonna do it as a tribute to John and Marcia Z. And he said, you're the guy still standing from that time. He said, we want you to come down and go out on stage and talk about them and tell people the importance of this show and why we're doing this.

41:57
And so they flew me down there and I went and did it and it was incredible. And they played at that show, nothing but the first two records, because those are the two records that came out on Megaforce. And so if you were an early Metallica fan, it was heaven. But the night before they rehearsed in the venue and I'm standing in the wings of the stage, you know, there's no audience in there and between every other song.

42:26
Lars would get up off the drum kit and be shaking out his hands. And Kirk would come over to me and be like, what the fuck was I playing when I was 20 years old, man? He goes, this is too much. So, you know, it's amazing that at their age, at this point, they can still deliver a two, two and a half hour show of that intensity. Yeah. It was, it was so glad I went. It's one of those shows like you're glad you went to your, and you know it in the midst of it.

42:56
Like, I'm glad I'm here. And the people I was with, not only Susan, but my old school friends, it was really a special thing. It was great. Hey, since we're just talking rock in general, I promise you last thing, I'll let you go. What do you make of this? Are you an Oasis fan? And what do you make of this absolute pandemonium of these shows and to get tickets and millions of tickets sold and everything? I mean,

43:25
That's a great thing for rock music, in my opinion, whether you like the band or not. And I do like the band, but I make the case they're the biggest rock band in the world right now. I mean, it's crazy what's happening with this thing. Yeah, I mean, I think you, I mean, I like Oasis. I didn't go crazy for him. You know, there's a lot of people in 95 or whatever, 96 were going crazy. I mean, I really appreciate their songwriting and

43:55
And I thought they're kind of like, we're better than the Beatles was, was a super like fun, you know, like, I knew they were kind of taking the piss, but, uh, but they did it well, you know, and, um, kind of seeing them, them fight and kind of fall apart was like, you know, uh, you know, they're brothers, like what's going on here. Um, but yeah, the pandemonium of coming back is that was, it's insane.

44:24
Like, you know, firsthand when guns came back, obviously, you know, that that was, that was there, but this is like at a level that's just, this is like Taylor Swift level in rock. It's crazy. Isn't that weird? Yeah. It just went, went beyond. I'm sure they were, you know, probably freaked out by it too. I mean, it's, it's just such a huge thing and, and it is good for rock and roll. And, and, you know, me seeing Metallica seven weeks ago, uh,

44:53
You know, like rock and roll is alive and well and doing these gigs in Europe, you know, people showing up, sell out crowds and in some places, you know, people are showing up and they're, I'm signing like vinyl and CDs in Europe, just selling a ton of vinyl and CDs. People are buying, I mean, you know, 150 a day, I guess, you know, signing all this stuff and like it's gone.

45:22
you need to sign more. I'm like, people bought CDs? Really? You know, and people are buying vinyl and it's really cool to see and rock and roll seems to be alive and well. I think there is definitely an interest in physical media, people owning it again. I just went to Japan for the first time in my life with Sammy Hagar. He took me over on this tour. I'd never been there. My first time, Duff, it was, I mean, you've been obviously many times for me.

45:52
It was mind blowing and what a way to go traveling with Sammy and we, you know, the best hotels and bullet train and all that was just surreal and amazing. And Michael and Satriani and Kenny Aronoff, the best people, it was just so much fun. But I'm a, I'm a CD guy all the way still. And it was so cool to go into tower records in Tokyo, nine floors and like eight of the floors were CDs. People were just like still crazy for the CD there.

46:21
Made me so happy to see that. Yeah, yeah, that tower record just is amazing. Every, you know, in Japan it's just, I'm glad you got to go. Did you go to the Rock Rock Bar in Osaka? Yep, everybody, every rock artist I know, when I told them I was going to Japan, they all go, you gotta go to Rock Rock. So we had a night off in Osaka. I got an Uber, I went over there. And it was funny because I heard so much about this place.

46:48
I expected it to be this giant like big thing. And it's this little, as you know, it's this little corner bar, like three stories up and I go in and there's like a DJ behind glass and I'm standing there. And then the woman gives me a drink and then she keeps looking at me. And then she figured out who I was and she comes running over and takes a Polaroid, she put me on the wall. And then she's like, we have so many mutual friends. I go, I know they all told me to come here. So we had a great time. Yeah. Rock rock bar.

47:16
Yeah, it was a fun, fun, fun time. I can't wait to go back over there. And as you know, the fans there are unbelievable. They know everywhere you are, where you're going, when you're going, what train, what plane, what van it's unbelievable. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can't even imagine. The first time we went there, it was like, yeah, there was like, we came up on the train platform or something and it was like a thousand kids like, wait, what?

47:46
And yeah, outside the hotels, all that kind of stuff, just going crazy for it. Was that on Appetite? Did you, Duff, did you guys go on Appetite? We did, yeah. So that's pre, obviously pre-cell phone, pre-internet. People were telling me like, you know, of course now with cell phones and everything, people can communicate over there, like where they stake out, where the artist is gonna be. But one of the promoters was telling me like,

48:14
Yeah, but even back in the 80s, before there were cell phones, they still knew the hotel, the train platform. It's amazing. Yeah, we went there in, I don't know if we went in 87, but we went on appetite. We went definitely in 88 and it could have been late 87. And we, a couple of places we broke first, it wasn't America. It was UK and Japan.

48:42
is where we broke first. So we went over there and we were going to play like, I think some smaller places and moved it up and we played the, uh, boot-a-con and like, you know, everybody knows cheap trick live at boot-a-con. Amazing. So, uh, yeah, it was kind of a thing. And we went up to Osaka and played and we played a few cities there. And it was, you know, your first time there. Yeah. Pre internet and pre phone, not knowing what to expect. Uh, and getting there and like, wow, it was, it was, uh,

49:12
did totally different culture, especially back in the eighties, you know? Yeah. And you didn't have any Google translate to rely on like I did when I went a couple of weeks ago. No, none of that. None of that. No, you had like translators, but you know, we had a translator with us. Yeah. No, we had that too, but I was still leaning on the phone and doing the translations there. But listen, man, I always love shooting the shit with you and, um, everybody go check out Duff November 4th. It starts Boston.

49:41
Paradise Rock Club. Then you roll through New York, Chicago, Denver, LA, Portland, Seattle. If you're listening in those areas, check the listings, get your tickets, some great opening acts on there as well and go see some 100% real live rock and roll, man. It's always great to talk to you, brother. All right, Eddie, thanks bud. I appreciate it. Anytime, man. I'll hopefully see you out there, all right? Take care. Cheers, cheers, man. See ya. See ya, Eddie. Bye bye. There goes Duff McKagan, everybody.

50:09
Checking in with us. Good hang with him. Almost an hour straight. Like I said, that's the best stuff. I mean, obviously Duff's got, you know, stuff to promote here, but, you know, just another music connoisseur loving talking rock music, which is what we do here on Trunk Nation and love doing it. Thanks to Duff for the time. Again, the album is out now Lighthouse and you've got some those extra tracks and the cover of Heroes. The video is online for that right now.

50:37
And I mentioned the live dates as well.

Excerpts from Blabbermouth:
__________________________

During an October 29 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan confirmed that he and his bandmates have been working on fresh material. "There's definitely a desire and a plan for new music," he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth.net). "Yeah, for sure."

Addressing the fact that Guns N' Roses hasn't performed live since completing a North American tour in November 2023 at the Hell & Heaven Metal Fest in Mexico, Duff said: "You can go on a tour and you can have peaks and valleys on the tour. And we never do. It's always, like, every gig is super special. Even when we extended our tour — after touring for so much, extending it for another four weeks, that can destroy a band. I've seen it happen. That's too long. You went too long. And everybody's starting to snap at each other and the crew and all that stuff. But it doesn't happen with our band or our crew. So we ended on this really highlight, which was Mexico City, this huge gig we did. And we played two nights at the Hollywood Bowl right before that. It was really special. We had The Black Keys opening at the Hollywood Bowl — a really cool, different sort of show. So I think we ended and were, like, 'Oh, man. Let's not end. Let's get back to this soon.' But I think for me, I know I had to rest — I had to rest my body. A lot of hours on stage. A lot of traveling. And I've gotta listen to my body these days. I've gotta listen. So I had to rest. I think we all need to rest. Slash, he'll go out and tour, like, four weeks later [with one of his projects] and do it all over again. I'm, like, 'Okay, dude. More power to you. I'm gonna go to Hawaii. I'm going to Hawaii, man.'"

https://blabbermouth.net/news/duff-mckagan-theres-definitely-a-desire-and-a-plan-for-new-guns-n-roses-music

More excerpts from BraveWords:
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Duff McKagan recently spoke with Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation. During their conversation, Duff talks about recording new solo music and recent collaborations.

On making and releasing new solo music:

"So I do have a lot more songs. And Eddie, that was a year ago you and I talked at Power Trip, more than that. So I do have a lot more songs recorded and done since then. So probably I have three, I mean, seriously, like three records ready to go. And because I have my own studio, it's almost a disease man. It's four minutes from my house and I can go and record that riff and melody I wrote last night, today. So, but yeah, in recording all of these songs, to your point, I do, you know, I got punk rock songs in there. I got all kinds of songs in there. And for this tour I'd written a song, the working title's called 'Heroes'. It's not Bowie's 'Heroes'. It's my own song. And I recorded it in July.

"And Martin, my producer said, 'You know, you should try doing 'Heroes' by Bowie as well.' Like, we just got on that just because of the name, working title, my other song. And we recorded it and it came out pretty cool, you know, and, what are we gonna use this for? I don't know. I don't know. And right before I did the European tour, we released my version of David Bowie's 'Heroes'. So there was kind of something new, something fresh out there for the audience right before the tour. Then right before this American tour, what, last Friday or something, for me, you know my background and for me to have Lee Ving from Fear opening for me on the East Coast gigs is just, you know, it's like the best thing that could ever happen. And so one of these songs, my manager Brian, came up with the idea of having Lee co-sing the song with me. And it was a song called 'All Turning Loose' I had, so we did that.

"And then on the West Coast I have Joey Shithead from DOA, which was like my KISS in 1978, 1979, DOA was the biggest thing in the Northwest. And so Joey Shithead, we had another song called 'My Name Is Bob', and we had 'em co-sing that. And we put those out last Friday. And we're gonna have like a cool seven inch vinyl single for it available on the tour."

https://bravewords.com/news/duff-mckagan-on-creating-and-releasing-solo-material-i-probably-have-three-records-ready-to-go-audio