Slash joined Alice Cooper on stage Wednesday night (October 28) at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles to perform the classic track "School's Out."
According to Examiner.com, Slash played the song on his red sunburst Les Paul, as Cooper strutted on stage in a glittering suit and matching top hat. Cooper then proclaimed, "Happy Halloween."
Read a review and check out photos of the concert at this location. (via Blabbermouth)
In other news, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has confirmed that he was being considered for the singer slot in Velvet Revolver.
Speaking to Altitude TV (see video below), Taylor said, "I had a meeting with those guys, we did some demos together, and it just didn't work — for whatever reason."
He added, "It was just really cool. It was one of those things where it's like I could have got to jam with legends, man, in my opinion. But, you know, it was cool, and I still know those guys, I still hang out with them, and I still have nothing but respect."
Slash was asked a few months ago by the webmaster of his official fan site if there was any truth to the rumor that Taylor was going to be the next VR singer. According to a posting on the site, Slash "said it looked like it for a minute, but they had decided against it."
Slash will appear on George Lopez' new talk show on TBS November 16.
You can watch Slash N' Friends playing "Immigrant Song" and "Highway to Hell" from the 'Jason Cam' below (Kristiansand, Norway June 30, 2009).
via Blabbermouth Duff McKagan's Loaded will tour South America in early November.
The band is scheduled to perform at Willie Dixon in Rosario, Argentina on November 5, with dates in Brazil (November 8) and Chile (Santiago on November 11) also in the works.
In other news, McKagan will guest on "The BJ Shea Morning Experience" this Wednesday (September 30) on the Seattle radio station KISW 99.9 FM
Duff will appear at approximately 8:20 AM PST
Drummer Geoff Reading recently quit Loaded and was replaced by Isaac Carpenter.
In other news, Blabbermouth is reporting that former Guns N' Roses / Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum told Blistering.com that Velvet Revolver will eventually get back together. He said, "We have been e-mailing back and forth, in search of a singer, so we have high expectations. We want to make sure this singer will work and be a better thing. We looked a long time before we got Scott, and I don't know if we got Scott because it seemed like an easy way to fill the bill.
I know we want to take it up a notch and make it better. When we got Scott, we jumped into it pretty quick. Even though Me, Slash, Duff and Dave had been working together on the first record before Scott came on, then Scott jumped on and we went on the road and did the record pretty quick.
The second album, I think, we fell prey to more of what Scott wanted to do and we wanted to straight-up rock and roll. I think this time around we would like to make a real strong rock album and stick with more of our roots.
The first record he picked the songs. We had about fifty songs written. He just started to sing on them, that album happened real organically and really quickly.
When we went to write the second album it seemed to take different road, I always wanted to make a harder record, but I think we went a little lighter and the fans didn’t really care for that much. I think the second record is a good one but we did what we did. I think it was a weird chemistry between us."
California Chronicle Duff McKagan proved he had an eye for figures when he was invited to a wild party at the legendary Playboy mansion. But the US rock star wasn't just eyeing up the scantily-clad Bunny Girls lounging around the home of millionaire Hugh Hefner.
The bassist impressed the sex industry mogul with his business knowledge and landed a job writing a financial column for Playboy magazine.
Duff said: "I went to business school and got my finance degree. It's an interesting time to be writing a financial column. It's great fun and keeps my brain ticking over."
Duff shot to fame playing with two of the biggest bands in rock history - Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver, so he's one of the few rockers equipped to keep tabs on the royalties he earns.
He said: "I keep a handle on where all our money goes. When Guns blew up we began creating huge income - not just for us but for other people. Musicians have no training for things like business managers and tax credits. I didn't want to get ripped off so I learned about it."
Duff brings his new band Loaded to the O2 Academy in Glasgow on October 17 supporting Black Stone Cherry.
The group will promote new single "Mother's Day," a track from their album, Sick.
Duff said: "I like the feeling of forward motion a tour gives you [everything] from the cameraderie of a band to the feedback from the audience."
He has fond memories of playing in Scotland with Velvet Revolver, the supergroup formed with ex-Guns' bandmates Slash and Matt Sorum.
He told me: "Our show at the SECC in Glasgow in 2004 is one of my three favourite gigs of my entire career. The crowd was figuratively carrying us on their shoulders. I felt so in the moment. I'd put it up there with when Guns played at Rock In Rio in 1991."
But Duff has promised we've not seen the last of Velvet Revolver.
In 2008, singer Scott Weiland announced on stage at the SECC he was quitting the band but Duff says plans are in place to reform the band next autumn.
He said: "We've got a top 10 list of singers we'd like to try out, and enough material for a great new record."
TMZ has learned Stone Temple Pilots front man Scott Weiland experienced a seizure during an American Airlines flight just hours ago.
Sources close to Scott tell us he suffered the seizure while flying from Los Angeles to Miami. The plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
TMZ has been told that Scott has a history of seizures - he was taken to the hospital for precautionary measures. Despite the seizure, we're told Scott plans on attending the launch of his clothing line "Weiland for English Laundry" on Saturday.
A rep traveling with Weiland tells Rolling Stone exclusively that the airplane staff called for medical assistance over the loud speaker and had to administer oxygen to Weiland. Shortly after, Weiland had come to and was “in good spirits” as was taken off the plane for the hospital.
Weiland was traveling with his Scott Weiland Band to Miami for a performance and the launch of his clothing line Weiland for English Laundry at the club Mansion. The rep said the singer has a history of seizures, but is now “doing great” and expects to leave for Miami tomorrow and appear at the club as scheduled.
Drummer Geoff Reading has left Duff McKagan's Loaded. He says in a statement, "The pressures of being in the 'Duff from Guns N' Roses' spotlight, while thrilling, have left me unable to get back to the performer I was pre-cancer, and unable properly provide for my family. This combination has plagued my mental recovery, and I need to take time now to focus on these things.
The fellas have hired the great Isaac Carpenter (Loudermilk, Gosling, Ours, The Exiles) to fill in for the UK tour, with a warm-up show at the Chop Suey in Seattle on October 3. I wouldn't miss this show for anything. Isaac is an AMAZING drummer and I, for one, will be right there in front of the stage, with all you Capitol Hill hipsters, arms folded, judging them.
Thank you all for the love and support you've shown me and Loaded."
For more information on the new Duff McKagan's Loaded drummer, visit his MySpace page.
Slash and his wife had mixed results in court today in their bid to recover more than $500,000 they say they lost in a transaction involving a Hollywood Hills home.
LA Superior Court Judge Mel Red Recana said he is leaning toward allowing a jury to decide whether Slash and his wife Perla deserve punitive damages from real estate agent Gregory Holcomb and Sotheby's International Realty.
However, the judge said he wanted to consider the matter further before making a final decision.
On a second issue, Recana said the couple's lawyers cannot begin collecting information on the defendants' financial worth unless a jury finds they acted with malice, oppression or fraud.
The Hudsons' lawyers wanted to begin gathering the financial data sooner in preparation for a possible punitive damages phase of the trial.
They allege Sotheby's and Holcomb acted in conscious disregard of the Hudsons' rights by not telling them they were entitled to a preliminary title report.
The plaintiffs' lawyers also argue the Hudsons should have been told they could have backed out of the purchase if they chose and gotten a refund of their $186,500 deposit before escrow closed.
Slash and Perla sued in November 2007. They allege they were not given proper disclosure about the home, including that it was much smaller than 7,800 square feet, as listed, and that there were other issues with the title to the property.
In a sworn declaration, Perla Hudson said she and her husband closed escrow on the home in January 2006 for $6.25 million, then sold it in November 2007 for $5.725 million without ever moving in.
The couple lost an additional significant amount of money in carrying costs on the property, while Holcomb received a commission of nearly $124,000, the Hudsons' court papers state.
In choosing a home, Perla Hudson stated she and her husband also were concerned about security for themselves and their two young sons, after being forced in the summer of 2005 "to obtain a restraining order against a deranged fan."
Defense attorneys say punitive damages should not be available to the Hudsons because there is no evidence anyone in authority at Sotheby's was responsible for approving anything Holcomb is alleged to have done wrong.
The lawyers also maintain there was no way their clients could have known that the MLS description of the home was incorrect and that it was not actually on a private street as the Hudsons had thought.
January 17 VH1's Sober House Premieres. Steven Adler shows up wasted, with syringes in his pants pockets, and a tin foil package full of heroin down his pants. Chaos ensues and he gets taken to the home of a staff member to spend the first night, both to protect himself and the other participants.
January 27 A mere 8 weeks after it's release, Chinese Democracy plummets to number 57 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.
January 29 Former Guns N' Roses manager Alan Niven tells Classic Rock magazine that Axl fired him "to wrestle control of GN’R!" Of the new GN’R, Niven comments: “Y’know, everyone has the right to make the music they want to with whomever they wish. But just be up ’n’ up about it. All this ‘last man’ standing stuff from Axl is horseshit. He wore us all out. Drove us all off. And for a personality like Axl, solo work only makes sense. If he wants to be Elton Rose then more power to him. Go for it. Pull it off. He has the talent to do that. But don’t pretend that one person alone represents the idea of Guns N’ Roses."
February 6 Axl Rose breaks his silence and gives his first public interview in 9 years with Billboard magazine. He addresses rumors of an upcoming tour, "no plans, but there's talk. Management and our promoters are really excited with the offers coming in both here and worldwide." Axl mentions that they're "finalizing a video for 'Better' and writing a couple others now." On the subject of Slash, Axl had this to say "one of the two of us will die before a reunion and however sad, ugly or unfortunate anyone views it, it is how it is. Those decisions were made a long time ago and reiterated year after year by one man. Anyone putting his own personal entertainment above everything else is sickening."
February 9 Matt Sorum reveals that Velvet Revolver hopes to announce their new vocalist in April.
February 9 Steven Adler heads back to rehab (again).
Febraury 9 The third single from Chinese Democracy, "Street of Dreams," appears on eBay and YouTube. It is never played on the radio, seen in stores, acknowledged by the band or heard from again. Copies of the promo disc are fetching over $150 a piece on eBay.
February 13 Regarding Velvet Revolver's new singer, Duff McKagan tells Opie and Anthony that "I think we have the guy ... yeah. You'll be blown away by the quality. I think we have the right guy. We all know he's killer."
February 14 Nick Sterling auditions for Guns N' Roses.
February 18 Jimmy Fallon says that he wants Axl Rose to appear on his new late-night show. Jimmy calls Chinese Democracy "awesome."
February 23 Rumors of a European festival tour begin to trickle in. Organizers of Spain's Kobetasonik festival list Guns N' Roses as a headliner on the festival's web page. Other rumored dates include June 26 in Norway, August 1 at the Sonisphere Festival in Knebworth, England and June 12-14 at the Download Festival also in England. There are also reports of dates in Italy for the month of June.
February 27 Axl is interviewed by his longtime friend Del James. In the interview Axl says the he considers Slash "a cancer and better removed, avoided -- and the less anyone heard of him or his supporters, the better." In regard to a release date for the sequel to Chinese Democracy Axl says he has no idea and that he doesn't care.
March 4 Rolling Stone reports that Axl Rose intends to follow last November’s release of Chinese Democracy with a worldwide Guns N’ Roses stadium tour this summer. Guns’ manager, Irving Azoff, tells Rolling Stone that the band has big plans for this year. "We have some exciting things in the works this year for GN’R, I’m looking forward to it." Hits Daily Double reports that a co-headlining tour with Van Halen is in the works. Rumors suggest that Guns' set will feature a full orchestra and lavish stage show. March 5 Canadian Sports Station, TSN, announces a contest to win a trip to see Guns N' Roses perform live "somewhere in the world."
March 9 Velvet Revolver demos with Gord Prior leak. March 18 Bass Player magazine publishes an interview with Tommy Stinson where he mentions tour dates beginning in April. "I have a feeling it's going to happen, but I'm not holding my breath. It seems that every time that ball starts rolling, it rolls a bit Like a square wheel at first."
March 20 An update on Nomad Recording Studio's MySpace page reads "JT Longoria is the process of mixing new tracks for Izzy Stradlin" As of today (July 24), there is still no release date for this record.
March 21 Guns N’ Roses add guitarist DJ Ashba for “upcoming tour.” The phrase "upcoming tour" is later redacted from the band's website.
March 26 Duff McKagan's Loaded announce Spring tour dates.
April 14 Chinese Democracy comes to the Rock Band 2 videogame.
April 17 Sick, the new album from Duff McKagan's Loaded, sells 1,400 copies in the United States its first week of release.
April 22 Guns N' Roses front-of-house engineer, Ken "Pooch" van Druten appears in a pair of videos discussing the band's Waves audio set-up for their upcoming tour. Pooch talks about the challenges of live mixing a 9-piece band. You can hear the musicians rehearsing "Sweet Child O' Mine" in the background. The videos are removed from YouTube in a matter of hours and the tour is called off several days later.
April 28 Richard Fortus tells KDHX 88.1 FM that Guns "hopefully, will be announcing dates soon, I hope."
April 30 Matt Sorum tells Joe Bosso at MusicRadar that Velvet Revolver needs "a singer soon. We need the right guy in six months. We can't wait another year. Otherwise, it might not matter."
May 7 Slash appears as a mentor on American Idol's rock week.
May 19 Bumblefoot jams with Duff McKagan's Loaded at the Gramercy theater in New York City.
June 1 Slash announces that Izzy Stradlin will play with him on his upcoming solo album.
June 7 The NY Daily News reports that Axl Rose has fired and rehired his manager, Irving Azoff, at least three times in the last five weeks.
June 15 Amazon announces a June 30 release date for the Chinese Democracy guitar tablature book. As of today (July 24) it has not been released.
June 16 New, alternate artwork for the Chinese Democracy booklet appears online. An indie record store in Hollywood is selling copies of the promotional disc for $100. A rep at Universal told me that there are no plans to re-release the album.
June 30 Slash and Friends play the Quart festival in Kristiansand, Norway. The 90 minute set featured appearances from Ron Wood, Ozzy Osbourne and Fergie. The band, which featured Franky Perez on lead vocals, covered songs by Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Velvet Revolver, The Rolling Stones, Guns N' Roses, Black Sabbath and more.
July 7 Mister Saint Laurent resurfaces in an attempt to obtain and release a collection of hoarded, unheard songs from the Chinese Democracy sessions. He is, unfortunately, unsuccessful.
July 14 Blogger Kevin "Skwerl" Cogill is sentenced to 1 year probation for leaking 9 songs from the Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy. "No fines, no restitution, no jail." July 15 A live chat with new Guns N' Roses guitarist DJ Ashba fails to deliver any information on the group.
July 17 Slash tells Classic Rock magazine that Velvet Revolver is "at a standstill."
July 23 Kevin Cogill tells the GN'R Syndicate that Beta Lebeis' son Fernando lied to the FBI and was responsible for past leaks of GN'R material. "He may have been trying to play hero to redeem himself, or he may have mistakenly thought he was somehow responsible. I don’t know."
Ask any musician, and they'll tell ya: one of the hardest thing about this "business" is finding the "right" band members. I can remember being in Velvet Revolver for about 15 minutes or so (about three weeks, actually) and the thing I loved about that experience (working with Duff McKagan especially) is that those guys had at least 30-40 songs on the demo CD Duff gave me, and all of us had one goal in mind: creating some great music.
That's it.
We rehearsed at Mates for five hours at a time. No one asked, "How much am I getting paid to rehearse?" "Who's paying my gas money to write this song?" etc. The subject of money never came up. We rehearsed, wrote songs and hung out together because we loved playing more than anything else, and are happier playing music than doing anything else.
According to his twitter page, Duff "will be writing new LOADED songs tonite and tomorrow. Some great ideas and riffs have come on this latest tour. Excited for sure!"
This is bittersweet news for many of Duff's fans. In my opinion, it implies that Velvet Revolver is indeed staying parked on the back burner. 2010 will see Slash's solo album and I presume, an ensuing tour. Loaded, in turn, will likely cycle through another period of songwriting, recording, touring, etc. I imagine it will be a few years before VR convenes again, if ever.
Later today, Duff tweeted:
"VR will continue our search for our singer. It WILL happen! When I speak of Loaded, I am certainly not speaking against VR!"
Okay.
I've been listening to Loaded's latest Sick, and while I do enjoy it, it's a little to happy and upbeat for my tastes. I prefer their 2001 release, Dark Days.
There are some great songs on this record though. "Sick" has aggressive lyrics and a crazy guitar solo. "Forgive Me" is a perfect little alt-pop-rock song that crystallizes Loaded's sound quite well. Duff's vocals sound great on that track. "Wasted Heart" wouldn't sound out of place on the Stones' Beggars Banquet LP. "No More" is probably the catchiest tune on the disc.
In an interview with Guitar World Magazine, Duff explained that the band decided to write a new album when, at a Christmas benefit gig, they realized how many good unrecorded songs they had.
Although Duff wrote most of the songs on Dark Days, much of Sick was composed by the band or with other writers. One track, the somber “Mothers Day,” took shape from McKagan and Rouse jamming together on bass guitars. It was called “Two Basses” until McKagan wrote lyrics about friends he’s lost to drugs.
Surprisingly, although doing time in GN’R and Velvet Revolver cemented his association with Slash, McKagan credits former Gunner Izzy Stradlin as the guitarist that most influenced his own rhythm playing. “I think from Izzy I learned where a rhythm guitar player should be, within the band,” McKagan says. “As a result, I don’t overthink it.”
Classic Rock Slash was unhappy throughout his entire career in Velvet Revolver – and working on his forthcoming solo album has given him a new creative lease of life. The former GN’R/VR guitarist has been talking to Classic Rock about the dissolution of VR and how the band’s split with Scott Weiland pushed him work by himself on a solo album.
“Now at this point I can talk about it,” says Slash. “I always support whatever group I’m playing with – I’ll never say anything bad about them while I’m in it. But fuckin Velvet Revolver – that was the toughest five years, dealing with that band, just because of the obvious [Weiland] and really, really bad management. Joke management for the entire time.
“For some reason in that entire five years I could never be happy. I could never get comfortable and happy with it because it was such a fucking mess. That last tour in the UK was the first time I ever had any fun in that band – because I knew that Scott was leaving and it was a huge relief.
“But, all things considered, Scott to me is now like George Bush – y’know, I like him now that he’s not here. I have nothing bad to say about Scott, but he doesn’t work well with others in a group situation. So towards the end I had written a bunch of music and there were a lot of restrictions because of him writing in Velvet and a lot of stuff that I wanted to do was just sort of squelched. Y’know Slither happened and Fall To Pieces and a couple of other songs I wrote, but it didn’t have the direction that the group – especially before Scott came into it – really set off in. Especially on that last record – which I still think is a good record, but was a lot mellower than [I would have liked].
“Anyway, so I was writing a lot of material and on that last UK tour I started taping a lot of stuff and when I got home I was like, ‘I need to get away from this group situation – I just need to be in control of something and do things my own way’. So it was a relief. And we’ll see – it’s not really about trying to make the biggest record in the world, but I will support it. I’ll go out there and do what I have to do to make sure that people go out there and listen to it cos I think it’s a cool record.”
How will that affect Velvet Revolver?
“Well Duff’s on tour, I’m doing my record, so it’s sort of at a standstill. I haven’t heard any amazing submissions from singers as of late, so I might… Y’know, Velvet when it finds the right guy will be amazing, but I’m in no rush. I’m not freaking out – because that’s how we got Scott in the first place. He was the first decent guy that came up.”
After the Norway gig everyone is going to think Franky Perez is the guy.
“I thought about that. Yeah, Franky’s fucking bad ass. You know, he did some time with Velvet but I think because I was so preoccupied with my record nothing really came of it. Anyway, we’ll see what happens. When my record comes out there’s going to be a lot of different things that I can do so what happens as far as Velvet is concerned – we’re going to be on a hiatus until we lock together and say, ‘Hey, these are our options, let’s see what we’re going to do’. I don’t know if Franky is going to be the guy or what – he’s just a really, really good singer. Even Ozzy came up and said, ‘Who the fuck is that guy? He’s fucking great!’ He actually said: ‘What the fuck am I doing up here? He’s the one that should be singing…’”
In Norway, Franky Perez confirmed that he had worked with VR in the last six months: “I’ve probably known Slash a little under a year. We have this mutual friend and we’ve run into each other a few times but we met – actually met, met – about six months ago. And then I was working with Velvet Revolver for a little bit and then Slash started doing his solo record…”
So you worked with VR after Weiland left?
“Yes. So I got to hang out with all the guys and started working with them and then about the same time Slash had to work on his solo project and Duff was doing Loaded so that dissipated, but the great thing is that I got to have a great relationship with Slash.”
Did he realise that the internet was going to be filled with ‘Franky-is-the-new-Velvet-Revolver-frontman’ stories?
The singer just smiles and shrugs: “Well, you know, if the opportunity comes around, I’m ready.”
For a full interview with Slash & Friends, see Classic Rock 136, on sale 19 August.
Franky Perez and Dave Kushner of Velvet Revolver have been working together in the studio on some material. "We've been writing some great songs and the collaboration has been amazing. I'm exited about the possibilities and I hope to post some new music soon."
Duff McKagan's Loaded has been added to Crüe Fest II's second stage. As a result, Loaded's previously announced short run of US club dates, which was scheduled for later this week, has been canceled. Crüe Fest 2, features additional support from Godsmack, Theory of a Deadman, Drowning Pool and Charm City Devils.
Duff McKagan's Loaded played Download 2009 over the weekend, and I have just a few videos to share, but first, the news.
Duff told Contact Music that he expects their new singer to "land in their laps."
He said, "either you've got the guy or you've not and we've worked with some really talented guys. The trick is getting the chemistry right. Slash is making his solo record, which he's desperately needed to do for years, so I'll keep working with my other band Loaded, he'll do that and music will happen when it's supposed to happen. The right guy will fall into our laps when he is supposed to and maybe that's why it hasn't happened yet."
In a separate interview with Noisecreep, Duff says, "anybody that spends too much on a record these days, that's fool's money spent. Nobody sells records like we did in the '90s or '80s. It's not the business model anymore. People get their music for free off the Internet."
"We signed with a small, indie label which was really cool. There's not a lot of pressure like you get from a major. Major labels are becoming a thing of the past."
"The great thing about this band is that we just don't give a fuck. We'll play anyplace, and it's refreshing. It is kind of rewarding when you become the buzz of a town when someone sees you and finds you are playing. We sell records at the gigs. Who knows? By July this could be an underground summer record."
On the corner of a big Los Angeles intersection stands an office block you could pass a thousand times and not take in. At ground level, there are a few shops, a couple of places to eat and the ubiquitous Starbucks. Nothing the tiniest bit special.
It's here (armed with a skinny cappuccino) that I meet someone totally out of place in the mundane surroundings - Duff McKagan, American hard-rock institution.
Taking in the fortysomething with short, spiky blond hair and aviator shades, you know he couldn't be anything but a rock'n'roller.
Founder member and bassist of Guns N' Roses, he's now bassist in Velvet Revolver (with his GN'R mates Slash and Matt Sorum) and frontman of his own group Loaded.
I also gather he's a seriously daring mountaineer, martial arts expert, financial guru for Playboy.com (yes, really) and budding radio presenter in his home town of Seattle where he also writes a local blog.
Tonight, he brings Loaded and songs from the band's riotous new album Sick to Download 2009 at Donington Park, on the same bill as a much anticipated performance from the reformed Faith No More. But, as we take a table outside Starbucks in the early LA summer sunshine, this pencil-thin, sober, super-fit character tells me he's "just happy to be alive".
He experienced it all - the women, the drugs, the extreme highs, the devastating lows and, most of all, the booze.
"If I wrote about what happened to me in 1994, it would have to be called All The Shit I Don't Remember," he explains.
That was the year he contracted acute alcohol-induced pancreatitis (his pancreas swelled to the size of a football) and he was told to give up booze or die.
"And I wanted to die because it hurt so bad and there was no escape. I was pleading with the doctors to kill me."
1994 was the year he became sober.
"If I drank, I would have died. It was very black and white," he continues. "When I got sober, I really started to get in touch. I took up martial arts. My sensei told me to look at myself in the mirror every day and say, 'Yesterday, I did everything right that I could do'. I'm proud of that."
It was at this point Duff began to realise he wanted out of Guns N' Roses, which, with Axl Rose at its helm, had become the biggest band in the world.
"I met my wife Susan and she got pregnant. And as I was about to have this kid, I started thinking , 'Shit, there's only me and Axl left (of the original members).'
"Why are we rehearsing at three in the morning? I don't want to do it anymore. I got a life.
"I was kind of hoping the band would get back together. I was under a lot of pressure but I was looking like the level-headed guy.
"Our manager was calling me every day for advice. What a scared little prick. I'm going, 'Dude, manage the fucking band. You're the manager!' I started to look around and go, 'What a bunch of morons'."
It's sad to reflect on the disintegration of a band who made some of the finest rock albums since Led Zeppelin - Appetite For Destruction, Use Your Illusion I and II.
Duff remembers the band's humble beginnings in LA. "Five guys who started in this town. We were living in squalor with nothing but a united belief in what rock'n'roll was,
"And we brought enough different shit and we trusted each others' opinions and we liked each others' influences. We toughed it out. We didn't care. Then not just America but the whole world were like, 'Yeah, we relate to this whole thing'."
All these years later, I ask Duff what he thinks of Chinese Democracy, the Guns N' Roses album that took an excruciating 15 years to make with only Axl of the original line-up present.
It's a question he gets asked a lot. "Number one, what does it matter what I think of it?" he replies. "But for the record, Axl sings great on it. There are some songs I really like and some I don't.
"People have read it as, 'Oh, Duff doesn't like it,' but it's not like that at all."
This brings us on to the subject of Velvet Revolver, formed in 2002 as a kind of hard-rock supergroup made up of ex-G N'R members, Dave Kushner from Wasted Youth and, until he left, Stone Temple Pilots' singer Scott Weiland.
For Duff, the lead-up to Scott's departure in April 2008 was a particularly harrowing time.
As someone who's been sober "apart from a couple of stumbles" since 1994, he was watching the singer going "over to the other side".
"Our last month and a half of touring with him was brutal," says Duff. "I guess maybe it's not fully known that Slash, Matt, Dave and I decided that we were going to get rid of him.
"We tried to bring him back but we couldn't do it. His old demons popped back up. Look, I'm a drug addict, I totally get it but he was too far gone. None of us had the energy to go through that.
"So we actually fired him on April Fools Day after the gig in Amsterdam. I wish him the best of luck."
Now VR are on enforced hiatus as they look for a new singer. "We've written all the music for the next album and the songs are huge," says Duff. "Scott was an amazing frontman, one of the best on the planet, but I think we still have our best record to come.
"But until Velvet Revolver find a singer, I'm putting 110% of my energy into Loaded. The new record was really fun and really inspired."
You can see elements of Duff's other bands in Sick but there's a clear nod to his youth and his love of punk rock - "the 13-year-old kid who saw the Clash in Seattle in 1979".
This is Loaded's third album, arriving a full eight years since Dark Days, and finds Duff swapping bass for lead vocals and guitar.
One song kind of sums up Duff's life less ordinary - Slide. It goes, "The Seventies gave us punk rock/The Eighties gave us crap/Nineties junky chic so cool, I don't remember much of that".
Then he turns to me and smiles: "Well fuck, I survived all that shit and I'm here feeling really great about it."
Mary Weiland, the estranged wife of Stone Temple Pilots/ex-Velvet Revolver singer Scott Weiland, will publish her memoir, Fall to Pieces, on October 27, 2009 via William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
A description of the book reads as follows:
"A visceral, rollercoaster ride inside bipolar disorder, rock 'n' roll, celebrity culture, and the competitive world of modeling from a rock star wife and recovering drug addict.
On the surface, Mary Weiland had a fairy-tale life. She was a highly paid fashion model married to successful rock star Scott Weiland, the notorious frontman for Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver. Then came the rampage in a Burbank hotel room and the resulting media frenzy that revealed to the world her bipolar disorder and drug abuse.
In Fall to Pieces, Weiland describes the extreme highs and lows of her life, the volatility of which long hinted at mental illness. Working with acclaimed journalist Larkin Warren, Weiland tells her story with refreshing candor, unflinching detail, and more than a little humor. Reminiscent of celebrity memoirs by Tatum O'Neill, Brooke Shields, and Valerie Bertinelli, Weiland's story offers a window into the world of modeling and rock 'n' roll celebrity while providing deep insights into a serious and misunderstood psychological disorder."
"When I was 16 years old I dreamed of being a famous rock star. I never knew what came along with it - the good, the bad, and the straight up bullshit. I thought that creating beauty would bring beauty... Not always. At 16, Mary dreamed of being a famous model. She came close but she gave up her career for Noah, Lucy, and myself. She never got to see the 'what could have happened.'
Well as everyone knows by now we are getting divorced and yes, Mary is writing a book which I have not read. But what I want everyone to know is that it has nothing to do with infidelity. Neither the divorce, nor the book. Please don't place the red letter upon my children's mother.
One last thing... My love for her will never end. We just forgot how to be friends. She has now chosen a public career and one that brings both accolades and public scrutiny. There will be more of this sort of thing to deal with as time goes by... both good and bad.
Divorce is hell, I remember it well and we deal with it every day. And if you think about it, we both have our 'what ifs' and 'why nots,' but it's no cheaters story and all I ask is to not see her cry."
Our hero, the white-Seattle-punk-who-became-a-world-famous rock-star, Duff McKagan, just wrote his first piece for the New York Times. Congratulations Duff. NYT also has a Q&A with Duff here. Loaded's European Summer Tour starts tomorrow in Helsinki.
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