Duff McKagan

Thrasher Magazine, Jan, 2005 by Patrick O'Dell

I'M CLAIMING THE MOST EPIC BAND of my lifetime was Guns 'N' Roses. I think most of us can agree on that. But who is the most epic member of GNR? Axl? No way! The dude was epic in '87 but then he went schitzo and ruined the whole program ... and have you seen GNR lately? Just terrible--Buckethead? God no! But Duff and Slash are still out there shredding; they formed up a new band called Velvet Revolver. Recently, I had a chance to see them; I was wary at first of Scott Weiland being the singer, but he won me over. And seeing Duff and Slash on stage made me lose my shit. When they played "It's So Easy," "Used to Love Her," and "Mr Brownstone," it was as close as I'd ever come to seeing GNR again. As for the most epic member of GNR, I'm claiming Duff... Here is my fan-out interview with the most epic dude ever born.--Patrick O'Dell

I got a Guns 'N' Roses tattoo. Did the publicist tell you about that?

No.

It's on my arm; it's kind of an ultra fan-out. I was always like, "I'm going to get a GNR tattoo," so I got the Appetite cross.

Yeah!

But I moved Axl off to the side and I put you in the middle. My friend Ryan got your skull on his arm.

No way! I've done Thrasher interviews throughout the years, like since fucking Guns 'N' Roses started, since '87. I was the guy that always did the Thrasher interviews. And even for my other band, Neurotic Outsiders, I did a Thrasher interview.

Remember saying: "Drum-wise I play a conductor-like position."

What?

It was in the Use Your Illusion videos...never mind.

You mean as far as the whole band? I was the bass player.

I know. That's what we were always wondering about!

... I know what you're talking about. It might have been taken out of context. Like for that band I was always the guy that was like, "OK, that fits there, that fits there." Like we all came in with riffs, nobody came in with a whole song. Ever. So we had a rift and another rift, like a true band. Velvet Revolver is the same thing, nobody is coming in with a whole song. So I was always the guy who would be the bridge keeper, "let's not let it get out of hand here." Slash would always want to do a solo for another four minutes. I'd be like, "No, no."

Are drinking and drugs responsible for Guns 'N' Roses dissolving?

No, it was Axl. Drinking and drugs were a result of the times; we were that band, we lived on the streets of Hollywood. We drank a lot and did whatever drugs we could find. Then when Appetite finally kicked and we started to get money we could afford drugs, and it was gnarly And drug dealers delivered to our house and we found a whole new world. When you recorded the album did you think it would be big?

I was from punk rock. I played in 30 punk rock bands before Guns--and I was only 19 or 20. When we recorded the record I was 21. I moved down to LA from Seattle and I was in every punk rock band up there, and toured opening for Black Flag and the Dead Kennedy's back in the day. You know, I thought if we sold 50,000 copies--the Circle Jerks, that's what they sold on their big record back then. If we sold 50,000 records that'd be amazing. And that's what we all thought, because we were not what was going on at the time. We weren't a glare band, and we weren't Milli Vanilli. We weren't Paula Abdul; we weren't New Kids on the Block. We were a real raw, fucking kind of almost punk rock band, but not, because of Axl's high vocals. We were kind of a throwback to Zeppelin, but not, because we were modem for that time. There was another good band in town, luckily, that was off beat also, and that was Jane's Addiction, which was at the same time. At least a couple kooky records will come out at the same time and maybe it will start an LA revolution.

It always surprises me how raw that record is, the lyrics and everything, for being so popular.

The kids at the time were sick of the shit they were getting. A real kid, like a skater kid, they don't want to listen to Poison or Warrant...or Milli Vanilli or Michael Jackson, especially back then. Skaters were like they are now: they want to rock. They lived the real life. They'd fuck around and fuck chicks and get fucked up. They'd been through broken families or whatever, and skating is what they do. Skating is their thing, and that's living on the edge. Our record identified with a whole lost generation.

Do you have resentments towards how Guns 'N' Roses turned out?

How it ended, you mean? I'm not the kind of guy who will sit around and resent something for years. What happened happened. I look at it as a glass half full. We did a lot for five guys who stuck to this thing we wanted to do. We didn't change for anybody. We didn't sell our publishing. Somebody wanted to buy our publishing and we were like, "No, these are our songs. Fuck you." We wouldn't take stupid tours. We did it our way. We ended up playing stadiums, multiple nights, sold out. We went from nothing to quite a lot. I've been able to live off the publishing alone because the record still sells so many units a year. Plus the money I made then I live a comfortable life. I have no regrets.