A Chat With Duff McKagan

On 1/3/2011, I got the chance to interview the one and only Duff McKagan for Powerplay Magazine, as he was in London following the Birmingham Guitar Show. As it's for the mag, the bulk of the interview can't be reproduced here so you should definitely pick up the next issue and give it a read. Here are a few little snippets that I couldn't fit in the proper article though. They're a bit weird out of context, so consider this a rather incoherent taster for the real piece.

On the feature film accompanying the new Loaded album, The Taking...

"We're not actually done [filming] it. We're probably about 70% done with all the filming. It's been filmed in Seattle so far, so we're gonna film some more in LA. We still have to figure out why we're all in LA in the same day... or maybe we'll disguise that it's LA. Thing is, we film for three days and then we don't film for two weeks, which gives Jamie [Chamberlain, film director] a chance to edit. It's not a high-falutin' movie but the stuff he's edited is just fucking amazing. Really, it's just another 'why not?'"

On "joining" Jane's Addiction last year...

"I was not in Jane's Addiction, just to clarify. I went in to help. Eric Avery had left and Perry [Farrell, singer] approached me about writing a new record - they're really a bass driven band. And I was like 'Oh, cool! I'm honoured.' The band started basically the same month as Guns did and I've known them since them - good guys. We were first in Perry's garage and that was great, but as soon as we went to a rehearsal place, the rumour got out that I had actually joined the band. It was a rumour gone amok. I played a couple of gigs with them, but those gigs were already booked, you know?"

On guesting on the most recent Manic Street Preacher's album, Postcards From A Young Man...

"Somehow, I was in London again and the band knew I was there. It was the Mojo awards I believe, and they had won an award and asked if I would present it them. Mojo said, 'The Manics requested you,' and I was like, 'Really? Fuck!' So I went and presented it. They're really sweet, good guys and I'm a fan of the band. Then Loaded were playing Hammersmith here and I called James and said, 'Hey, are you in town? Would you come and play 'It's So Easy' with us?' and he brought his tech, his amp - the whole deal! We thought he'd just come and play Squiers' [Loaded guitarist] amp, but it was really sweet of him. He really went all out with that fuckin' sound. And then to return the favour, he asked if I'd play on that song ['A Billion Balconies Facing The Sun'] and they just sent the file over to LA. I asked, 'What do you want me to do to this song?' and they just said, 'Just do the thing you do'. So, that was it. I sent the file back to them and it came out on the record.

On moving from Seattle's punk rock scene to California...

"[The scene] was great. Small, but mighty. However, the heroine infested Seattle I saw was laying waste to all of my friends and band-mates. I was 19 and it was time to go. I made that spur of the moment decision - 'Go now, or you may never go.'"

On the definition of 'ton'...

"We got back home and demoed all the songs we had... I don't know how many songs we had, we had a ton. 'Ton' is not a technical term. Maybe I should make it a technical term. It's like 18 and a half. The half is where the arrangement wasn't quite done. So from now on, 'a ton' is that."

The real meat of the interview is of course in the next issue of Powerplay, which should be out at the end of this month. Give it a read. Go on.