36-43 Duff feature 3/16/04 2:10 PM Page 36 36-43 Duff ... fileVelvet Revolver’s debut is packed with Duff’s songwriting and bass contributions, from the nasty, distorted riff on

36-43 Duff feature 3/16/04 2:10 PM Page 36

In less than a decade, DUFF McKAGAN

shot from strung-out GUNS N’ ROSES megastar to sober

bass-groovin’ dude for VELVET REVOLVER.

Bass Guitar’s E.E. Bradman gets the rock-solid

bass man in his sight.

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uff McKagan knowsabout missed opportuni-ties. He was, after all, thefounding bassist of the

legendary Guns N’ Roses,whose rock-star excesses,

volatile live shows and incendiaryalbums made them the biggest band inthe world before they spluttered to amessy close a decade later. But McKa-gan—who after a drug-and-alcohol-related pancreas explosion 10 years agowas told by doctors that his next drinkwould kill him—also knows a thing ortwo about second chances.

It’s somehow fitting, then, that on this sunny L.A. after-noon, McKagan is betting on Scott Weiland. The onetimesinger for Stone Temple Pilots, Weiland cultivated a drugaddiction that outlasted his group. But McKagan is wager-ing that Weiland will do better by his new band mates inVelvet Revolver—Duff, guitarist Dave Kushner, formerGuns drummer Matt Sorum, and Guns cofounder Slash.Listening to early mixes of their first album, Contraband(RCA), due May 18, it’s impossible not to feel the band’sthunder, precision and chemistry, and how Weiland swag-gers over and through the music. Slash sounds strong,ready to take on all comers, and coguitarist Kushner addsfresh textures to a trio that has logged millions of milestogether. Sorum is thunderous, evoking the giants whilelaying down his own solid beats. And Duff, as always, sealsthe bottom line with bluesy, in-the-pocket bass.

While a teenager, McKagan played guitar and drumsin punk bands around his Seattle hometown, but it wasn’tuntil he moved to L.A., in the early Eighties, that hepicked up the bass. One of his first projects was RoadCrew, a group that featured Slash and drummer StevenAdler, but he quit the band and quickly joined anotherwith frontman Axl Rose and guitarist Izzy Stradlin. WhenAxl and Izzy’s band mates backed out of a tour Duff hadput together, he brought in Slash and Adler, and GN’R’smost famous lineup was born.

Less than two years later, the multi-Platinum successof their debut, Appetite for Destruction, had set a new stan-dard for gritty, Hollywood-style hard rock, and the band’sextravagant partying became the stuff of legend. The con-troversial Lies, the sprawling Use Your Illusion project, the

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covers-only Spaghetti Incident and the so-soLive Era didn’t measure up to the band’sdebut, and by 1992 Izzy and Adler had beenreplaced by Gilby Clarke and Matt Sorum. In1993, McKagan released his first solo album,Believe in Me. Guns eventually crumbled,leaving an uncompleted (and still unreleased)album, tentatively titled Chinese Democracy,in the balance.

McKagan’s second effort, BeautifulDisease, was lost to record company politics,but he stayed busy producing Betty Blow-torch, playing several instruments withScreaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan, andhandling guitar and bass duties for Iggy Pop,Ten Minute Warning, Loaded, the NeuroticOutsiders (with John Taylor of Duran Duranand Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols) and theRackateers (also known as Mad for the Rack-et). Duff officially left GN’R in 1997, but whenhe reunited with Slash and Matt for a 2002tribute concert for Ozzy/Mötley Crüe drum-mer Randy Castillo, the chemistry was stillthere. “If we had started a band right whenwe left Axl, it would’ve been cheesy, and thetiming wouldn’t have been right,” Duff says.“Now it’s time.”

Velvet Revolver’s debut is packed withDuff’s songwriting and bass contributions, fromthe nasty, distorted riff on “Big Machine” to thechaotic “Dirty Little Thing,” where he holdssteady as a rock while sheer madness swirlsaround him. His grinding pick tone on “Set MeFree” and his sensitive work on “Loving theAlien” make you wish the guitars sat out a littlemore often, and on the victorious arena rocker“Fall to Pieces,” Duff, true to character, risesfrom the mix at just the right time.

“I think the secret to bass playing is know-

ing when to play and when not to play,” hesays. “When you find little holes to do some-thing, attack it, get the fuck out and get backin the groove.”

BASS GUITAR Did you make a consciousdecision to play less on this album?

DUFF McKAGAN Definitely. Matt and Iworked hard to create much more of agroove, and I played deeper in the pocketthan I’ve ever played. Our job was to createthe foundation, so we said, “Okay, let’s makethe best fuckin’ foundation we can.”

BG Compare your role in Velvet Revolverto your role in Guns N’ Roses.

McKAGAN In Guns, it was easier to playfills and runs because of the way Axl sang. Wewrote the music without him and he put his

lyrics on later. Scott is more involved, and hefound brilliant parts for vocals in places wecouldn’t have imagined. So I’m underplaying,letting him do his thing.

BG Do you and Matt work out your partsaway from the rest of the band?

McKAGAN Yeah, especially his fills.They’re grandiose, they’re ugly, they’refucked up, and I can’t just sit there and doeighth notes while he’s playing ’em!

BG Do you follow his bass drum closely?McKAGAN I look at his kick pedal, but that

doesn’t mean I’m going to play exactly whathe’s playing on the kick. I like to know whathe’s doing so I can decide what to play. If Ihave to lock in with his kick, I will, but thatcan get boring. I use it more as a click, to

When Guns N’ Ros-es received theirfirst advance fromGeffen Records in1986, Duff McKagantook his share andpurchased a FenderJazz Bass Special. “Iliked how it sound-ed through my Gal-lien-Krueger,” hesays. “It was kindafunky, but it stillworked with rockand roll.” He’s beenusing Specials eversince. After themodel went out of

production in theearly Nineties, theFender CustomShop built McKaganseveral copies, eachwith Dunlop strapsand strap locks.

Duff’s combina-tion of RotosoundRS66 Swing Bassstrings and DunlopTortex .73mm pickslets him cut throughthe mix at will. Asfor amps, he’s beena Gallien-Kruegerman from day oneand uses G-K

2001RB amps withG-K RBH 4x10 cabs.In the studio, Duffgoes direct butsometimes mikeshis 4x10 cabinets, aG-K 15-inch and aMarshall 12-inch forextra crunch. Hehas also recordedsome tracks with aG-K head and anAcoustic 2x15.

Duff stompedthrough a fewIbanez and Bosschorus pedalsbefore switching to

a rackmountedYamaha SPX90 mul-ti-effects. His onlyother effect is anMXR M-80 D.I.+,which providespowerful gain anddistortion tones.Onstage, Duff uses a Bradshaw CustomAudio Switcher anda Samson UHFSynth 32 wireless.His tech, Mike“McBob” Mayhue,keeps everythingready to rock.

—E.E.B.

Same As It Ever Was Duff’s Gear Gunnery

“Every good rock band has to .

You need that something that moves people.”

HAIR FORCE ONE:Duff, with Rose and Slash, in his GN’R daze


know where I am and where the beat is. BG What was it like playing with Steven

Adler in the early days of Guns N’ Roses?McKAGAN We really had to make a drum-

mer out of him. We took all his drums away—he had a double-bass drum and all thesefuckin’ toms—and he ended up with a kick, asnare, a floor tom, crash and ride cymbalsand his hi-hats: a Ramones-style kit. Theband would rehearse, then Steve and I wouldget together—just bass and drums—everyday and work on grooves.

BG What did you practice? McKAGAN We’d put on songs like Cameo’s

“Word Up,” and we’d play over it, and thenwe’d play it on our own, just trying to get apocket. We played a lot of funk and R&B buthardly ever any hard rock stuff, because it

was all about the groove. I’d have to lead theway with the bass, almost being percussive.But he became a unique and one-of-a-kinddrummer by the time we did Appetite.

BG How did those R&B influences findtheir way into GN’R?

McKAGAN Every good rock band has togroove; you need that something that movespeople. I mean, listen to Zeppelin; the grooveis so fuckin’ deep you can sleep in it. Thereare a lot of bands out there that have nogroove—you can tell they’ve never listened toSly, the Funk Brothers or Prince.

BG When did you realize the importanceof the groove?

McKAGAN Early on. I was the last of eightkids, and everybody played music in my family,so there was music and instruments every-where. Our household was steeped in JamesGang, Sly & the Family Stone, Zeppelin andHendrix. Punk rock hit when I was 13 or 14, andI was like, “I can start a band!” I also discoveredPrince’s first album, For You, at the same time.When his 1999 album came out, it totally fuckin’changed my life. I would listen to 1999 andDamaged by Black Flag, and then a T-Bone Bur-nett record. I liked it all—except folk music.

BG How does your relationship to thegroove affect your playing with Slash?

McKAGAN I’ll be paying attention toMatt’s kick pedal or his snare, and Slash’ll bein la-la land. [laughs] We all know our rolesin the band, and my job with Matt is to createa place for Slash. He knows the groove is not

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his forte, but he’s a genius at playing aroundwhat we play. With Slash, you cannot over-play or it’ll be a train wreck. He takes up a lotof space, but it’s well used, and he relies on usto hold down the fort.

BG So how does Dave Kushner fit in theequation?

McKAGAN It’s hard to find a guitarist toplay with Slash. Other guys we tried outwould play a Les Paul through a Marshall andfollow what I was playing. I’d have to tellthem, “Don’t step on my passing note, dude!Do your own thing!” Dave grew up coming toGN’R gigs, seeing the dichotomy between Izzyand Slash, and he understands the dynamicsof playing against Slash. He really worked atgetting different sounds and textures with hispedals so he wasn’t just another rhythm gui-tar player doing barre chords.

BG How did starting out on guitar anddrums affect your bass playing?

McKAGAN Playing drums has had more ofan effect on how I play bass. Since I play gui-tar, I know how a guitar player thinks andwhere they’ll go, so I keep away from theirturf. But playing drums and knowing how adrummer thinks has influenced me more.

BG How did the new material take shape? McKAGAN Matt, Slash and I had a list of

60 songs we’d written, and we gave Scott lit-tle pieces of songs to check out. He chose thestuff he liked, and then we wrote six moresongs together. Slash had the riff for “Slither,”then Matt and I wrote the intro, the bridgeand some turnarounds. Matt brought in theriff from “Set Me Free,” which he wrote onguitar. We needed something with a StonesExile on Main Street vibe, so Matt and I wrote“Loving the Aliens.” We gave “Big Machine” toScott; he chopped the shit out of it in ProTools and gave us this thing that was like—whoa! Then we played it like he’d rearrangedit, and it totally made sense.

BG On records, you sometimes doubleSlash, do your own thing and then come back.

McKAGAN Yeah. We’ll riff together a loton purpose. When we’re writing a song wedon’t discuss the parts, but there are certaintrademark things I do. For instance, I’ll start abridge up high and go down low for the lastsection. And I always play fills under Slash’ssolos; it’s an instinctive thing that we do, andit adds more excitement to the solo.

BG The intro lick to “Sweet Child O’ Mine”is one hell of a bass riff.

McKAGAN The funny thing is, Slash’s gui-tar part started off as a joke. Izzy wrote thisthree-chord song, and we were like, Fuckthis—we do not play ballads. Axl, of course,loved it. We were trying anything to not dothe song, so Slash wrote that crazy guitarpart, trying to make it prog-rock or some-thing, and as a joke I played that bass part. Ofcourse, it all came together and made sense.

BG With Revolver, did you try to updatethe sound you’ve developed over the years?

McKAGAN On this album, Slash reallyworked on moving forward, on being contem-porary. We picked Josh Abraham [Coal Cham-

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ber, Limp Bizkit, Staind] to produce usbecause he we knew he’d record us just theway we sound—no more, no less. We haveguitar solos, which is going to seem like anew thing to kids. People who’ve heard ourstuff say it’s the new direction of rock radio,which is a huge compliment.

BG Do you ever play five-string?McKAGAN Fuck no. Somebody fucked up

and put one too many strings on there![laughs] I’m too old-school when it comes tobass; it’s got to be four strings. Otherwise,[Motown bass legend] James Jamerson wouldbe looking down on me going, “What the fuckare you doing?” I do tune down, though; athird of our record is in dropped D. On “Slith-er,” I play the whole song on one string!

BG How about active basses? McKAGAN Nope. I once had a bad experi-

ence with one. We were playing a live showfor MTV and at the beginning of our firstsong, “It’s So Easy,” I hit a note and... nothing.The battery was dead. So I threw the bassback to my tech, got my passive Fender JazzBass Special and kept on playing.

BG What bass players rock your worldright now?

McKAGAN Ben Shepherd sounded so goodon those Soundgarden records. That’s someinteresting and unique stuff he plays; he’sreally underrated. And Nick Oliveri fromQueens of the Stone Age is a huge benchmarkfor me. I’ll listen to a Queens of the Stone Agerecord, either Rated R or [Songs for the Deaf],and I’ll ask myself if my own bass lines are asaggressive or subtle as his.

BG Are you worried Scott’s personal prob-lems might sabotage Velvet Revolver’smomentum?

McKAGAN Scott’s working out his drugaddiction, and we’ve all been through it. Infact, we’ve each taken it way farther over theedge than he has. Scott knows that, and hecouldn’t be in better company. As far as thesongwriting process, he’s there for the band,and we don’t have a past with him like theDeLeo brothers [Dean and Robert, from StoneTemple Pilots] do. We’ve talked to those guys,by the way, and everything’s cool.

Listen, obviously we knew what was goingon with Scott, but as soon as he walked in theroom it was like, This is the guy we want. Andwe’ve made it this far; we’ve made a reallygood record. Scott wants to be in a hard rockband, and this thing fits perfectly.

BG Any more Duff McKagan solo albums,side projects or production gigs anytime soon?

McKAGAN Velvet Revolver is my priority;we’re being offered the world right now. Ithink we’ve made the right record, one thatwill let us tour for a year and a half andrelease three or four singles. We have a teamat RCA that sees this as a global record, andmanagement that wants to make this thinghuge. That would be great, but for me themusic always comes first. I’m proud of therecord we made, and I hope it’ll satisfy theGuns fans who never got that lost, unreleasedGuns N’ Roses record. ■

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36-43 Duff feature 3/16/04 2:10 PM Page 36 36-43 Duff ... fileVelvet Revolver’s debut is packed with Duff’s songwriting and bass contributions, from the nasty, distorted riff on