45 minutes with Duff McKagan pass like five. As the inner workings of a bonafide rock staple work themselves out before you, it’s beyond evident that saying McKagan’s life is music would be an incredible understatement.
For the best part of six decades, the songwriter, bassist, writer, broadcaster, financier, and just about anything else he fancies turning his hand to, has been a transient figure. Taking himself from a burgeoning punk scene in his hometown of Seattle in such cherished groups such as The Fartz and 10 Minute Warning – where he rubbed shoulders and shared spots with the likes of Sub Pop co-founder Bruce Pavitt and Pearl Jam members cand Jeff Ament – eventually down to LA in the ‘80s, it was here that he met up with a now-famed gang of ruffians, forming one of rock music’s immovable titans.
Through the LA hard rock scene with Guns N’ Roses, he made it out the other side of stadiums and clubs (including founding post-millennium hard rock revivalists Velvet Revolver with Guns bandmate Slash, alongside late Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland), as well as an endless list of collaborators and icons who’ve sought McKagan’s touch, from Iggy Pop and Ozzy Osbourne to Macy Gray. Becoming a renowned voice for sobriety and general wellbeing, his two memoirs – It’s So Easy (And Other Lies) (2011), and How to Be a Man (And Other Illusions) (2015) – are personally cherished tomes that feature everything from addiction to raising children and masculinity. Suffice it to say, McKagan has seen it all.
His most recent output was his third studio album, Lighthouse, last October – with an expanded version released earlier this year. On top of that, he’s celebrating the fifth anniversary of his second solo album Tenderness with a live version recorded in 2019, as well as an upcoming US tour. It’s here he excitedly sparks up with some classic McKagan hometown pride: “I’ve got a really good band, it’s an exclusive Seattle-guys band this time around,” he says. “There’s so many good players in Seattle, that I’m excited to bring that out and go, ‘This is what we have in Seattle’. They’re all killer.”
The morning I speak to him from his home, he’s spent it curating his radio playlist with his wife for the show they cohost on Planet Rock (Three Chords & The Truth) – it would seem that life for McKagan is good.
