Duff McKagan: “We’re All in This Fucking Thing Together”
It’s always nice when our favorite musicians have a little humility. Besides actual stellar talent, there are many ways in which we are the same. At least, grand master awesome person Duff McKagan thinks so.
He did an interview recently with music journalist legend Matt Pinfield at the KLOS Helpful Honda Rock Room, talking about his life and experiences coming up in the Pacific Northwest scene, before relocating to LA and literally starting it all. You can watch it in full below.
The interview was long, but Blabbermouth.net did some leg work with the transcribing, especially when it came to the 40th anniversary of Guns N’ Roses…
“Is it the 40th anniversary? Thanks for letting me know. Man, we played, [my solo] band played a place in Boston last week, called The Paradise. It’s a famous old club — legendary. We go to play the Paradise, and I’m, like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is the same place that Guns played on ‘Appetite [For Destruction]’. We did a club tour, a bunch of them, and we played the Paradise. And the owner of the place — he’s still the owner — he just bought it, I think, then, in ’87. He goes, ‘Yeah, man, you played here October 19th, 1987.’ It was my first time back. And I said, ‘Man, 27 years ago.’ He goes, ‘No. 37 years ago.’
“I don’t feel any different. The thing is you say a number like 37 years or 40 years — ooh, that sounds like a lot of time, but I’m still the guy that was in his slant-six Maverick driving down [the street], getting the job at Black Angus [restaurant, working as an appetizer server]… There’s no difference.”
I love that Duff’s view on numbers is the same as mine—they basically don’t exist (but ya know, not in like a creepy way). He goes on to say:
“I wanna say something. There’s people here, and you talk about Guns N’ Roses and live shows and stuff. I love to travel the world. I love to go places — coffee shops and museums and churches and castles and you name it. My wife and I are complete nerds. We do all the stuff. And I’ve done this since the ’80s. What happens is you get to meet people. And you get to see different cultures. And I like to stand back and watch the cultures, not insinuate myself into cultures. And I’ve been to Indonesia and Middle East and Asia and you name it — South America, Europe, of course, a million times. And America, it’s got a bunch of different culture in it. And I’ve been in conversations with people, like, ‘Oh, you just saved somebody’s life yesterday.’ ‘Oh, fuck. What did I do?’ But I meet the most amazing people, [and they] have their own epic stories. And we all have such depth. None of us are just like a fucking punter. We all have depth.
“When I play shows, I don’t think there’s a difference between up on stage and the people out watching. We’re all in this fucking thing together. So, I’m honored that people would come, ’cause we all have the depth and the stories, and that you take the time to come and see me play or anything I’m doing play. I’m honored, and I always look out. It’s kind of overwhelming. If you look out and you’re, like, ‘I wonder what his story is. I wonder what her story is,’ and the energy. And [I’m], like, ‘Oh, shit. Okay. Stop. Shut it down for a second. You’ve gotta finish ‘[Welcome To The] Jungle’.’ But it’s really appreciated, you guys. Cheers.”
Cheers indeed! It’s nice to hear when musicians come down off their clouds to hang with the rest of us degenerates.
