Duff McKagan, founding member of the legendary Guns N’ Roses, helped set the precedent for post-80s anti-grunge rock swagger in ways today’s rockers can only read about. 

 

It's been a long, strange trip for Duff since the end of GNR as we knew it (Axl's current Frankenstein monster doesn't count). Along with Slash and Matt Sorum, he pulled together the pieces after Axl threw a grenade into the greatest rock band of the past 25 years to form Velvet Revolver, a multiplatinum, Grammy-winning but ill-fated Scott Weiland-fronted rock group that was never taken seriously enough for the band's tastes. 

 

While VR twists in the leather-clad winds of their inability to settle on a frontman, Duff is actively doing his own thing, which includes a regular column in Seattle Weekly, another in Playboy (a financial column, no less) and kicking ass with his other band, Loaded. He’s hitting the road with the group to support their second album, Sick, which dropped last month. 

 

We caught up with Duff to talk all things music, including an update on VR’s vocalist search, the state of the music industry today and, oddly enough, President Roosevelt. As an original GNR maniac so many years ago, it was an honor to speak with one of my first childhood heroes.

 

 

CraveOnline: Duff! Great to talk to you man - care to describe the scene around you?

 

Duff McKagan: Cool, I'm actually in Norfolk, Virginia, at a mall of all places. I hate malls. But with a wife and two daughters, that's the hand I've been dealt (laughs). If I'm out on the road, which I am right now, this is the last place I wanna go, but we do what we can for family.

 

CraveOnline: You're quick to point out that Loaded isn't a side project, that your whole heart is in this...

 

Duff McKagan: Oh it is, yeah, it's been a band for ten years, and obviously Velvet Revolver has been on the front burner for the past five or six years, but with Loaded we still played. We knew we were gonna make another record. We didn't know it was gonna take us seven fuckin' years, but you know, music happens when it's supposed to happen, and I do realize that. I don't try to force it. This record came at a perfect time for me. I was pretty beat down from all the drama & crap that was circling around with VR...

 

CraveOnline:  The drama being Scott (Weiland)...

 

Duff McKagan: Right. Right. I was pretty bummed about the way that whole thing went down, so the Loaded record came at a perfect time.

 

CraveOnline: So what's the Velvet Revolver vocalist update? Where do we stand? Tell me you're not hiring the dude from fuckin' Buckcherry. Please. 

Duff McKagan: (laughs) there's no news to share yet, man. Trust me, nobody wants that ball rolling more than I do - but it's gotta be the right guy.