Duff mckagan

Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (Seattle, Washington, United States, February 5, 1964) is an American musician, composer and record producer. He is the bassist and vocalist until 1997 of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses and guitarist for Loaded. McKagan started playing the guitar at age 6. In 2011 he published his autobiography. In 2014 he temporarily rejoined Guns N & # 39; Roses for the South American tour and in 2016 he fully returned to the band after almost 18 years.

Biography

Duff McKagan was born on February 5, 1964 in the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. Duff is the youngest of eight children (5 boys and 3 girls) of the couple "Elmer and Marie Alice McKagan& #3. 4;. From a very young age, his parents and his brothers called him Duff , which he once referred to as an Irish thing.Also, his neighbor said there were many "Michael & # 34; in his building and that's why they call him that.

When it came to playing, his preference was the guitar, although he knew how to play the drums. It was a childhood friend, Cliff Burton, who influenced him to play bass. At 19, McKagan was already addicted to heroin, as were his girlfriend and his roommate in Seattle. He later he moved to the city of Los Angeles.

Musical career

Early years (1979-1984)

At the age of 15 Duff formed his first punk band called "The Vains" in 1979, where he was bassist and second voice. During his stay in the band, he released his first single & # 34; School Jeks & # 34; in 1980. That same year Duff also formed another punk genre band called "The Living", in which he was vocalist and guitarist. With this band he advanced as a musician, even opening for a wide variety of bands, including Hüsker Dü and D.O.A..

In the late 1980s, Duff joined the punk pop band, the Fastbacks as a drummer. In 1981, the band's first single, 'It's Your Birthday', was released on the band's guitarist Kurt Bloch's record label, No Threes Records., and on the song "Someone Else's Room, which was included on the compilation album, "Seattle Syndrome Volume One", which was released in 1981. In 1982 Duff became the drummer for the hardcore punk band, "The Fartz", with which he recorded several demos, several songs of which were included on their 1990 album, "You, We See You Crawling". After several line-up changes, the band became "10 Minutes Warning", where he switched to guitar. In 1983 he moved to Los Angeles, California with one of his brothers, where he worked as a waiter at a restaurant called Black Angus in Northridge. Duff claimed to have been a member of 31 bands while in Seattle, in which he played different instruments, although he admits that most of them were bands he only played with once.

Duff met musicians Slash and Steven Adler through an ad that read: "Wanting bassist who likes Aerosmith style". After being accepted and starting to play, they formed his band "Road Crew", although after several auditions and not finding a vocalist and due to Adler's lack of work, the band dissolved. Not long after, Duff met Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin of the band Hollywood Rose.

Guns N' Roses (1985-1998)

Duff McKagan joined the band Guns N' Roses in 1985, following the departure of bassist Ole Beich, then Duff would debut at the band's first show at the local Troubadour in Hollywood, California on March 26. A short time later guitarist Tracii Guns and drummer Rob Gardner also left the band due to differences with vocalist Axl Rose. Tracii Guns decided to reform her band L.A. Guns. That same month, two mates from Duff's old band, Steven Adler and Slash came in as drummer and guitarist respectively. Slash, who had previous experience in various bands, including London and Black Shep, had previously auditioned for Hollywood Rose and had not been accepted.

Live?!*@ Like a Suicide (1986)

In late 1985, the band released their first studio material, an EP titled Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide on the band's record label UZI Suicide, which contains all four first songs of the band. The four songs were selected from some of the band's demos, two songs are cover songs and two are original. The EP was a live recording with imitation noise from an audience, but this recording was actually recorded in a studio. The CD cover is a photograph of Duff McKagan with Axl Rose with the band's old logo, which was designed by guitarist Slash.

Reckless Life is the song that opens the EP, the song starts by shouting: "Hey fuckers! Sucks on Guns N' fuckin' Roses". This song was originally written by Axl with Hollywood Rose, which included all the members of the band, only Duff didn't always play with them. The song was included on the compilation album "The Roots of Guns N' Roses. The second song on the EP, "Nice Boys", is a cover by the band Rose Tatto. The third song is 'Move to the City', which contains a strong horn section. The fourth song, "Mama Kin", is a cover by the band Aerosmith, a band that Guns N' Roses has cited as one of his biggest influences.

Debut album: Appetite for Destruction (1987)

On March 16, 1987, the band made an amazing performance at the Whiskey A Go-Go in Los Angeles where they performed the songs from Live?!*@ Like a Suicide . They then performed a series of concerts on June 19, 22 and 29 at the Marquee Club in London. This was the first time the band had visited Europe. On July 21, 1987, the band released their debut album, which was released on the Geffen Records label and produced by Mike Clink. The album produced five singles: 'It's So Easy' 34;, "Welcome to the Jungle", "Sweet Child O' Mine", "Paradise City" and "Nighttrain", three of which made it into the top 10 and the album peaked at number 1 on the Billboard 200.

The name of the album came from a postcard the band discovered in a store. The original cover of it, in which a young woman appeared sitting against a wall, evidently apparently having been recently raped along with a robot in a raincoat and a being with daggers for teeth flying over the scene, this cover was censored after two weeks after the album was put up for sale, being replaced by the famous Latin cross in which the skulls of the members of the group appeared. However, the original cover was included inside the album's folder, along with the lyrics of the songs and in the center pages of the book of the CD version.

First solo project

In 1993, Duff made his first solo album, Believe In Me, with which he began a tour. Duff has also made an album with her other band, Neurotic Outsiders, also made up of Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, fellow Guns N & # 39; Roses, and John Taylor of Duran Duran.

In addition to singing, he is fluent in bass, guitar, drums, and piano.

Duff always played the bass with a pick and with a characteristic metallic sound, which gave the band a unique sound with that instrument.

On April 1, 1994, he talked with Kurt Cobain, when they both met on the plane back from Los Angeles to Seattle, days before the Nirvana leader took his own life. In later interviews Duff would state that she felt that the vocalist seemed strange and lonely.

Velvet Revolver (2002 - 2012)

In 2002 McKagan reunited with two of his former Guns N' Roses, Slash and Matt Sorum, for a benefit concert. So it occurred to them to form a band, for that they recruited guitarist Dave Kushner and held auditions to find a singer. They finally chose Scott Weiland (ex Stone Temple Pilots) as the vocalist for the band that was renamed Velvet Revolver.

With Velvet Revolver they released two albums Contraband that came out in 2004 and Libertad that went on sale in 2007.

Loaded

At the end of 2007, McKagan rescued the Duff McKagan's Loaded project, a group formed in 1999 by Mike Squires on guitar, Jeff Rouse on bass, Geoff Reading on drums and Duff himself on singer and guitar. In April 2009 they released their fourth album, Sick, and embarked on a world tour.

In September 2009, Duff participated in the recording of Slash, his friend Slash's first solo album. Duff appears on the song "Watch This" along with Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, ex-Nirvana).

In September 2011 he participated in a tribute concert to Nirvana's Nevermind album for its 20th anniversary, playing and singing the song Lithium, the money raised went to help a girl with her illness.

On November 12, he appeared at the Maquinaria Festival with his band Duff McKagan's Loaded, with which they played the hit of his ex-band Guns N' Roses "It so easy".

Walking Papers

In 2012 with Jeff Angell (The missionary Position), Benjamin Anderson and Barrett Martin (Screaming trees) he formed Walking Papers.

Back to Guns N#39; Roses (2014)

After collaborating on a few songs in 2010 with Guns N' Roses in a recital in London, Duff McKagan He played in five concerts of the 2014 South American tour, Duff He was in Buenos Aires on April 6, Asunción on April 9, La Paz on the 12th, Recife on the 15th and on the 17th in Fortaleza, and played at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards where Axl Rose was presented with the "Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement". On May 31, Duff returns to play with Guns N' Roses at the Las Vegas residency as a special guest

Definitive Return to Guns N#39; Roses (2016)

After DJ Ashba's departure, the media began to speculate about a possible reunion of former members of the band, as Duff McKagan toured with the band in Latin America and performed shows in different cities in the United States. These rumors became stronger when an interview with the band's former guitarist, Slash, was published, in which he confessed that he had smoothed things out with Axl Rose after more than 20 years of estrangement.

In December 2015, rumors began to circulate strongly that the band was conducting negotiations for Slash and McKagan to officially return to the group. In the last days of December, the detail was added that the band's official page returned to display the original shield on its home page.

The media then confirmed that Slash and Duff's return to the stage with Guns 'n' Roses would be given at the Coachella music and art festival, to be held on April 16 and 23, 2016 in California, United States, after 23 years without playing together live.[30] [31] During the month of January, both the official Guns 'n' Roses as in the social networks of Slash and McKagan the announcements of the presentations in Coachella were published, implying that their return to the band was official, finishing confirming this with a video announcing a new presentation in the newly released T- Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the month of April, on the 8th and 9th, a week before Coachella, where the three musicians can be seen live. [32]

Team

Duff Mckagan's most frequently used bass is a pearl-white Fender Jazz Bass Special. It is the one he has used for all his recordings. In fact, his bass was released by Fender as a special artist edition in October 2007. A McKagan has also become a new fan of the Fender Aerodyne and Duesenberg basses. He is also known for the Kramer bass that he used in the Sweet Child O & # 39; Mine and a Les Paul Standard bass. He also uses a Gibson J200 when he plays acoustic guitar on songs like Patience.

McKagan has used Gallien-Krueger amplifiers throughout his career, his first being the GK400RB model. Already with Guns N ’Roses he used four Gallien-Krueger 800RB amplifiers. He currently uses a Gallien-Krueger 2001RB amplifier. The signal then goes to four GK 4x10RBH which give it sixteen speakers and which make the sound come out with a power of 2000 watts. He almost always uses the chorus; for this he uses a Yamaha SPX-90 pedal board or a Boss pedal. Another effect he has used is the Z-vex Wooley Mammoth distortion pedal.

At the concert offered in Bilbao in May 2017 and in Madrid on June 4, 2017, he wore the Prince symbol on his bass, in tribute to the deceased musician, who he acknowledged was a great influence on the band.

Discography

With Guns N#39; Roses

• Live!*@ Like a Suicide (1986)
• Appetite for Destruction (1987)
• Live from the Jungle (1987)
• G N' R Lies (1988)
• Use Your Illusion I (1991)
• Use Your Illusion II (1991)
• The Civil War (1993)
• The Spaghetti Incident? (1993)
• Use Your Illusion (1997)
• Live It was, '87-93 (1999)
• Greatest Hits (2004)

Solo Albums

• Believe in Me (1993)
• Beautiful Disease (1999)
• "How To Be a Man" [EP] (2015)
• "Tenderness" (2019)

With Neurotic Outsiders

• Neurotic Outsiders (1996)

With 10 Minute Warning

• 10 Minutes Warning (1998)

Duff McKagan's Loaded

• Live Episode (1999)
• Dark Days (2001)
• Wasted Heart (2008)
• Sick (2009)
• The Taking (2011)

With Velvet Revolver

• Smugglers (2004)
• Freedom (2007)

With Walking Papers

• Walking Pappers (2013)
• Walking Pappers II (2018)

Collaborations

• Iggy Pop-Brick By Brick (1990)
• Peace Choir- Give Peace A Chance
• Fastbacks- The Question Is No
• Corey Hart- Attitude & Virtue
• Gilby Clarke- Pawnshop Guitars
• Slash's Snakepit-It's 5 O' Clock Somewhere
• The Outpatience-Anxious Disease (Japan)
• Teddy Andreadis-Innocent Loser
• Izzy Stradlin-117. or
• Izzy Stradlin-Ain't It A Bitch
• Izzy Stradlin-Ride On
• The Presidents Of The United States Of America -Freaked Out And Small
• The Racketeers-Mad For The Racket
• Mark Lanegan-Field Songs
• Izzy Stradlin- River
• Izzy Stradlin- Underground (Promo)
• Zilch-Sky Jin
• Zilch-Charlie's Children
• Izzy Stradlin-On Down The Road (Japan)
• Burden Brothers-Queen O' Spades
• Alien Crime Syndicate Break The Record
• Hulk-Soundtrack
• Mark Lanegan-Bubblegum
• Slash-Slash (2010)
• Manic Street Preachers- A Billion Balconies facing the sun/ Album - Postcards from a young man (2010)