Duff McKagan on returning to tour: interview, photos

Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan has performed on stages large and small around the world for decades. So it’s surprising to hear him say he’s still nervous about going out, even if it’s a giant stadium with GNR.

“You just feel honored,” he tells UCR. “Eventually I get on stage and the first thing I think is, ‘Will someone show up when I get out there next to my amps? Will there be people here? Wow, there are people here. Marvelous”. Doing small shows like this is like on steroids because you get to see everyone.”

McKagan started last stage his current Lighthouse tour this week in Boston, followed by a show in New York. Below you can see photos from New York. His next concert is tonight in Chicago (November 8th).

He registered with The best classic rock nights host Matt Wardlaw on Halloween as he prepared to go on tour. In the discussion below, he shares stories about what he’s learned about touring and what he continues to learn every night. McKagan also talked about three new songs he recently released, including a cover of the band’s “Heroes” David Bowieconcert version featuring his longtime companion Steve Jones belonging Sex Pistols.

The tours you did for Lighthouse album and more, it seems like it was a lot of fun. I love that you got the opportunity to share the stage with Steve Jones again. There’s obviously a lot of history between you two.
He remains a hero, although he is now a close family friend. He is like an uncle to my daughters and my buddy. But he also Steve Jones. I learned to play guitar by listening to Steve Jones. When did we start Neurotic Insiders When I played guitar with him, I thought, “Oh, he’s going to know that every riff I know is his.” But he was very cool about it, like, “Okay, buddy.” When he played “Heroes” with us in London, that whole tour, the first leg, the European run was really magical. I have a really good group, like the Seattle Murder Gang, and I got them.

All of them were available for this tour. It worked, the crowd and the number of people who came to the shows, if the tickets weren’t sold out, it was very close. All the rooms were full. To put out a record 10 months before and then go on tour, you’re like, “I don’t know if anyone is going to show up and be interested in this.” You know, you just don’t know. It turns out that waiting that long might have been a good idea because people were invested in the songs. They knew the lyrics and were emotional about some of the songs. It worked amazingly.

Watch Duff McKagan perform David Bowie’s “Heroes” with Steve Jones

I love that you still have that feeling where you don’t know if anyone is coming. I think it shows that you’re still interested and not caught up in your own shit.
No no. I think at Guns shows I still (get nervous). Another thing that I think occurred to me about 10 years ago or so was that I had interacted with enough people, traveled enough and observed the culture. You understand that everyone in your life has their own story. Everyone has something deep inside them—maybe they saved someone’s life the day before. Everyone has some fascinating part of the story. Every. So when you go out and play for people, realizing all that, it’s like all these people who have stories came to our show. They took the time, bought the tickets and did it all. But with Guns I watch it and it’s a lot of energy.

It’s a lot of stories and a lot of people. You just feel honored. Eventually I get on stage and the first thing I think is, “Will someone show up when I get out there next to my amps? Will there be people here? Wow, there are people here. Marvelous”. Doing these little shows is like on steroids because you can see All. Some people sing songs and cry, “I wonder what this means to them?” Obviously this is connected to something in their life. That’s what I’m thinking about. It becomes a huge honor and you realize that we all have our own stories. There is no difference between us. I’m on stage, and you’re there in the hall, we’re all in this together. Nothing separates us here and now.

I talk to a lot of artists and I think, “A show is a show.” But it’s obvious that you think differently.
Absolutely and any size, you know? I take a lot away and it’s a lot of energy and I tap into it. I do this on purpose—I think I tap into the energy of whoever I play with. You know, the musicians I choose to play with. Hans N’Rozes, Iggy Pop, Jerry Cantrell, Ozzy Osbournethese are all those people who connect to the audience, and do not just call them on the phone. I wouldn’t play with someone who’s just making a phone call, if that makes any difference. But you have to have that connection. You do the truth, understand? All songs are a piece of truth, and you should be connected to it.

Watch Duff McKagan’s interview with Fear’s Lee Ving

I enjoyed watching your conversation with Lee Ving. I don’t think teenage Duff would have sat there and thought that somewhere in all of this Lee Wing is a country boy. What was the most interesting thing you took away from this conversation?
I’ve gotten to know Lee over the years and it’s cool, man. My life is cool. I got to meet and get to know some of my heroes. Henry Rollins, Iggy Pop, Lee Ving, Joey Sheethead, Steve Jones, Paul Cook, everything goes according to plan. What I’m taking with Lee, what do you see for? Like, he scared the hell out of me in 1980. He scared the hell out of us all. And he’s real, and he’ll kick your ass too. So for me he’s still the one. He is the real presence of Fear. But the other side of this coin is that he is the sweetest gentleman. He is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. Very nice.

Slash and I covered “Good boys“We went to Orange County and played in the studio, and he was just a wonderful emcee. “Oh, can I get you guys anything?” No, Lee, just be Lee Wing! Around the same time, I went to see FEAR in Orange County. I turn to him backstage and he’s like, “How’s the wife and girls?” “They’re great, Lee.” Then he comes on stage with FEAR and I take three steps back because there he is! There is Lee Wing. I’m looking forward to doing these shows with him. I hope we can share a song together. I did these two punk songs, one of them is sung by Lee and the other one is sung by Joey Sheethead, so hopefully he’ll come on stage and sing that song with me.

We talked earlier about Steve Jones and how he is a guest on your version of Heroes. How difficult was it for you to take on this song?
I just did it, you know? I didn’t let it get me down. At that moment I was recording a bunch of songs. I had a song with the working title “Heroes” – and I have it, and it won’t be the title of the song. My producer Martin (Feveyear) suggested, “Hey, you should really try to cover “Heroes.” Jamie (Douglas), my drummer, was there and we recorded the songs. I learned the song very quickly and thought, “Okay, the vocals are in my vocal range. This is some kind of music I recorded for Lighthouse And Tendernessthree chords.” There’s a wonderful historical story (in a song) about the Berlin Wall and star-crossed lovers, and how she had to go back to East Germany and he had to go back to London.

Bowie is watching all this and the lyrics.”And the cannons fired over our heads“I like this thing. You know, I’m obsessed with history. So I bought the lyrics and the song… I mean, everyone buys the song, how can you not believe it?” To add guitars, I sang, added bass and thought: “Everything turned out good.” So it wasn’t a scary thing and it was natural and we released the studio version. before we went to Europe we play live and people. dig and live version with Steve Jones in London (just released).

I’ll end here. You talked about doing a lot of cool things. So this tour with Lee and Joey is another one crossed off the list…
…and my daughter opens it up for me. She finally agreed to open the show for me. She stays away from nepotism. I said, “Would you consider doing a show with me on Lighthouse tour? She likes the message Lighthouseso I have Lee Ving, Joey Sheethead, and in the middle of the show my daughter opens the show. So for me this is all a wish list, if such a list exists. You know, I mean, I’m not there yet.

Listen to Duff McKagan’s “My Name is Bob” with DOA’s Joey Sheathead