Duff McKagan Says New Guns N’ Roses Record Is ‘Real’ and ‘Magnificent’
Duff McKagan became the third member of Guns N' Roses to confirm that the band is working on a record. In a new interview, he said that he's heard what Axl Rose has been writing and called it "magnificent."
"Oh, it's real," he told Eddie Trunk on his Trunk Nation radio show, "but the fun part and the cool part about Guns N' Roses is we don't really talk about it, and what happens next just happens. It's never been that band that there's a direct schedule of how we do things. I've heard some magnificent stuff that Axl has -- really cool stuff he's been working on. So I'm excited about the possibilities with that, of course. I don't mean to get anybody rabid. Our day will happen when it happens, that's for sure."
His words echo what Slash said last week, telling TVK's Rock City that "with Guns N' Roses, you don't go, 'Oh, there is a plan, and it's gonna be like this,' because that's not how it works. So, basically, the only real answer to give is we're hoping to put a new record out, and we'll just see what happens when it happens."
Earlier this month, guitarist Richard Fortus said that they would record when Slash returns from his current tour, which means that the group would enter the studio at some point between mid-March and May, when he goes back out on the road.
Yesterday, McKagan released "Tenderness," a track from his upcoming solo album, whose name and release date he has not yet revealed. He worked on it with Shooter Jennings, who appeared with him on Trunk's show, and McKagan said that the song's piano-and-acoustic sound is an example of what fans can expect from the rest of the disc.
People are expecting a Loaded record. It's not that aggressive, Loaded, in-your-face thing.This is like kind of the polar opposite, and it's something I've always wanted to do. I have a fondness for the likes of [Screaming Trees'] Mark Langean and [Afghan Whigs'] Greg Dulli ... You know the song, Eddie, "Wasted Heart," right, from Loaded? So this is more in that vein. and we actually did re-track "Wasted Heart" for this record in an even-more-somber kind of dynamic way. But ["Tenderness"] is indicative of the record."