Duff McKagan's Loaded Bio

There are few individuals around today that exemplify the term “idol” or "legend," but one of Seattle's own stands tall amongst this chosen minority. This person is Duff McKagan and anybody would be hard pressed to dispute that he is the epitome of a hard rock icon. At the early age of 19 he embarked to Los Angeles on a musical quest and now over 20 years later the ex-Guns N' Roses and current Velvet Revolver bassist has carved out a place in rock n’ roll history selling millions of albums and touring the world multiple times over.

However, with his latest, appropriately titled project, DUFF MCKAGAN's LOADED, he gets a chance to further show his songwriting prowess and versatility assuming the role of vocalist/guitarist. This is an all out assault of pure rock and punk infused fury that pulls no punches further proving that he is more relevant now than ever before. Duff encompasses what rock n' roll should be all about: creating memorable songs with infectious hooks, while having a good time and entertaining the hell out of thousands each and every night.

The hard rock world is about to get a nice, swift kick in the ass as this Seattle-based sonic force has finally returned after a lengthy hiatus with their much anticipated, new full-length release. The quartet has signed a worldwide deal with Century Media Records and a five song EP, Wasted Heart, was issued in Sept. of 2008 in conjunction with their first UK headlining tour. The new offering, Sick, was recorded by Martin Feveyear (Presidents of the USA, Kings of Leon) and is set for an April 21st worldwide release.

"When this band started in 1998, I was at college studying business,” recalls McKagan, who actually plays guitar and sings with this lot. "But I was sickened by all the crap music going around at the time. Seriously, I hated all these big bands who were coming through. So, I put together LOADED to play rock music the way I wanted to do it. We had no great gameplan or philosophy. We just wanted to get into the rehearsal room, begin writing songs and play music we felt."

To some, DUFF MCKAGAN's LOADED might appear to have a punk rock influence. Actually, this is closer to the mark than you might believe. Forget about the musicality being close to punk, it's the attitude, as McKagan is keen to explain: "When I was about 14, I saw The Clash play at the Paramount Theater in Seattle. That was in 1978, and it was amazing. I was expecting this superstar band to come onstage. Instead, the opposite occurred. The Clash were telling everyone that, 'We're all in this together. The musicians, the fans, we’re part of one family.' That idea never left me."

McKagan has hand-picked the members of this band, feeling that each brings something special into the camp. "It's not as if I bumped into all of them on the street and things happened by accident. I saw Geoff Reading play drums with Green Apple Quickstep (a cult mid-1990s Seattle band) and he was just an animal behind the kit. I knew then that I wanted to work with him at some point. Mike Squires and Jeff Rouse (guitar and bass, respectively) I watched with their band Alien Crime Syndicate, and again they really impressed me. It's not that I've taken these guys out of other bands, either. It's not like that in Seattle. Good musicians tend to play in more than one band. And our producer, Martin Feveyear, is also part of the band in many respects. He's also our tour manager and our live sound engineer! It’s the Seattle way. A small town mentality"

The band released albums in 1999 and 2001, namely Live Episode and Dark Days, before other commitments meant that DUFF MCKAGAN's LOADED were put on the back burner to some extent, although they never split up. "No way! We've been playing Xmas charity shows in Seattle on an annual basis over the last few years," says McKagan. "These have been growing in popularity as well. Then last Xmas, we started to talk seriously about doing a record, which is what has led us to this place. I'd write something and store it away for future use, so the idea of doing a new album has always been in my mind.” The process of working on the new record, which will be called Sick, has excited Duff beyond expectations. "We all knew it would be fun to go into the studio (Jupiter in Seattle) and do a new album, but it’s actually been so inspirational. This isn't a stellar Pink Floyd kinda effort. But it perfectly represents what we do so well."