Duff McKagan Q and A on new album Tenderness

Duff McKagan held a soirée tonight to launch his new solo album ‘Tenderness’ which is deliberately not all about him, but about all that is not right in the world.. and should be fixed by collective action.

 

Duff confessed he had originally intended to write a book, but as he toured with Guns N Roses on the ‘Not in This Lifetime Tour’ and let things flow, his thoughts came out instead as songs. He confessed he is a history buff having read over a thousand books about mankind’s past since becoming sober 25 years ago and, as well as what he has observed as patterns that seem to keep repeating themselves in those, he was at one time addicted to news dealing with the social divisions highlighted by the media which fuelled his desire to question this self destructive behaviour. He detailed how, when he got out into the real world and tried to talk to real people about real issues, the homeless, the utterly destitute (including a man who had passed out on heroine and had had his eyelid chewed off by a rat) he had, in fact,  found more commonality in man than anything else, believing that if the people stand together, which is what rock n roll has always been about, engineered divisiveness designed for profit of the few can be overcome. He observed ‘no one asks you how you voted at gigs’.

 

I was curious what Duff thought of celebrity benefit gigs like Live Aid and whether he thought they had had their day or a band with a stature like GNR could pull something off to alleviate poverty and suffering the subject of these songs. Duff thought it was a great idea and so watch this space.

 

Duff explained material with a strong social conscience was something he felt compelled to explore as a father and a man of the world and he was not trying to compete with this solo album in any way with GNR. This is something entirely different. As an ex drug addict and someone who has experienced depression he explained that he understands the position of many of the fallen in society because he feels that many ordinary people can be one calamity away from homelessness and that, but for providence, it could have happened to him. So there is no judgement in his approach and he has been working with charities as part of this project.

 

As well as all the enthusiasm for his message Duff talked about how he was inspired by Shooter Jennings and the Waters and had also worked with his brother on the album, the Suicide Horn section to produce an album with roots in the 70s, with vintage production techniques and ethos. He acknowledged Bowie type musical effects and (to me privately in conversation afterwards) that he had Elton John in mind as they produced the album. He pointed out that with material like ‘Song For Beverley’ on his ‘Beautiful Disease’ album he had done some Americana folky type material before and it was something he had always wanted to explore.

 

I had been privileged to have already heard the album and reviewed it a few weeks ago, but a lot of the audience was hearing the material for the first time and we were  treated to big speaker versions of tracks ‘Feel’ about suicide, ‘Chip Away’ about some of the stupidness humanity does not seem able to avoid, ‘Parkland’ about massacres like school shootings and ‘Don’t Look Behind You’ with a spiritual feel as Duff shared the background to his creative thoughts on each. Each track received enthusiastic applause. While very different to GNR and Loaded Duff has followed his heart and mind in producing this thought provoking album designed to make us all think about the future of us all and the next generations.

 

Dawn Osborne