Duff McKagan Still Thinks Axl’s Voice is “Killer”
After watching the oddity of Slash play father figure on this week’s American Idol, I needed to read some down-to-earth ex-GNR news on the printed page.
In the new issue of Spin — in the Inquisition section — ex- GNR bassist Duff McKagan says this about his old singer’s new album:
Axl’s voice sounds killer.
Axl’s phone number is no longer on speed dial but…
I saw some really amazing stuff with Axl. We worked really well together. We were good friends. And I hope to perhaps have that friendship back one day, although it’s not something I wait around for.But I look forward to it.
Is Duff the nicest guy in rock, or what? Too bad Axl couldn’t take a few personality cues from his old bandmate.
And Duff has a lot more going on than American Idol. His side project Loaded (below) and their new album “Sick,” for one. And then, of course, there’s always Velvet Revolver, post-Scott Weiland.
In fact, if you haven’t heard, Duff’s Loaded are a pretty damn good band — always have been. Their punk-edged hard rock sound is at times more enthusiastically sharp than Velvet Revolver and more ballsy than the new-n-(un)improved GNR. Check out a video of “Sick” here. It’s great stuff.
And Loaded is on tour right now in America.
Note: The Inquisition section does a cool Q&A one-pager. Spin has really impressed me of late. I dropped my readership awhile ago, but I am going to pick it up again. They are blowing away Rolling Stone and all the others right now.
May 6, 2009 at 1:45 pm
A voice like AXL W. Rose’s doesn’t come very often. I think Duff realized how lucky his band was no matter how difficult dealing with the personality was. I doubt that AXL can reproduce what he had.