2015.05.13 - Talk Is Jericho - Interview with Duff

Some excerpts from Alternative Nation:
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Duff McKagan discussed reuniting with Axl Rose to perform with Guns N' Roses last year on Talk Is Jericho earlier this week, admitting that he missed playing with his pal. Alternative Nation has transcribed a summary of the interview's Guns N' Roses discussion. Duff said his reaction to the chance to play with Guns N? Roses again made him think about his friendship with Axl. "This is a good opportunity to get your old pal back," said McKagan.

"I was going to go out and play with a guy, we went through the gutter, from nothing, to believing in our music."

McKagan also told a funny story about showing up 30 minutes late to a van during his reunion with Axl, and why he thinks Axl is punk rock. "I came from a punk rock background, and that guy was more punk rock that anybody I'd seen, because everything is real. There's no put on, it's real, and that's punk rock. He was honest, and real, the guy can't lie, he can't. That bear honesty and truth from that guy is more punk rock than anything else. He was born a frontman, it's natural. That's not something you can go home and practice, it's just, you've got it or you don't. Once you have it, you always have it. We just had a really good time, we traveled together. (Laughs) I kept him waiting in a van for a half hour. I didn't know, I thought we were supposed to meet in a lobby, and he was laughing when I got to the van. I finally got this text: 'We're waiting for you dude.' 'A-ha,' he goes, 'Touche.' 'I didn't mean to make you wait, I was in the lobby.'"

Duff also complimented Axl for being able to sing in the altitude in Bolivia, especially since Duff himself had to take medication for it. He also said he wishes he'd played again with Axl sooner.

"After playing with Axl last spring and those guys, I just missed playing with him, I've got to be honest. I'm like dude, we should have been doing this for the - so much time has passed, of course. We talked about some things, we did, we thought we were just this gang, we weren't going to fall into any typical rock crap, no man. We fell into every one of them man, and we were laughing about that."

McKagan also discussed Izzy Stradlin, revealing that he had recently recorded a couple of tracks with him. He said there is such musical trust between himself and Stradlin, that if Izzy says 'I have a bridge' he doesn't even question it or ask to hear it, he immediately says yes.