Duff Interview with EW - Says New Music is "In the Pipeline"

[PENNY16161]

Talks about the band's support for his solo stuff and new music towards the end of the interview

https://ew.com/music/2019/06/13/duff-mckagan-shooter-jennings-interview-tenderness/

 

Quote

Speaking of his day job, McKagan will be back at it with Axl, Slash, and the gangthis fall including festival dates at Louder Than Life in Louisville in September and Austin City Limits and Exit 111 in Texas and Tennessee, respectively, in October.

His bandmates have given him nothing but positive feedback on his solo flight says McKagan. “They’re behind me for sure. Slash got me this really nice acoustic guitar for the tour. Axl’s been supportive. They know what I’m doing.”

As for new GNR music, for which there is always an appetite, McKagan says it’s in the pipeline. “There’s a lot of songs bouncing around, I’ll tell you that. These 11 songs that are on this record were in a group of, I’m not even s—ing you, like 70 that I wrote. Axl has some really kick ass s–t that he had coming into it. We’ve never been at a loss for material. So the next step on that, as far as just everything Guns N’ Roses goes, I’ll just say we’re in a really f—ing positive place. It’ll come when it comes.”

 

[action]

4 minutes ago, PENNY16161 said:

Talks about the band's support for his solo stuff and new music towards the end of the interview

https://ew.com/music/2019/06/13/duff-mckagan-shooter-jennings-interview-tenderness/

 

 

"we've never been at a loss for material"

...what?

[Tom-Ass]

If Tenderness was the best 11 songs out of 70 he had written, I hope Duff get's zero writing input on any new music.

[hitmanhart408]

part of me laughs at Slash and Duff thinking they're gonna get Axl in a studio to record songs from scratch. The other part of me is scared and says oh no we're not gonna get ChiDem2 material. 

[AxlRoseCDII]

1 hour ago, action said:

"we've never been at a loss for material"

...what?

Says the band who plays 9/12 of AFD every night when touring...

[Legendador]

The way I see it, and in a real GNR world.

They will record between 2019 and 2020.

Then they will be tweaking the thing during 2020 / 2021 (remember Axl tweaked UYI for 1 year, TSI for 2 years, ChiDem for 8 years).

But wait, 2021 is the 30th anniversary of UYI.

So, in 2021 they'll release a huge box set in celebration to it (hope to have a remastered, remixed and newer version of "Crash Diet" in it - fingers crossed here).

2022 there will be more NITL dates, maybe with Matt and Gilby as guests.

My bet is to have a new record by 2023! IF they don't celebrate the 30th anniversary of the TSI with the "I Don't Care About You" video and other covers.

Things seem to be moving forward pretty good!

Edited June 14, 2019 by Legendador

[Towelie]

Interesting that he doesn't mention any of Slash's ideas.

[donny]

Quote

It’ll come when it comes

so will the next ice age Duff

[MaskingApathy]

16 minutes ago, Legendador said:

The way I see it, and in a real GNR world.

They will record between 2019 and 2020.

Then they will be tweaking the thing during 2020 / 2021 (remember Axl tweaked UYI for 1 year, TSI for 2 years, ChiDem for 8 years).

But wait, 2021 is the 30th anniversary of UYI.

So, in 2021 they'll release a huge box set in celebration to it (hope to have a remastered, remixed and newer version of "Crash Diet" in it - fingers crossed here).

2022 there will be more NITL dates, maybe with Matt and Gilby as guests.

My bet is to have a new record by 2023! IF they don't celebrate the 30th anniversary of the TSI with the "I Don't Care About You" video and other covers.

Things seem to be moving forward pretty good!

I would love to hear a rerecorded present day crash diet. I don't think it's going to take that long to come out though. My guess is sometime in 2020 and they'll do a lot of promotion too, really hype it up like they did for AFD Locked N Loaded. Maybe new tour next year also.

[RussTCB]

1 hour ago, hitmanhart408 said:

part of me laughs at Slash and Duff thinking they're gonna get Axl in a studio to record songs from scratch. The other part of me is scared and says oh no we're not gonna get ChiDem2 material. 

Anyone (Slash & Duff included) that's waiting for anything other than Chinese Leftovers, is going to be very disappointed IMO.

[Gnrcane]

13 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

Anyone (Slash & Duff included) that's waiting for anything other than Chinese Leftovers, is going to be very disappointed IMO.

MAYBE 1 brand new song if we are lucky.  Mostly, I'd expect Chinese leftovers with reworked guitars and bass by Slash and Duff.  There's no chance we're getting an entire Album (or even half an album) of brand new, from scratch creations.

[Georgina Arriaga]

Well...Slash in his latest interview (he is at Download) is talking about going to the studio. He sounds very positive

[Rovim]

29 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

Anyone (Slash & Duff included) that's waiting for anything other than Chinese Leftovers, is going to be very disappointed IMO.

on the bright side, anyone who liked Chinese and understands that it's all new tunes to us is probably going to be very pleased with non generic songs with Slash on top.

Having said that, Axl did say he wants to start tunes from lyrics which could mean he wants to include new stuff as well, not just what he has in the vault plus Slash is a riff lord, there's always a chance he can surprise and come up with something Axl will really like.

All things considered old, new or a mix between the two, I don't really care as long as we'll get something cause quality was never an issue for me when it comes to Guns albums, it's getting Axl to release, release, release.

[RussTCB]

12 minutes ago, Rovim said:

on the bright side, anyone who liked Chinese and understands that it's all new tunes to us is probably going to be very pleased with non generic songs with Slash on top.

Having said that, Axl did say he wants to start tunes from lyrics which could mean he wants to include new stuff as well, not just what he has in the vault plus Slash is a riff lord, there's always a chance he can surprise and come up with something Axl will really like.

All things considered old, new or a mix between the two, I don't really care as long as we'll get something cause quality was never an issue for me when it comes to Guns albums, it's getting Axl to release, release, release.

Chinese is my favorite Guns N' Roses album, so I'm more than happy to hear anything and everything from those sessions. I'd be down to hear new / updated lyrics but unless he refences recent events, which he usually doesn't do, I won't know the difference anyway.

In the end, I feel the same way you do though; I honestly don't care what the source of the music is as long as we actually get to hear it someday.

[MaskingApathy]

39 minutes ago, Georgina Arriaga said:

Well...Slash in his latest interview (he is at Download) is talking about going to the studio. He sounds very positive

Is the interview from Download? Is there a video or something?

Edit: nevermind, found the link.

Edited June 14, 2019 by MaskingApathy

[todreamofwolves]

2 hours ago, Tom-Ass said:

If Tenderness was the best 11 songs out of 70 he had written, I hope Duff get's zero writing input on any new music.

Right! Duff's song-writing and Slash's modern day riffs combined with Axl's 20 year old B-sides.

Well, when this pie-in-the-sky album ends up sucking balls, we can't say that the writing wasn't on the wall.

[RussTCB]

1 minute ago, todreamofwolves said:

Right! Duff's song-writing and Slash's modern day riffs combined with Axl's 20 year old B-sides.

Well, when this pie-in-the-sky album ends up sucking balls, we can't say that the writing wasn't on the wall.

For people like you, who seem determined to dislike anything the current line up might put out, yes the writting will have been on the wall. The rest of us with open minds will wait until we hear any of the material before passing judgement. 

[Rovim]

12 minutes ago, todreamofwolves said:

Right! Duff's song-writing and Slash's modern day riffs combined with Axl's 20 year old B-sides.

Well, when this pie-in-the-sky album ends up sucking balls, we can't say that the writing wasn't on the wall.

 

[Towelie]

1 hour ago, RussTCB said:

Anyone (Slash & Duff included) that's waiting for anything other than Chinese Leftovers, is going to be very disappointed IMO.

What makes you say that?

[killuridols]

I think it will be CD leftovers and maybe a few new songs written with the hybrid lineup.

[RONIN]

I actually liked large parts of Chinese Democracy but the problem with that album has always been that it was a Frankenstein creation - 3 to 5 different song ideas crammed together on one song with multiple substratum linking back to different producers/musical epochs....and it sounded exactly like that, a disjointed over-produced mess of good and bad ideas stitched together and pro-tooled out the ass. 

And now they're taking those over-baked songs that didn't make the initial cut of Chinese Democracy - adding Duff, Slash, and Fortus on top - whilst ostensibly stripping out some of the other original contributors/creators like Bucket and Finck who are no longer there....THEN getting Caram/Axl to have another go at producing these already over-cooked tracks. Yikes. That just doesn't sound like the making of a quality album to me - especially given the way Duff and Slash approach their music. Conflicting styles - too many cooks in the kitchen - all that stuff is a recipe for mediocrity.

With that said, I really think Chinese leftovers is the only card available to play. Let's face it, Axl's work ethic is quite possibly the worst in the industry and his voice right now is nowhere near what it was even 10 years ago. So if there's a chance that he's recorded some early - mid 00's vocal tracks - it absolutely makes sense to prioritize that stuff. Just get product out there. Cutting new tracks from scratch with Axl (and no Izzy) - you're talking a minimum 2-3 year gestation period...and that's optimistic. 

One thing that stuck out most to me in what Duff said was that they're all bringing songs to the table a la Illusions. Because that worked so well last time. Why is it so complicated for these guys to sit in a room together and cut tracks organically like any other band out there? 

[StrangerInThisTown]

19 minutes ago, RONIN said:

One thing that stuck out most to me in what Duff said was that they're all bringing songs to the table a la Illusions. Because that worked so well last time. Why is it so complicated for these guys to sit in a room together and cut tracks organically like any other band out there? 

I actually think this is good. They're sorta in the same situation now with this album as they were with following up AFD in 1990 and UYI. Expectations are so huge, what are they gonna do? Maybe they'll come out with a double album like UYI was, lots of material. It's better to release a lot than too few things IMO, you can always choose not to listen to the songs you dont like. In the ages of playlists and streaming you can rearrange albums the the way you want anyway, it's not a big deal.

[Ant]

People are right that’s CD’s biggest issue was the cut and paste protracted development, more so than the actual songwriting (even though saying “CD2” kills my boner pretty quick).

If the album is going to be good, they’ve gotta set a date for the studio. Just get in the studio. 

If they’re all in separate locations piecing shit together and talking over the phone... bad omen. Or if they’re waiting for something to happen material wise prior... you need that pressure and to be in there together. 

I’d argue dates and deadlines have value for creativity.

Edited June 14, 2019 by Ant

[Rovim]

15 hours ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

I actually think this is good. They're sorta in the same situation now with this album as they were with following up AFD in 1990 and UYI. Expectations are so huge, what are they gonna do? Maybe they'll come out with a double album like UYI was, lots of material. It's better to release a lot than too few things IMO, you can always choose not to listen to the songs you dont like. In the ages of playlists and streaming you can rearrange albums the the way you want anyway, it's not a big deal.

More than one new Guns member have said how Axl likes to include everyone and by reading the Chinese Democracy credits, I think that's true. Personally, I don't see what's the disadvantage of letting everyone chip in, gives them all a chance to come up with ideas that could lead to potentially great material once Axl gets his hands on it. I believe in his ability to spot a good idea when he hears one and he does have the final say. I say let everyone write and send Axl ideas and see what comes of it.

Other than that, they already have a lot to work with with Axl's unreleased Chinese material, Slash's 2 new Guns riffs he saved for the next Guns album and even maybe the 1996 sessions or at least the old Slash idea Fortus said a while back he was working on.

There is enough material for Axl and the rest of the band to dig into and construct an album that would not disappoint and Slash going to Axl's house (this time not drunk and uninvited) is an especially good sign that they're starting the process of making shit happen.

Edited June 15, 2019 by Rovim

[Rovim]

11 minutes ago, Ant said:

People are right that’s CD’s biggest issue was the cut and paste protracted development, more so than the actual songwriting (even though saying “CD2” kills my boner pretty quick).

If the album is going to be good, they’ve gotta set a date for the studio. Just get in the studio. 

If they’re all in separate locations piecing shit together and talking over the phone... bad omen. Or if they’re waiting for something to happen material wise prior... you need that pressure and to be in there together. 

I’d argue dates and deadlines have value for creativity.

CD's biggest issue is that it wasn't released in 2002, at least commercially speaking. I'm a firm believer that it doesn't matter how you get the job done as long as the task is completed and Axl has said musically Chinese was exactly the album he wanted to create and release.

Also I don't think Axl is feeling actual pressure releasing an album in a timely manner, he seems to care more about making sure it's a great album.

Generally speaking, dates and deadlines do have value for creativity as you say, but Axl works in Axl time the "it's ready when I feel like it's ready" approach seems to be the course of action.

Seems to me the only way to speed things up is if everything goes well aka it all comes together, the band chemistry in the studio leads to a positive Axl reaction and they take it to the finish line. I think you can't just set a date to finish a Guns album, you have to throw everything you got at it until it shapes up to be the kind of album Axl will be content to release.