Drink and drugs nearly killed former Guns n’ Roses star Duff McKagan but he’s lived to tell the tale. Alan Corr hears about how he conquered his appetite for self destruction
Just a month ago, the past came rushing up to Duff McKagan and tried to punch him square in the face. The former Guns n’ Roses bassist was at a book signing in his hometown of Seattle when he was approached by a Nirvana fan who took grave exception to his account of Kurt Cobain’s death.
“I guess I flew in the face of his conspiracy about how Kurt died,” says McKagan who was one of the last people to see Cobain alive back in 1994. “So this guy starts screaming and yelling at me so I threw him out. Now when I do book signings I look closely at people. I know who the crazies are.”
As well he might. McKagan has just published It’s So Easy (And Other Lies) his brutally-honest account of his high and lows in the Guns n’ Roses, the band he co-founded in the mid-80s and finally fled in 1997. It is a book full of scenes from the goldmine of one of rock’s most decadent acts and McKagan knows he’s lucky to tell the tale.
He sits in Dublin’s Clarence Hotel on the afternoon of his third visit to Ireland in recent years with his band Loaded and talks about his Irish heritage. “I gotta call my cousin,” he says. “I have a huge amount of family here. My grandfather John came from Cork. I have six degrees of separation in Ireland.” He orders “room temperature” water and as he talks, he constantly pops pills. “They’re to stop me smoking dude.” he smiles.
47-year-old McKagan’s face, a weathered map of lines and crevices, tells the story of every bottle he’s sank and every line he’s snorted. In 1994 his pancreas exploded after one too many bottles of vodka (he was on two a day) and the leaking digestive enzymes caused him internal third degree burns. He was told he had six months to live.
It’s So Easy (And Other Lies) recounts how he finally got his life back together. “The book started for me when I wrote a letter to my seven siblings to thank them all,” McKagan says in his preppy drawl. “They’re all older than me and they’re all heroes to me. I thanked my brother John for taking mom to the hospital and that just stopped me in my tracks – it took me to other places and I started writing about other turning points in my life.”
There were many and he is completely honest about them. “It was painful to write this book,” he says. “I don’t despise my old self but I wanted to show the reader what it’s like to drop slowly into insanity. I got to the point of insanity but I also got out but during the insane times I felt invincible and I felt creative and wonderful too but I was also hiding something.”
McKagan was only 22 when Guns n’ Roses released their incendiary debut Appetite For Destruction and he embraced rock `n’ roll excess with gusto. In fact, the creators of The Simpsons were to name Springfield’s chosen beer after him. “I think I took first place for excess in Guns at some point,” he says. “There was a line where we’d watch each other. Steven Adler crossed that line. We used to say, do anything you want but when it’s time to play or record and you hinder us then it’s not ok.”
But it was Axl Rose who really crossed the line in the end. “Yes. It’s easy to blame him in a lot of ways because his behaviour effected a lot of people but truth of the matter is we shouldn’t have been on the road then, truth of the matter is I wasn’t some innocent bystander either. Duff! Look in the mirror, you didn’t do anything then to stop it. You knew. I was the guy I am now then I would have said f*** this. We’re stopping.”
By the time Guns n’ Roses rolled into Slane Castle in 1992 things were already falling apart. He remembers his extended Irish family took him for “a trip to the sea” and being lectured by his finger wagging great aunt about his drinking. “I do not miss drink and drugs. If you went through what I went through . . . “ he says.
“God no. I had a relapse in 2005 and I went into Xanax and it caught me unawares. It was short but it was weeks long but I was on 22 of them by the end of the first week, my tolerance went straight back up. I lied to my wife, she called me she said I sounded sick and I got a little short with her and shouted I’m just tired and I got home and went cold turkey with it and was throwing up and I finally got honest with her and we took care of it. It was awful, f***ing awful.”
McKagan moved back to Seattle years ago and he lives with his third wife Susan and their kids Grace and Mae Marie. He’s one semester short of graduating from business school and he expends his energy playing gigs, kickboxing and mountain biking. He exudes contentment these days. “We’re playing tonight in Dublin and that will make it nine nights in a row,” he says. “I have a day off tomorrow and I’ll be flying to Santiago, Chile. That’s my day off but I work out every day and I play rock `n’ roll every night. I feel great.”
It’s So Easy (And Other Lies) is published by Orion. Loaded’s new album The Taking is out now
