Ahead of the release of his new album, Sick, Planet Loud got on the blower to rock legend Duff Mckagan, bassist with Velvet Revolver, to talk about his new album and his favourite places to play in the UK..

Planet Loud – Hey Duff, how’s it going?
Duff Mckagan – I’m good, I’m in Seattle at the moment..

Planet Loud – You’ve got the new album coming out, what can you tell us about it?
Duff Mckagan – Oh, wow, yeah. It’s round! Ha! Loaded has been a band for ten years and because of various tours and stuff over the past few years, it has been on hold. We’ve done a few gigs here and there but, as Velvet Revolver started to unravel last year, there just seemed like there was a lot of extra curricular crap going on and it was happening so much that I was starting to lose touch as to why I got into music in the first place and that was a dangerous place for me to be in my head. When I knew the VR tour was going to be over, we started talking about making a record. This was last summer and it became a musical lifeboat for me, it saved me. We started writing these songs and, I don’t know man, these songs seemed to write themselves. It was one of the most inspired records I’ve been a part of.

Planet Loud – Was it inspired by the “extra-curricular crap” you talked about?
Duff Mckagan – I think it definitely formed some of the songs but not all of them. It isn’t some hate-filled record. It’s more than that. It helped me regain and get back in touch with the thirteen year old kid that was me, the kid who saw the Clash in 1979 and Iggy Pop, those moments that really changed me and made me into the musician I am to this day.

Planet Loud – You mentioned your frame of mind, was it difficult to get into the writing frame of mind?
Duff Mckagan – Once we got into the room I was probably hoping it would be difficult. I was playing tricks with my own head. The four of us have a really wicked sense of humour and I thought everything would be ok when we got in the room. They’re really smart guys as well so we talk about all kinds of different stuff that you wouldn’t assume we would talk about. Mike our guitar player has a really high IQ, he’s too smart for his own good. Ha! He has all this shit going around his head. Sometimes ignorance is bliss but Mike doesn’t get that. Anyway, the humour helped us and we had all these ideas which we would email back and forwards to each other. When we got in the room together we took those ideas and let the songs write themselves. It wasn’t a spiteful record although there are some songs in there that are autobiographical but there isn’t a song about Scott or about my time in VR, I don’t do that kind of stuff.

Planet Loud – You sound like you got a lot out of this record..
Duff Mckagan – Yeah, like I said, it was like a lifeboat for me. It saved me. This record told me that everything is going to be okay.

Planet Loud – Do you see this record as being a new chapter for you?
Duff Mckagan – I think it is. I think the record, like I said, the songs wrote themselves but when they did that they turned into these catchy songs. Loaded is pretty left of centre and pretty dark and melancholy but this record had pop-hooks like Cheap Trick or Sweet or Foo Fighters, radio-friendly rock. We didn’t plan for that to happen, it just happened and I think it is a new chapter and this record will be more accessible to listeners around the world and that perhaps Loaded can get up to a point where we’re selling out 1,200 seat venues around the world. That’s my goal for this record.

Planet Loud – Despite being around for 10 years, Loaded is still a well kept secret..
Duff Mckagan – Well, I think a lot of writers have known about Loaded. We only put Dark Days in Japan in 2001 and Spain.. really random places. It’s the classic thing, we’re big in Japan. I was going to college full time when this band started. I was also a Dad so I was really busy but I could still be in a band. That’s an important thing for me to stay healthy.. to have my music around me. We never tried to break the band in the States or Europe but this time we’re making a bit of effort. I’m doing a lot of interviews and we’ve signed a worldwide deal with this little record label and a deal in Japan with Universal. What I’m trying to say is that I think this record would put us over the threshold.

Planet Loud – You toured the UK last September though, what are your memories of that?
Duff Mckagan – It was great. The UK has always been a great place for all the bands I’ve been in. The UK was the first place Guns broke before the rest of the world. The UK got it before anywhere else. Same thing happened with Velvet Revolver, our first record broke in the UK before anywhere in the world. It finally dawned on me that the UK kinda understands the rock and roll I do. It’s pretty obvious. We decided as we were writing the record that we should do some gigs in the UK. I have amazing memories of all the tours I’ve done here. The last one with Loaded was no different. We played places that I’ve never played like Inverness in Scotland, for fucks sake. We went to Loch Ness. It was killer. Liverpool was the same.

Planet Loud – What was it like playing the clubs again?
Duff Mckagan – You know, we were able to do some clubs with Velvet Revolver but with Loaded that’s all we were able to do. I guess I’m fortunate in my career – you know – Velvet Revolver, when we get a new singer, is still a band. I know that I can play big venues and small venues, I’ve played festivals, I’ve played arena’s, stadiums, theatres, clubs. I prefer a packed smaller venue. Islington Academy packed is a perfect size. Even Hammersmith Apollo, although it’s bigger, is a perfect size venue to play in. When you walk out and the place is packed and there is just that electricity, it’s incredible. The clubs are great for that. A packed sweaty club is a killer.

Planet Loud – Okay Duff, thanks for your time, you’re back in June for Download…
Duff Mckagan – Yeah, we’re back for Download and we’re doing some shows with Motley which is going to be amazing. Hopefully we’re talking about coming back to do another tour as well at some point. Just to have the opportunity to play at Download is amazing. The one thing I’ve learned is not to take anything for granted these days so we’re just glad of the chance to get out there and play.

Interview by Graham Finney