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    • DUFF MCKAGAN On Early Years Of GUNS N´ ROSES
    • DUFF MCKAGAN On Early Years Of GUNS N´ ROSES

      A video clip of Duff McKagan (VELVET REVOLVER, GUNS N´ ROSES, DUFF MCKAGAN´S LOADED) talking about the early years of GUNS N´ ROSES can be seen below.

      McKagan´s much-anticipated autobiography, "It´s So Easy (And Other Lies)", arrived on October 4 via Touchstone Books (formerly Touchstone Fireside), a division of Simon & Schuster. The first 80 pages of the book can be read at this location.

      In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, McKagan stated about the 304-page hardcover, "It´s not really my story, it´s really not even my autobiography or memoir. I think that term is overused. It is a story of some shit that happened to me, but probably not the typical [things] what people might expect. It´s not my story of GUNS N´ ROSES or VELVET REVOLVER. All of those things are sort of in it, because they´re things I bounced through as I was getting deeper and deeper into addiction and finding my way out. It was challenging going through some of these things that I hadn´t thought about for a long time. And writing forces you to take your own part of your life, of what role you actually played — as opposed to the one you make up later on."

      Speaking to Icon Vs. Icon, Duff stated about "It´s So Easy (And Other Lies)", "It is my story as I would tell it in my writing, not as I would sit down and tell you my story because I wouldn´t really know how to tell you my story. I can write it and get into the bleaker, darker things a lot easier and the more joyful things that have happened, especially after I got sober. It is basically a story of ´How did a guy like me get from Seattle to addiction, totally, fully addicted? How did that happen?´ Because the most common question that I get asked in private is, ´How did you get sober?´ I get asked that a ton by people that are still out there using. So I wrote about it. I wrote about how I got into that place. [Laughs] It is also my story of playing in punk rock bands up [Seattle] and going down to L.A. and the first band that formed was GUNS N´ ROSES. That band wasn´t the reason that I got addicted. It was just the situation that I was in. Drinking, drugs and whatnot was completely condoned, especially by our band. I am not blaming anyone else. I take my part in my life. I take accountability for myself. I think that too often we go through life and if something like that happens in your life, you are quick to point a finger and say, ´Well, those motherfuckers …´ or ´That guy…´ or ´Us going on late was that guy´s fault …´ or ´it was management.´ I just took accountability for things that I probably could have done differently. Going all the way into the addiction part was gnarly to write about. I really hadn´t figured that to happen but I went through a couple of months of really saying, ´Whoa! Fuck! I never even thought about this stuff. It is in my past.´ I think it is a good book [pauses] because I wrote it! [Laughs] I am editing it so I have written and read the words, different edits, about eight to 10 times! I think it is good. I can´t tell anymore."

      When asked if he had any reservations about telling his story, Duff said, "Well, here´s the deal. I wrote the book myself. You write alone. You don´t write with someone else sitting there. I was sitting there like, ´I´m not going to sit here and throw someone under the bus.´ No one else that is part of my story asked me to write about them here, ya know? In making that sort of my mantra, I started to discover my part in things. I had reservations about confidences of old bandmates and friends. If you are a bandmate or a friend of someone, you don´t leave that band or friendship and start telling everyone things. That is sorta like gossiping. Kinda like ´chick shit.´ But whatever, that isn´t the point. I wouldn´t do that. I think that my story is interesting enough and will have relevance to the people. I think that ´rock people´ will like the book. You know, I´m a dad and I think that parents will like the book. The book starts off at my daughter´s 13th birthday and then unravels to the past and comes forward again. I don´t know if you have read any of my Seattle Weekly columns but, like I said, it is told in that voice, from now. My reservations were, ´What does the book company want? Do they want a GUNS N´ ROSES book?´ because if they want that, there are enough of those out there. I don´t need to write another one of those and I don´t have a burning desire to unleash and I don´t have some burning secret that I need to tell."

      Duff´s VELVET REVOLVER/GUNS N´ ROSES bandmate Slash has published his own book, as has ex-GUNS drummer Steven Adler, who released his life story, "My Appetite for Destruction: Sex, and Drugs, and Guns N´ Roses", in July 2010.

      Duff McKagan on early years of GUNS N´ ROSES:

      Duff McKagan on addiction and recovery:

       

      Read: 135 | Comments (0) | Date: 09.10.2011 |
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