00:0093.3 WMMR in Philadelphia. I'm Pierre Robert. Our guest this afternoon, it's safe to say,
00:05has music running through his veins and has since he was a very young child. Most people would know
00:11him through two of the giant bands he was a huge part of, certainly Guns N' Roses and Velvet
00:15Revolver, but there have been so many more musical projects through the years. If all of that's not
00:20enough, he's also a best-selling New York Times author. His last book in 2015 was called How to
00:25Be a Man and Other Illusions. He and another amazing musician by the name of Shooter Jennings
00:31have collaborated on what will be his third solo album. It's called Tenderness. We're also lucky
00:36because they start their tour introducing this music and this new record right here in Philadelphia
00:41at the TLA. Joined today by John Schreffler on guitar, it's a great pleasure to welcome Duff
00:46McKagan to WMMR. Thank you, guys. I'd like to dedicate the song to Scott Weiland, Prince,
00:53Chris Cornell, and Chester Bennington. It's called Feel.
01:10You're here, still here. Some are gone, brothers, sisters, and moms.
01:22Someone you love. He had enough. He went back to drugs. I guess he had enough. Feel when the lights
01:43go down. You are still here. All you hold dear remain. I feel when the lights go down. You
01:59You are still here. All you hold dear remain.
02:04Hard knocks, bad luck. You've been knocked down. You got back up. Rise up. Shine on. You keep on fighting the war.
02:09The war is almost done. But then I hear you go.
02:16Hard knocks, bad luck. You've been knocked down. You got back up. Rise up. Shine on. You keep on fighting the war. It's almost done.
02:36But then I hear you go. Feel when the lights go down. You are still here. All I hold dear remain.
02:53I feel when the lights go down. You are still here. All you hold dear remain.
03:08You are still there. You do. The lights go down. You have still here. All you grab your eyes.
03:32Your style never fades
03:39Your style never fades
03:46Your style never fades
03:53All that remains
04:03Is love in my hands
04:10I'll feel
04:14When the lights go down
04:18You are still here
04:20All I hope to remain
04:26I'll feel
04:29That first picture framed
04:32My heart remains
04:34From that first day the same
04:40I'll feel
04:43When the lights go down
04:46You are still here
04:48All you hold dear
04:50Remain
04:54I'll feel
04:57When the lights go down
05:00You are still here
05:03All you hold dear
05:06Remain
05:07Day
05:08The song is called Feel from the latest album Tenderness.
05:21Steph McKagan is with us and John Schreffler on guitar.
05:23You, I was gonna save the heavier part still later, but you open by dedicating that to Chris Cornell and the song is about a lot of those that we have lost over the last few years.
05:32Obviously, you knew Chris.
05:34What was your experience of Chris?
05:37Yeah, except for Prince, I knew all those guys very well.
05:40And Chris, you know, I go back a long time. We're both from Seattle. So before I moved to L.A. I knew Chris and early 80s. We're the same age. Our wives were pregnant with our babies at the same time. So we had, you know, little babies together.
05:50And did all that stuff that new fatherdom nerdy stuff you do and have really great wonderful memories of him. And still kind of find myself going, you know, I did a gig with him just a couple years ago with McCready and Barrett Martin. We did a mad season.
06:08Wow.
06:09And Lane's gone. So Chris filled Lane and Baker, the bass player's gone. So I filled in Baker's slot and we played with Seattle Symphony mad season at the Ben Ray Hall. It was amazing.
06:33Wow.
06:34So that was just, I mean, a couple of years ago, it seems. It was 2015.
06:39Well, he sat right where you were sitting and has played for us a number of times on this program. And I didn't know him well, but I was crushed by it. You know, and you could see that he had demons, as a lot of the people do, that have been affected by addiction.
06:54And it seemed like he had conquered them. And then yet, you know, out of the blue comes, you know, this mystery as to what took place as to, you know, why we lose him and Chester and, you know, some of the others are a little more obvious, like, you know, Scott or even Prince.
07:10I didn't know that he had a drug problem. But, you know, we discover these things sometimes afterwards. But the ones that you think have dealt with the monsters, particularly Chris and Chester come to mind. And then all of a sudden, they haven't.
07:24Yeah, I mean, it's something I deal with. And they're stark reminders to me to wake up every morning, look yourself in the mirror and go, okay, today's going to be a good day. And I keep it, I keep it sitting over on the table. I recognize it. I look at it.
07:43It being the monsters.
07:45The monsters. Yeah.
07:47You've got to recognize it. If you ignore it, that's when you get into trouble. I've found.
07:51You've been sober how long?
07:54Uh, 25 years.
07:56Wow. That's great. That is deserves. Congratulations.
