DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED

DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED To Play Free Acoustic Show In Augusta, Georgia Today



Rock Bottom Music in Augusta, Georgia reports:

"Duff McKagan of GUNS N' ROSES and VELVET REVOLVER will be performing a FREE, live, all-ages acoustic set at Rock Bottom Music in Augusta, GA - on the corner of Broad at 8th street - with Duff’s new band LOADED (today) Wednesday April 22nd at 5 PM.

This will be a very rare acoustic performance and a real treat for Guns N’ Roses/Velvet Revolver/Loaded fans! Members of the 95 Rock team will be present.

Duff McKagan has sold tens-of millions of albums throughout his career and has performed on “The Rock Album of the Year” numerous times!

Duff will be autographing a Fender Duff McKagan signature series bass to be inducted into the “Rock Bottom Music Walls of Fame” and placed on display with many other rare music artifacts at our 758 Broad Street location in Augusta, GA."

Further details here.

DUFF McKAGAN - Rocking The South


DUFF McKAGAN has penned the latest installment of his SeattleWeekly.com column. It begins as follows:

"I am back out on the road with LOADED. This is our first-ever foray into the US rock marketplace. A band like Loaded is perhaps a risky endeavor, considering the more mainstream leanings of the American ear.

East and West Coast cities (Seattle, New York, Boston, LA) are places that harbor a music scene that allows for all types of bands to come through and find an audience. In the true spirit of Loaded, however, we did things the hard way and started our tour last week in the South. Huh?

Let me preface this subject by saying that I think the southern part of the US is stunningly beautiful and its people extremely charming, affable, and friendly. The South, however, is a place a rock band might come after they have 'broken' a bit worldwide, or at least nationwide. I'm not sure why, but the South is often the last place record companies try to market a band—perhaps because it is more spread out and rural, and hence it's tougher to spread the 'word.'

We started this tour in Nashville on a Saturday night playing a well-attended radio show. People seemed to know some of our songs, and it was pretty killer, actually. The following weekend we were booked on another radio show in Charleston. The trick was to fill in gigs between these two shows so that we could make enough money to pay for our travel, etc...

Playing clubs on a weeknight ANYWHERE is tough for a new band, and Loaded is certainly in this category. Getting local promoters to buy your show if you have just released a new record is a tenuous business at best. Since I have a bit of 'lineage,' I suppose that some of these clubs were willing to take the risk. I am glad that they did.

I am not saying that we filled up any of these clubs last week, but when you play a place like Jackson, Mississippi, on a Sunday night (with its local economy hit MUCH harder than most around this country), I'm not sure if a bigger band than us would have done much better. But it was the fans who showed up who really reinvigorated and energized my 'call to rock,' as it were. There was one guy in particular at that show who sang almost every word to every one of our songs, and I knew that this gig was important to him. I told him as much afterward, and I could see tears in his eyes."

To read the the rest of Duff's article, click here.