Duff McKagan: Rocking the South, Dodging the City Council
As I revealed last week, I am back out on the road with Loaded. This is our first-ever foray into the U.S. rock marketplace. A band like Loaded is perhaps a risky endeavor, considering the more mainstream leanings of the American ear.
Deanne Deesay Duff McKagan's column runs every Thursday on Reverb.
East and West Coast cities (Seattle, New York, Boston, L.A.) 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 U.S. 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.
Kris, a woman who writes in to this column, came to two of our gigs down South with her husband. Kris is actually a professor at a school down here somewhere, and it was really cool to meet a person who comments on this column.
It's not always easy to find a place to park our 70-foot bus, plus trailer. In Jacksonville, Florida, the promoter got us permission to park in front of City Hall in a nearby beach-town suburb. The problem was that a city council meeting was about to take place, and they had not been alerted to our status as Very Important Parkers. Mike Squires and I were the only ones on the bus when we heard a knock on our bus door. A city council woman asked who we were, and we politely explained our situation. She seemed OK with our answer and wished us a nice stay.
In actuality, she went straight into City Hall and brought out a bunch of her male council friends with the intent of getting us kicked off the property. By this time, however, I was tired, hot, lonely, and a tad fucking cranky! When one of the male council dweebs said in essence that I was lying about us having permission to park here—well, I kind of got in his face and asked him not to insult me any further and said I'd been touring for more than half my life and that we wouldn't do something as asinine as lying just to get a parking spot, especially in front of a shitty City Hall. This guy was a real greasy and schwarmy prick. He called the cops. Luckily, Squires knows how to handle the cops, and an escalation of my righteousness was averted. We had to move the bus, but that city council dude still has to deal with the fact that he has a small penis.
That night we all got tattooed with some variation of the Loaded logo. Heck, we are best friends AND it's the longest I've ever been in a band with the same guys, which in my world warrants a tattoo. The gig in Jacksonville kicked some serious ass.
In Augusta, Georgia, we played at a music store (Rock Bottom) acoustically in the afternoon and then to a small but exuberant crowd that night at a venue that was much too big for us. It didn't matter though...we kicked ass yet again.
We finally got a night off in a town with fine dining and good ol' nerdy tourist stuff when we got to Charleston, South Carolina (where Fort Sumter is and the Civil War started, etc. . . ). This city now tops my list as the most beautiful city in the United States. Jeff Rouse and I went out for a real sit-down French-Creole dinner at a place called Rue du Jacques, and we felt suddenly civilized and somewhat less stinky and crass (being on a bus with seven dudes 24/7 creates a perfect storm of man-funk and foul language).
Our final gig of this leg of the tour was in front of six or seven thousand rockers fully buying into our style of Loaded rock. . . indeed, a great way to end this past weekend.
Mike and Ashley McCready have asked Loaded to play this weekend at their yearly benefit concert for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. Mike is a guy I have known since before Pearl Jam, at a time, unbeknown to me, that he first discovered that he suffered from Crohn's. This show helps send kids with the disease to a summer camp, a place where these kids can feel 'a part of' as opposed to 'alone in a crowd'. Mike and Ashley work very hard for this one show a year and I applaud them. The gig is this Saturday, 8pm, Showbox at the Market. It features Shadow (Mikes' first band from the '80's), Loaded, and Flight to Mars (Mikes' most excellent UFO cover band)!
As a nifty side note: The plural for "y'all" is simply "all y'all."
35 comment(s)
Kris says:
Yes, but can you use "all y'all" in a sentence, now?
Glad you did swing through the deep South--you all* did indeed kick ass. It was groovy to meet you as well.
*see, even I can't do it and I've lived her for over a decade.
Posted On: Thursday, Apr. 30 2009 @ 6:51AM
Lori says:
Hmm...you are doing what the folks in the south refer to as "hunkering down" :-)
Remember, slow and steady wins the race. All the best. Be good, Lori
Posted On: Thursday, Apr. 30 2009 @ 7:23AM
Lori says:
Hmm...you are doing what the folks in the south refer to as "hunkering down" :-)
Remember, slow and steady wins the race. All the best. Be good, Lori
Posted On: Thursday, Apr. 30 2009 @ 7:28AM
Anna says:
When are you coming to Indiana?
It seems Indiana provides a lot of great rock stars to the music business but then none of them ever come back to play!
Posted On: Thursday, Apr. 30 2009 @ 8:42AM
Suzanne says:
You probably heard it used kinda like- "All ya'll git back on that bus and move on outta here". Translation - All of you guys. I'm from Florida and I'm actually not too surprised by the run in with the law. Is a bit like Mayberry in some parts. It explains why I'm still paranoid about someday being wrongfully accused... I've seen it happen!
And I can just see that Council woman saying, "Oh, alrighty then, that's fine. You boys have yourselves a good day." as she runs on over to get reinforcements. So sorry you guys had to go through that, but hey, it makes for good blogging!
Glad to hear the start of the tour was a blast, Duff. Looking forward to you guys rolling into these parts (out west) soon.
Posted On: Thursday, Apr. 30 2009 @ 8:49AM
MB says:
"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"
And I'll bet it was just as important to him to let you know that he was a fan there to support you boys rather than a "casual observer".
That shared energy between band and fans is so intoxicating and addicting-and enhanced exponentially the smaller and more intimate the venue. I'll chase a "gig high" as far as I possibly can because there's truly nothing like it!
@Kris: I lived in Florida (a NJ transplant) and couldn't bring myself to "y'all"either Though "yous" got so many raised eyebrows it might have been easier to go with the "all Y'all"!!
Posted On: Thursday, Apr. 30 2009 @ 9:17AM
Mad_Mama says:
You know, y'all never fail to inspire me. Thank you for stopping in the Deep South. My family is all from around Jackson, MS, though, as you know, I'm born and bred here in the Puget Sound region. Visited family in Mississippi recently. You are right - a beautiful part of the country deep in a painful economic depression. We still have it pretty damned good here (for now).
I pass your column each week along to friends around the world. We all enjoy it, and will "parse" it to pieces each time, sharing the laughs, and enjoying the depths as well. Thank you for this Thursday gem each week!
Cheers - see you at the Crohns & Colitis Foundation fundraiser on Saturday! (Everyone - seriously, GO to this event! Showbox Market - Loaded, plus Mike McCready's two bands!! What could be more kick-ass??)
Posted On: Thursday, Apr. 30 2009 @ 9:31AM
silent_but_deadly_volley says:
Well, how “you all” like “Big Government” now,
Lot of little dicks, on big ego trips
Well, the perception of some literature, is that the civil war started in Virginia, of which that State [Virginia] held the same ideology as present day Washington State, that they wanted to be Sovereign, yet they wanted the benefits of a National [or collective system] of Government, with minimal or no contributions to the goals of that system and preached a disregard for the
constitutional rights of all citizens of the United States; with the exception of like minded people within their borders. Theoretically they may have had an argument on some points, but not when it came to “Human Rights” and parts of the “Constitution”. Then a few brave men, whom happened to be Republicans, convinced like minded individuals, that the sound of cracking whips was intolerable. Where the actual bloodletting began, is probably as open to debate as to who or whom invented the Internet.
well I seen what Duff wrote about her
I seen Duff put her down
Weill I hope Duff McKagan will remember
a southern government official don’t need him around anyhow
now to serve up some love,
you bed wetting Seattleite, I fart in your general directi
Posted On: Friday, May. 1 2009 @ 10:19AM
silent_but_deadly_volley says:
on
Posted On: Friday, May. 1 2009 @ 10:23AM
Bitch Slap says:
I have a small penis and a good attitude...why do you have to go after the small penis.
some of us are not as lucky to have a large penis and be a rock star.
wooziness as i stand
Posted On: Friday, May. 1 2009 @ 10:29AM
Mizzy Diamon` says:
wish u come back to Mtl but this time with Loaded.....
LAMF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted On: Friday, May. 1 2009 @ 10:39AM
Andrea says:
Hillarious, that story about City Hall and its minions was great!
On an unrelated note, are you still training toward climbing Mt. Rainier this summer? How do you manage?
Posted On: Friday, May. 1 2009 @ 10:42AM
Duffsangel says:
Glad the tours started well guys. I'm waiting patiently for the UK dates, saw you last Sept the day before I went on hols, a perfect start, Cheers Guys.
Any pics the new tattoo's I need some more inspiration for mine!
Posted On: Friday, May. 1 2009 @ 1:33PM
Anne says:
You don't even know how frustrating it is to be in the south and love music. Nobody comes here and if they do its Atlanta and Charlotte, both a good 5 hours away from where I live. Though Charleston is hit up by some smaller bands. yeah, it is incredibly beautiful. My favorite thing to do is just to walk around and listen to all the music in the streets. Where I live (Hilton Head SC) is actually pretty cool. Some cool acts come our way and generally everyone is really interested in music, so I guess I'm exaggerating when I say its hard to live here.
By the way, y'uns is another plural form of y'all I've heard. Damn southerners, as a native Pennsylvanian I don't think I'll ever understand their language.
Posted On: Friday, May. 1 2009 @ 2:58PM
Nevermind says:
‘That night we all got tattooed with some variation of the Loaded logo’
we all know a tattoo of my sexiness would have been much better
‘We had to move the bus, but that city council dude still has to deal with the fact that he has a small penis.’
This is the internet, some other greasy fuckhead will send him this blog sooner or later...
Next time you go to jacksonville, that city council dude with the small penis, will make you park your bus between the truck stop hookers...
And its not a fun job to remove naked ass stains from the side of the bus...
Nevermind The Bollocks
Posted On: Friday, May. 1 2009 @ 3:29PM
Jo says:
Glad to hear the tour's kickin on well guys! If you can handle the south it sounds like you can handle anything...
So get your asses to Australia!
Anne, I totally feel your pain when it comes to nobody coming to your city. I'm livin in Brisbane (aka Brisboring) at the moment but I'm originally from what was once a small beach town called Maroochydore. Do you think ANY bands tour to beach side towns where people live in fibro shacks? Nah. So I moved! Even now though I sometimes have to fly to Sydney or Melbourne to see some bands because apparently Brisbane isn't cool enough. Lucky for me flights are cheap, and when theyre not road trips are fun!
Anyway, best of luck for the charity gig Duff, sounds like its gonna be a kick ass event!
Posted On: Friday, May. 1 2009 @ 3:38PM
Mike F. says:
Oooh... Duff's rough and tough and he'd had enough about... that parking spot. You go, dude! You're kinda sexy when you're angry! Grrr! Don't take no guff from all these "small penis" schwarmy pricks! Everyone knows that artists who KICK ASS make the best music. Rock stars are so cool, man! What a great blog...
Posted On: Friday, May. 1 2009 @ 4:03PM
Davis says:
Duff you have to make it over to Portland sometime with Loaded!
Posted On: Friday, May. 1 2009 @ 4:40PM
Duff says:
Oh Nevermind
I was going to get your name 'inked' into my steely and road-worn flesh...but I forgot! Next time?
Duff
Posted On: Friday, May. 1 2009 @ 7:13PM
Michelle says:
Duff,
Thank you for sharing your story. I really enjoyed it.
After a working a long and hard seven day week in retail
management I am looking forward to attending the benefit concert saturday.
Just what the doctor ordered...rock therapy.
I went to the croc show and picked up your new cd. To be honest with you I can't say I had heard Loaded before the show. I had read your column the week tickets went on sale. I checked out the website and decided I needed to be at that show. I thought the show rocked and I am enjoying the new cd. It will be a treat hear the songs live again. I also wanted to acknowledge Jeff for being so nice to my husband and I when we asked him to sign the cd. This was before the rest of the band made came out to sign. Gentleman indeed.
I have been a serious pj fan for years and am looking forward to seeing Mike. Haven't had the pleasure of seeing him since the gorge show in 06.
UFO was at my first concert.
Cheap Trick, Blue Oyster Cult, Pat Travers were also part of the line-up.
Hope you enjoyed my story.
M
Posted On: Friday, May. 1 2009 @ 8:27PM
Candi says:
I was pleasantly surprised that Loaded decided to tour in the South--we definitely have our own way of life & I wouldn't know how to act any other way. I also attended the Nashville show & thought it was great (And I have a Masters in Accounting so please don't judge the South by that "Daisy Duke" contest that night...)
I really appreciate the time after the show that you guys took to sign CD's, take quick pictures, etc. I have some awesome pix of each of you & the whole band if any of you would like them. (Pls see my e-mail address PRIVATELY that is on my e-mail). My 14 year old son--WHO IS ALMOST YOUR HEIGHT was SO upset that he couldn't come with me! Please come back &--TRANSLUCENT should be you guy's next single release!
Lastly, I could "feel the love" between your wife & yourself. I happened to be standing at the right angle when you wanted a bottle of water & she was right there for you. As a Mom of 3 boys, I'm glad you 2 weren't playing tiddlywinks when you have a night without the little darlings :)
Posted On: Friday, May. 1 2009 @ 9:50PM
Carly says:
I love the blog, but is it sad that I always check back for the comments between Nevermind and Duff? hahaha you guys are too funny!
Posted On: Saturday, May. 2 2009 @ 8:49AM
Kenneth says:
"Slash & Friends" are going to the Quart Festival in Norway. Are you one of the "friends"? Ozzy Osbourne is one of the friens, now they need one on bass :-)
Posted On: Saturday, May. 2 2009 @ 8:33PM
Tattooed Angel says:
@Nevermind: Dare I ask why you know it's hard to remove naked ass stains from a vehicle? :-p
Posted On: Sunday, May. 3 2009 @ 8:00AM
Susannah says:
Duff,
Thanks so much for your stories! I've been reading your writing for a while and have really enjoyed your honesty and your passion and your sense of humor. I just had to write because I grew up in the Southeast (actually in Greenville SC which is noted for banning acts and for mass CD burnings! - poor Dixie Chicks).
It means so much to me that Loaded actually started its tour in the South! Growing up, I was the weird, tall skinny girl with her nose in a book and 'strange' taste in music and I would spend every cent I made at my afterschool job on records and joined punk rock bands despite an apalling lack of talent. I would bribe people to drive to other cities in other states to hear bands and sneak into the dive on the outskirts of town (I was 14) to hear bands from Athens before they hit it big.
Music is so personal and it meant everything to me when everything about me felt wrong. I heard Appetite for Destruction and just lost it - I'd been listening to Motorhead, Sex Pistols and Black Sabbath and it was so liberating to hear something so wild and angry and passionate and good that was being made NOW! My best friend Cokehead Brandy and I would drive around and blast GNR and just feel GOOD and somehow vindicated!
My husband and I live in Seattle now and don't take going to shows for granted!
Keep writing! Keep rocking!
Posted On: Sunday, May. 3 2009 @ 11:32AM
Nevermind says:
@ Tattooed Angel
theres just no decent way to explain it… and sometimes its better to leave some things unexplained, like why i once thought that my shoe ate my hamburger...
Nevermind The Bollocks
Posted On: Sunday, May. 3 2009 @ 6:00PM
Tattooed Angel says:
@Nevermind...
Agreed. And some questions are meant to be rhetorical ;-)
@Duff...thanks for a totally KICK ASS show last night! Wild Horses was a real treat-great harmonies! ;-)
Posted On: Sunday, May. 3 2009 @ 7:34PM
Erin says:
@ Carly
I do the same thing! lol!
Posted On: Monday, May. 4 2009 @ 12:38AM
Mad_Mama says:
Yay Nevermind! You are my favoritest commentator, you know. And comment to Jo - I have a dear friend and rock fan living in Brisbane. We called her from the Loaded show on Saturday, just to make sure she could share in the fun! She had done the same for me with AiC performing Down in a Hole a month or so ago. I would guess that one was not in Brissy, but I could be wrong. Hang in there! Not everywhere can be as cool at the NW!
Posted On: Monday, May. 4 2009 @ 10:07AM
Sabirna says:
Why I wasn't born on USA?!!!WHYY?, mmmm... NO I love my country and the people from here but I'm so far away, well these guys can see you... well just enjoy the show and many, a lot of photos while I'll be waiting, I'll still waiting. What did I say? WE be waiting
Love you Duff ♥ , I hope see you...
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." -GOOD IDEA-
Posted On: Monday, May. 4 2009 @ 2:47PM
SABRI says:
and the winner for the worst english on the net is...
SABRINAA CEVAA (APLAUSE)
thank you idiots rules \m/ jajaja
Posted On: Monday, May. 4 2009 @ 2:49PM
Ricardo Barandiaran says:
I thought the title was refering to touring to south america, i was excited!!!!
Come sometime to Perú Duff, you won't regret it!
Posted On: Monday, May. 4 2009 @ 5:08PM
Willis says:
That's some great insight into the life of touring!
Posted On: Monday, May. 4 2009 @ 8:52PM
Sabrina (?) says:
http://www.fotolog.com/rock_fan/36613204
LOOK AT THIS
Posted On: Wednesday, May. 6 2009 @ 1:33PM
Kristin says:
I have ben following the band's progress since I discovered yall and stumbled onto this blog. I attended the Jacksonville, FL concert and it kicked ass! I savored every minute and even went down with a bar stool in classic southern fashion.I grew up here in the south and yes I agree we tend to be a little barren when it comes to new music (especially Rock n Roll). That is why all of us down here appreciate the work and love that was put into this tour. I am very rarely afforded the oppurtunity to experience the songs I love in person.
You guys must have been parked at the Neptune Beach City Hall. They're a bunch of pompous small town dicks who think they own the world because they live at the beach instead of the "real country". Next time yall are down come check out Bryceville. That's were all the real action is.
Posted On: Thursday, Jun. 18 2009 @ 6:20AM