Duff McKagan: I've Been Listening to Aerosmith, Frampton, and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

• (My recollection was that it was Slash & Izzy, but I'll ask her next time we speak...)

• Seasons of wither, since I saw it live (April 2007, VR was there too, ringing bells?) all I can do is agree with you.

• My sister worked briefly in hotel reception and she enjoyed meeting Guns N' Roses in the early days. I can't remember which was which but two of the members signed in with funny pseudonyms: Phil Likesheet and Luke Likesheet. Anybody know the other ones?

• Festivals would be a cool place to mix it up, but concerts would be best to stay in the same genre, eh!

• Siamese Democracy........

• How about an aero/gaga or gn'r/gaga mix it up tours to get the classic rock/pop crossover sales? multitudes of combinations. goal is to also sell more downloads and records.

• I donna know , I think the video you shot with Velvet Revolver was, not only hmmm heartstoping material, but , well winged...

• I really dig Tom Hamilton's riff on Sweet Emotion and Brad Whitford's on Last Child, as well as everything they've put out. Same with Guns N' Roses. I guess ya could say, I've been listening too...

• Hey Duff, -Last one: for writing a book it makes for an incredible read when one is brutally honest. Check this out! I don't know much, but what I do know is that Joe and Steven are like brothers and it's ok with me if they kick up a little dust every now and then. I also enjoy any Tyler/Perry collaboration as Tyler is one of the funniest guys I've ever met and an incredible showman to boot. Here is one of my favorite interviews by Ben Raworth, FHM April 1997: Steve Tyler: The Aerosmith frontman on bull's testicles, death and hideous motorcycle accidents: This room looks like a hareem. -Yeah. Have the women washed and brought to my tent! Your new LP is called Nine Lives. Do you like cats? -Do I like cats?!! I like pussies, sure. Naturally. How many lives have you lost so far? -It far surpasses the image of the nine lives of a cat. I had the fire in the house, the drugs, the band breaking up, shit with the manager. Have you ever actually been clinically dead? -Oh sure. I've been completely out of it. The white light at the end of the tunnel stuff? -White light? I didn't see shit till I came round. You are looking a lot healthier these days. Are you living on bean sprouts and alfalfa now? -Bean sprouts! I've never eaten so much fucking meat in my life. I'm having venison every night. I just got turned on to goat curry too. You must have given up smoking then... -No, I can tell you I have never smoked so many cigars in my life. An inspiration to us all. Aerosmith have done over 3,000 gigs. Are you the hardest working band in rock n' roll? -Well, we work hard. It's like at the tail end of the last tour someone said, "You've never been to South America." We said, "This is the end of the tour - no more gigs." But then they said $2 million... and you think, okay, that's the worry taken out of Christmas then. Is there any other job you could have stuck at for 20 years? -No. When I first smoked a joint, I went to the dark side of the moon and I took up residency there. I loved it, you know, shoot a little coke... so I couldn't have stuck with any job. What, nothing at all? -I guess I could've worked with Jacques Cousteau. Anything to get out there on the ocean and check things out. What first drew you to rock's dark highway? -The Everly Brothers. The Kinks - I'm a big Kinks fan - and the Pretty Things. In 1964 me and my best friend used to go down to a record shop underneath 42nd Street. They sold doo-wop. Great British imports too. I love good melodies. The Beatles. Oasis. You severed your heel in a motorcycle accident once, didn't you? -Yeah. In fact, my heel was off. I had a mini-bike. I was drunk and had the babysitter on the back, so I took the long road home along the lake. I came over this hill and just went straight into some bushes. See, I went to shift down, only I was sitting on the gas tank because the babysitter was on the seat. So I kinda dug my heel into the road. Sounds hideous. What's the most horrific thing you've ever seen? -I saw a guy jump the guard rail in the middle of the freeway in Florida on his motorcycle. He hit the retaining fence and just split in half. His head rolled down the other side of the road and a car ran over it. His head was still attached to one of his arms actually. Nice. Do you know how much money you lost in the Seventies? -I know exactly how much I lost. I made like $4 or $5 million by 1979 and by '83, let's see... I lost it all. I remember in the early days looking at another fucked-up rock n' roll star and thinking, "I will never end up like that, man. They had all these riches and blew it all. That would never happen to me. Never." But it did. -Sure. So how did you get back on track? -One day this dude comes up to me and says, "Listen Big Fuck, Joe Perry's no longer in the band and last night you were on your knees at a party looking for cocaine and smoking people's toenails. You stupid fuck!" -That was my very late wake-up call, man. I was so high. I forgot about reality and just loved shooting dope and coke. -Stupid. Was Dude (Looks Like A Lady) written about Vince Neal of Motley Crue? -Partly. We were hailing a taxi in New York one night and these fucks, Motley Crue, pulled up in a limo. They called us in and every other word out of their mouths was "dude." You know, "Yo dude! Your dude is really dude, dude." I hadn't heard this crazy dude shit before. So how did you get a song out of that? -We had just bought a sampler and we were listening to an Eddie Murphy album, the one where he keeps going on about Mr. T being gay. What, the "You sure look cute in them jeans, boy" routine? -Yeah. I kind of got a lick, but couldn't get the words. I had shit like "Cruisin' for the ladies," or "My old lady's got rabies." Bad stuff. Then I remembered my new word: Dude. Okay, so that's on part of it. But who looks like a lady? -Listen, I never told anyone this before. When I was 16, I went downtown to some house of ill repute, and on the way we picked up this he-she. "She" got in the back of the car and I realised and I just went, "God, get out of here!" I was too young to understand. Dude did look like a lady. What were you like as a five-year old? -I was very hyper. My parents tried to get me on... oh, I forgot what it's called. Electrotherapy? -Yeah! No, some kind of slow-you-down pills. But instead of slowing me down, this stuff just made me crazy. If I had a line of dope now I'd be up on my feet and shining my shoes and I'd be on the phone to Liam Gallagher to go party. What is your favorite horror film? -That's easy. From when I was a little boy, 'The House on Haunted Hill.' In the theater they had a wire and a ghost came down and made everybody jump out of their fucking seats. The girl you were with screamed, you screamed and then, you know, everybody went home happy. Now that you've stopped the substance abuse, what do you think you're most likely to get arrested for? -Speeding. Or perhaps being naked in the hallways somewhere. I collect knives, you know. I always have one with me. I got some really great ones. Which one is your favorite? -I got the one the CIA use. Although it has to be said these things are made for killing. You have to get them from a friend of a friend. But I've got one. You just know this baby isn't made for wood carving. If you made it to heaven, who would you like to bump into up there? -I'd love to be with Curly from the Three Stooges. Or Buddha would be interesting. And who would you avoid at all costs? -Any of my old dealers. What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten? -Bull's testicles. Roasted cobra. Lamb's brains. Got any good sex tips you'd like to pass on to our readers? -When in doubt, whip it out. Sound advice. Have you ever been in a fist fight? -Shit, yeah. When I was at school and someone called you shit, that was it. You went out after school and there was no escaping. The whole fucking school would be at the gates. If you thought for any moment that you were going to get your ass kicked, then you got your ass kicked. Remember when you were down and that horrible crowd mentality took over? The girls would spit at you for losing and the people would sneak kicks to the kidneys and shit? What's the best way of avoiding a mauling like that? -Just keep punching, and throw in the occasional sweeping kick and stay on your damn feet. That ought to do it. Finally, if you could get back any one possession that you've lost, what would it be? -My foreskin. _____________

• Hey Duff, wanna build a war-chest?!! And fill it full of hundreds of millions... Rocker's fantasy: A tour where part of the show is strictly Chinese Democracy and those cool players, but then the other part would be all of the other players, yourself included. This would be a definite business opportunity, and you can crunch the numbers - the bigger the number the better in my book. Most will do what? Fifty or a hundred shows - how 'bout workin' hard and maybe doing two hundred fifty to three hundred dates? If it was me, I'd do that in one year easy, and the world is your oyster - you can play anywhere. The tough part is putting a bug in Axl's ear. And maybe it has to be on his terms, which is ok. Sold Out in every venue means a real war-chest. You wouldn't even be able to spend it all, nor your kids and your grand kids all the way on down the line, heh heh. But the key is to fill every seat in every venue. Maybe it would even take putting on a killer show with Aerosmith, or whoever you guys wanna jam with; thats you guys' call. To hell with any animosity or bad feelings or any type of b.s. - this is a business and it was meant to be fun. It would be cool if Izzy would show up too. The fans would dig it. Steven Adler is a necessary part too - it has to be a show of force to be a Coup D'etat, at for the hardcore rockers. Maybe it can't happen quickly, but start thinking about it. Talk to Slash. The current GN'R players on Chinese Democracy are very important, they have to be included cuz their part of the story too. Ya wanna rock?!! I'll bet if Axl really thinks about it, he can stand to be on stage with everyone, no matter what the past held. Aerosmith did it. Guns N' Roses can do it too. Cuz really, it's only rock n' roll. Rock on bro!

• LookaHomeward Angel: Side 1 S.O.S. (Too Bad) Somebody Dream On Write Me A Letter Side 2 Walkin' The Dog Train Kept A Rollin' Toys In The Attic -Keep rockin'

• Just for the record: Joe Perry made me feel like a million bucks when I was a teenager and we were following them on the first Joe Perry Project tours. I believe Joe could tell who his hardcore fans were: you know the ones in their Draw The Line or Night In The Ruts tee shirts, and in the front row, with flashbulbs blazing; Bright Light Fright indeed! Then they'd also hang out before and after the show to see whatever they could. I won't tell ya what we talked about but Joe gave me some of the best advice ever; "Sometimes ya gotta take the bad with the good," - which always helped me through any rough times. It also boosted my self esteem into the stratosphere, just knowing I'd met one of the coolest guitar slingers ever. Duff is just as cool too, especially in my book. I've seen with my own eyes how he treats his fans and even read how he loves his family. Now thats as good as it gets. They both have incredible wives too. Ditto for Slash and a ton of other rockers; I just wish I could name them all - but for the sake of brevity and carpal tunnel, let's just say, Rock On!

• @bass addict, Ah a fellow rocker - Cool tunes bro, and cheers to the beer!!! - Rock on forever.

• Thanks..LIVE..I ve got full concerts from Paris 92,Tokyo,Oklahoma,Argentina,notorius St.Louis,Live at Ritz 88,Minneapolis etc.ever head jumpin jack flash acoustic and electric ver.?or heartbreak hotel?VR HAD AWESOME PERFORMANCE in LJubljana(EUROPE)They played wish you were here..been there!good beer also

• Thanks..LIVE..I ve got full concerts from Paris 92,Tokyo,Oklahoma,Argentina,notorius St.Louis,Live at Ritz 88,Minneapolis etc.ever head jumpin jack flash acoustic and electric ver.?or heartbreak hotel?VR HAD AWESOME PERFORMANCE in LJubljana(EUROPE)They played wish you were here..been there!good beer also

• @bass addict, Guns N' Roses also covered Live and Let Die which was great. Check out Wild Horses with their Live Cover Versions recorded in USA, France, Brazil and Japan 1988 to 1992, and probably at your local independant record store - you'll be glad did.

• Look Homeward Angel was incredibly cool. Those bootlegs back then sounded great and may have even been made off the soundboard tapes. I probably stumbled on a company that advertised in the back of one of the rags like Circus, Creem or Hit Parader - but the actual bootlegs were usually made overseas and I was never disappointed. Get Your Wings had some major FM airplay in the Detroit area, probably cuz we had cool DJ's who were hooked into what was happening on the East Coast, especially with Train Kept A Rollin' and Same Old Song and Dance rockin' the airwaves. The press and critics still slagged 'em, but we were rocking hard. Toys In The Attic blew the roof off the sucker, especially live and in concert. What more can I say?!! - Just another fast and furious Tyler/Perry collaboration - whoa baby. They played funky and groovy and Walk This Way is another prime example. I've always liked all the albums even when the press and critics didn't.All I can say is give 'em a listen and with an open mind. And this is true with any band - give 'em a chance, you might even be pleasantly surprised. Rock n' Roll was meant to be fun, so have a good time with it. And stay tuned cuz ya never know what surprises your favorite bands have in store, and maybe even just around the corner. - Rock On!

• Dream on!true artistic expression..kick ass song.Amazing grace sung by steven Tyler..uhh gives me chills..LET IT BE..somethin to cover...nice gnr version,insrumental but awesome.

• Dream on!true artistic expression..kick ass song.Amazing grace sung by steven Tyler..uhh gives me chills..LET IT BE..somethin to cover...nice gnr version,insrumental but awesome.

• Duff, I think we wore out the Frampton Comes Alive album we played it so much. Also, I still have the bootleg Aerosmith album Look Homeward Angel: "toys, toys, toys...in the attic"

• @Sarah, It's ok if ya call me Butt Hole - I deserve it. Keep Rockin, but do your homework first, hee hee!!!

• Yay!!!!! Benefit concert!!!!Im bringin mama and papa with me! All of the musicians stated above are exstremely wonderful, hee hee (including Butt Hole!!!)Okay time to write another friggin Essay:(

• p.p.p.p.p.s. - As far as I'm concerened, the Steven Tyler Project = Aerosmith. Same with the Joe/Joey/Brad/Tom Projects, hee hee. Axl Rose kicks ass too! and where's IZZY?!! ha. Somebody put a bug in their ear so we can Keep Rockin' Thanks Duff!

• Sorry about any typos; just havin' fun cuz Tyler/Perry & Company got me rockin' hard and to them I owe a sincere debt of gratitude. In my book, nobody does it better. As a kid I heard 'Dream On' on an AM radio station, which Steven Tyler advised, "For me this song sums up the shit you put up with when you're in a new band. Only one in fifty people who write about you pick up on the music. Most of the critics panned our first album, and said we were ripping off the Stones. And I think 'Dream On' is a great song, but it was two or three years before people really got a chance to hear it. That's a good barometer of my anger at the press, which I still have. 'Dream On' came to me playing piano when I was about seventeen or eighteen, and I didn't know anything about writing a song. It was just this little . . . sonnet that I started playing one day. I never thought then it would end up being a real song or anything." 'Walkin' the Dog' is one of the early tunes we played in clubs. It was on a lot of early set lists, and it still finds its way to one of our set lists today." -Joe Perry. I always liked how Guns N' Roses also included it on their early set lists too! Same with 'Mama Kin' which Joe said was one that Steven brought with him from before Aerosmith and that Steven obviously loved that one --"I mean, he did have it tattooed on his arm. But when I first heard it I was afraid that the chords were too simple. But inevitably the best ones are the easy ones." The main reason that I went to see the 1978 movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the silver screen when it came out was to watch 'em play 'Come Together.' They always had that creative tension too, even to this very day. I'm also a big fan of Jack Douglas who also worked with John Lennon and many other great artists. Speaking about Come Together, Joe advised, "It was really cool to be in the studio with George Martin. You always wondered what it would be like to be in the studio with one of the Beatles, and he was sort of the fifth Beatle. It was kind of intimidating but we weren't too easily intimidated in those days." Fast forward to 1976 ROCKS era where 'Back In The Saddle' was recorded on 2/3/76 at the Record Plant in NYC and written by Tyler/Perry: "To me this is the kind of riff and instrumentation that falls outside the normal formula of a rock song. I wrote it on a six string bass. It was one of those songs that really opened things up for us." I met Slash on one of his Bluesbreaker Tour dates in Palo Alto and he was also one of the most down to earth rock n' roll stars that I've ever met. I even told him that after the show while we were sippin' each sippin' on vodka/cranberries and we each only had one. Maybe he saw me rockin' out in the crown, I don't know but what I do know is that we spoke to eachother on a human level. There was no ego at all. Over the years, I've learned that the best thing to do with anyone: is to just be yourself. It works for me. I saw Slash give a really cool cowboy shirt with pearl buttons to a young teenage fan, in exchange for the kids t-shirt which was a play on words to the Dunkin' Donuts logo, only it read Fuckin' Go Nuts or a slight variation of such. The kid couldn't believe it and wanted Slash to sign it with a sharpie. Slash said something to the effect that he didn't want to ruin the shirt, so he rolled up one of the sleeves and signed it on the inside, so when the kid wore it that way the signature would then be visible. I stood there thinkin' that was pretty cool and wished I could've done something like that with Joe Perry when I was teenager, ha. Now I had met Slash at Guitar Center in March '88 before Guns N' Roses was famous and we had spoken briefly as I was walkin out the door with a '57 reissue, Lake Placid Blue with a Maple Neck and he was totally down to earth back then too. So in Palo Alto many years and millions later, when I found Slash to be the same down to earth guy, I was pretty amazed. The first question I gave to Slash was, "Hey man, back when I was a kid - my bedroom walls were plastered with Aerosmith posters -- didja ever do anything like that?!! Well, suffice it to say Slash and I had something in common. I noticed a bunch of other kids were kinda standing around trying to listen in. Slash gave me the best guitar player interview of my life and we spoke at length about Joe's Les Paul which had been plastered on our bedroom walls. Slash bought it sight unseen after Joe's ex pawned it and someone called Slash asking, "Ya wan't it?!!" - then years later he gave it back to Joe Perry. I'll leave out a ton of details, but imagine my surprize when I picked up one of the guitar rags, and Slash again related that story. Talk about feeling like a million bucks! Slash even advised how he used some of the same notes from 'Back In The Saddle' to come up with his own riff on their debut Appetite For Destruction. That will all give ya some idea of how huge an influence that Aerosmith and Guns N' Roses are for me. It brings it to a whole new level when ya get to meet these guys. Duff is also one in a billion, and I really enjoy the way he writes. I got to meet him too but will probably save that for later. I talked with everyone in Aerosmith over the decades and even Duff and Slash. It doesn't get any better that, at least in my book! Go to the shows, keep rockin' and have a blast! Ain't that was life is all about?!! I've even rocked out to Skitzo Calypso - thanks Brad. Keep rockin' everybody!!!

• Aerosmith's "Walkin' the Dog" was one of those songs that got me into playin'. The Beatles may be to blame for an acquired need to put a lil' artistic gloss on everything I write. All great.

• I'm going to pop some tylenol p.m. tonight,I think. I should probably have a warm glass a milk too. Woah.....

• Seasons of Wither was written by Steven Tyler and recorded in NYC at the Record Plant between 12/17/73 - 1/14/74: "Of all the ballads, this is one I really like. Steven does them really well, but I never really liked us doing ballads at all. I didn't want anything wussy on our records. I always figured the only thing worth playing slow was a slow blues." -Joe Perry "You know what Tuinals and Seconals are? Well, I was eating those at the time, big time. I was living with Joey Kramer near a chicken farm. It was halloween and I was really down. So I went down to the basement, burned some incense, and picked up this guitar that Joey had found in a dumpster somewhere. It was fretted pretty fucked, and it had a special tone to it. And that tuning forced the song right out. I love that song. The other day I was coming out of Mann's Theater in Los Angeles after a movie and on the curb there's a guy playing 'Seasons of Wither' note for note. What a trip." -Steven Tyler

• @ Ex-Model, Thanks for the insight into those lyrics: "Do just like a lady (says:) Ack, Ack..." I always wondered about that one. Sound advice actually - i.e. - Do what your lady says and everything will be ok!

• Seasons has one of the all time best intros, amazing song . Humble Pie Hot and Nasty is blast from the past. I always wanted a steamy pie T-shirth that read Hot n Nasty. Rock on Bro

• "Frampton Comes Alive" is one the very first albums I ever bought. And I bought it to play on the first stereo I got with my own money I earned from my first job. That stereo was bought from Jafco at Southcenter! EVERYONE at Pacific Junior High and Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines had that album. And, we loved it. My sister in law and family caught Frampton playing the Deschutes County Fair this past summer - for the price of admission to the fair. She said he totally still has it, and rocked it on stage! ...but I still miss the hair.

• And NYC too!!! "Chrome Hearts" not my typical genre but really coooool.Ex-Model.(off to the the 'ol grind"Blue Collar N lovin it:)

• I love the NorthWest!!!!!!

• @:)p.p.s, Trust me on this one: Chrome Hearts ROCKS! - Just ask Duff, when ya get the chance to meet him...

• Hee hee I have a couple of friends who can afford Gucci.But.... I better not say what it is they do for a living.

• (we should give Frampton a break: we'd be wiggin' too if we lost our hair. + there's always wigs, hats, hair plugs, and the extreme buzz cuts. life's too short to worry about someone wiggin' out; trust me, I do it all the time - hee hee...)

• Each member is extremely significant to me as a customer(even the ego maniac lead singer).Each member has an important job to do.No one is less then the other.And when they break up it is incorrect that one hoards the bands name for them self(I don't give a shit who started the band).My imagination ran wild with that story:)Welcome to the Jungle Baby!!!P.S.Steppin on Gucci:)

• Each member is extremely significant to me as a customer(even the ego maniac lead singer).Each member has an important job to do.No one is less then the other.And when they break up it is incorrect that one hoards the bands name for them self(I don't give a shit who started the band).My imagination ran wild with that story:)Welcome to the Jungle Baby!!!P.S.Steppin on Gucci:)

• Humble Pie and Frampton Comes Alive are still incredible, but Peter Frampton wouldn't sign a cd for me with a requested expletive - he totally wimped out and refused to do so. Although Slash and Dick Dale just laughed when I asked them to do the same. I will still listen to Humble Pie and Frampton Comes Alive. His music is still incredible... It's only rock n' roll!

• I used to love Frampton. Wore out two copies of the Live record. However at the Nashville NAMM show I stood in line for an hour to meet him. He apparently got mad at someone from Gibson and stormed off leaving a line of people with their mouths open. From this time on, I dont listen to him anymore. Have more respect for your fans Peter. After all you are not Nirvana or The Who pal.

• (I can't type worth $#!& when I'm sleepwalking this early in the morning, - ugh.)

• @SweetEmotion No mas, Back in '89 John Kalodner advised Tim Collins that Aerosmith needed a great opening act for the summer shows and. suggested Guns N' Roses. Ya had to be there cuz it was incedible, they got along great. Tyler even said, "What got me was they were us. The bass player, Duff is Tom Hamilton. Slash is Joe Perry. Izzy is Brad, and the drummer is that close to Joey Kramer. Axl is the same as me, a visionary egomaniac. Sometimes I walked into the dressing room and it was like looking in the mirror!" The tour ended in Los Angeles and Aerosmith's road crew surprised Guns N' Roses by jumping around the stage in gorilla suits during Welcome to the Jungle. You had to be there, especially when both bands jammed onstage together - yeeha! I'll bet Duff has some incredible stories, as always!!!

• @Anonymous Great link!! :)

• I concur. Here are some really cool photos - Seasons of Wither: http://www.youtube.com/user/WalkinOnGucci

• Everyone else is studying too? This week is midterm week for me which is a lot of pressure but also really nice cause it's one test a day and then I can go home :) My music helps me study, I just put on something like U2's "The Joshua Tree" and I'm good to go!

• Hee hee totaly know where Sophia is coming from.Just finished my very first Essay since alternative high school, on friday!! So now I have been indulging in the pleasures of music!! (my drug of choice)I cant work @ my job with an i-pod either because I'll start walking sideways if I do and get all kinds of distracted.Old Areosmith is just built into rock fans genetics I think.

• Oops, *studying

• Ahh, Seasons of Wither is a fantastic song. Quite underrated too, I think. Once my exams are over at the end of this week I can get back to listening to music regularly (I've found it's been putting my concentration off even more while I've been stufying, which is odd as I usually like background music while I'm working), and I think a listen-through of all the Aerosmith albums that I have is definitely in order.

• "Seasons of Wither" is definitely one of my favorite Aerosmith songs. Whenever it's snowed and I'm in the car listening to my iPod, I put it on - it just describes the scene perfectly. I've been listening to "Oh! Darling" by The Beatles, "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by The Darkness (cheesy I know, but a guilty pleasure!), and "Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman)" by Tool. It's almost like there's something older? than the universe in that song....

• -Black turns to Blue was on back order:( -Everything from Heart is fantastic -Tim Noah "Pocket full 'O Rainbows"(classic) -Sir Mix Alot"Iron Man" (Ok just a couple of guys from the south) -Willie Nelson&Merle Haggard "Pancho and Lefty"

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