Status Updates From It's So Easy: And Other Lies

Second memoir of the band who's currently ruining my life so let's go...I guess?

back on track after Sziget and a small reading slump

back on track after a sziget and a small reading slump

Reading through Duffs struggles with drugs and alcohol is painful. I'm so glad he made it out of that alive and lives a happy life now.
I can't imagine how horrible it must have been to sit backstage hearing the crowd get angrier and angrier while waiting for Axl to show up.

I enjoyed Duffs stories from his days as a Punk kid in Seattle so much! He writes very vividly so I felt like I was there. Super hard to put down.
I think Duff might just be my favourite member of GnR.

i figured if i finished one guns ‘n roses memoir, why not read another

duff <3

There are so many good quotes in this book that I wish I could underline but it’s not mine (it’s my mums) but wow

As inspiring as this book is, it’s so sad

I’m not a massive fan of guns N roses- that’s my mum- but I love music and this is actually so interesting.
I’m struggling to put t this down and go to sleep!! I’ll defo be reading this all day tomorrow

Acknowledgements:
To Axl: thanks for putting up with my shit and being my friend in those dark hours.
To Izzy: thanks for leading the way and being a mentor.
To Slash: thanks for being such a musical inspiration.
To Steven Adler: I will always love you like a brother.
To Matt Sorum: you’re a lion of a man.
To Dave Kushner: you are the real hero of Velvet Revolver.
To Scott Weiland: keep on, my friend.

cont2...
I guess the assholes get weeded out and longevity tends to happen for those who see themselves as serving the music. I like that.

cont...
Don’t get me wrong. I get why the term is used and I was myself easily smitten with rock stars as a little kid—I was mesmerized by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Over the years, though, I have had the distinct honor of meeting some of the artists who occupied my classroom daydreams and have been pleasantly surprised at the regular-dude quality of these older rock musicians.

The Clash's Bassist Paul Simonon “We are all in this together! There is no such thing as a rock star, just musicians and listeners”

I also have a strong dislike for the term rock star because I do actually know some people in the biz who refer to themselves as rock stars. These people really think they’re better than their fans. I, for one, find that kind of behavior embarrassing.

And so, for the first time in much too long. Axl and I finally met again face-to-face. Any doubts I had about what might happen melted instantly.
We hugged.

“Look, we know the industry is changing,” Scott said, “but we don’t want to work with people like that.”
The guy took the bait: “No way, I treat my artists like family. That would never happen with me.”
Then Scott dropped the bomb: “That friend was this guy here,” he said, pointing to me, “and you’re the asshole who didn’t have the decency to make the courtesy call. Get the fuck out of here."

Then Scott asked him to talk more about the way he would personally take an interest in the project. Scott listened thoughtfully and then started talking—seemingly off-the-cuff—about a friend who had been dropped one time without a call from the label.

At long last, I felt ready for this. Those dark hours and days and weeks and years fell by the wayside there in Hawaii as Susan and I discussed our next move. We would be a team, come hell or high water, and it was going to kick some serious ass.
Confidence is knowing you can do something even before you try it.

(in response to being called the F word at a Red Hot Chili Peppers show with Axl)

If someone thinks you’re gay or is dumb enough to think that calling you gay is an insult, who cares?

(in response to being called the F word at a Red Hot Chili Peppers show with Axl)

If someone thinks you’re gay or is dumb enough to think that calling you gay is an insult, who cares?

I was terrified at the prospect of playing sober.
Of course, a few years earlier I had witnessed how Iggy could still flip a switch in the studio or onstage even after he got sober—he blew me away with his ability to reach that special place with no substances at all.

Axl was definitely behind the idea, but I never set up any kind of meeting. Somehow it was already too late. This was right around the time the movie Interview with the Vampire came out, featuring a cover of the Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” credited to Guns N’ Roses. Guitar work by Paul Huge, Axl’s childhood friend, had been added to the track and Slash was more furious now than ever.

The space between the covers of these books became my place of solitude. Reading continues to represent a meditative haven for me to this day. At the end of every day, whether on tour or at home with my family, I always take time alone at night to read.

“Izzy, Axl, Slash—and Duff,” she said. “What kind of names are those?”
“Well, there is a guy named Steven."

During those first rehearsals, the five of us started working up a new song together based on some lyrics I had brought with me in a notebook from Seattle. The song became “Paradise City,” and it started to gel in those few days before our Troubadour show and the trip up to Seattle.

Slash was inclined to try it out because Guns seemed more where he wanted to go musically than Black Sheep. His interest in that job was primarily mercenary: it was a place to be plucked from to fill a gap in an established band—the way Ozzy plucked Randy Rhoads from Quiet Riot. But rather than wait around in Black Sheep [...], Slash liked the idea of joining a band with the intention of making its own mark.

Axl met me outside the rehearsal space to talk about my reservations.
“You have to be part of this,” he said. “Give it another chance.”

One thing I soon learned about Axl: if he saw something in a person, he would do everything possible to ensure that person remained part of his vision.

( ... )
I laughed and said of course, no problem. The whole thing sounded like a low-rent art project or something—I mean, who made cartoons for adults? Little did I know that the show would become The Simpsons and that within a few years I would start to see Duff beer glasses and gear everywhere we toured.

When Guns N’ Roses began to break into the public consciousness, I was known as a big drinker. In 1988, MTV aired a concert in which Axl introduced me—as usual—as Duff “the King of Beers” McKagan. Soon after this, a production company working on a new animated series called me to ask if they could use the name “Duff” for a brand of beer in the show.
( ... )

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