A Conversation with Walking Papers’ Duff McKagan – HuffPost 8.2.13

Mike Ragogna: So tell me more about Walking Papers. Who gave you these walking papers of which we speak?

Duff McKagan: As an aside, actually, we, Walking Papers, have gone to the UK and Europe a couple times already in the last few months and I didn’t know this, but the term “Walking Papers” is a strictly American term. Even in the UK, we’ll do an interview and they’ll be like, “Walking Papers, what does that name mean? Papers that walk?” We suddenly realized, “Oh…” Of course, it’s a pink slip, but in Germany and France, they have no idea what it means. I think you find out something new every day. It’s just an American term. Walking Papers is a band that’s stellar guys, a Seattle group. God, I’ve wanted to play with Jeff Angell–I kind of knew something would happen, I’d do something since I met him in ’99 or 2000–kind of the same with Barrett Martin. We played in the nineties together here and there, and we kind of made a pact that, one day, we’ll do something together, and it all happened at once.

MR: What were your first jam sessions like?

DM: In Seattle, everybody knows that Jeff Angell’s one of the best songwriters that has come out of here. I’m not saying that lightly, he’s a really talented songwriter. It’s a gift he has. So Jeff had written some pieces and he and Barrett got into the studio down in Georgetown, Seattle, and recorded some of these things. Jeff called me last summer and said, “Hey, Barrett and I put together two things, would you have time to come and play bass on some of this? I really think you would add something to this.” I went down and listened to the songs, they were great as I knew they would be, and the chemistry was really good. I had played with Barrett before and it was good and I had played with Jeff before. Sometimes the mixture of three guys won’t necessarily work right off the bat, but it really did. Ben Anderson, the guy who plays keyboard and all those kind of sounds you hear on the record, he’s a really talented dude who gets a lot of really cool influences from Dr. John and Gang Of Four to whatever. It’s really, really cool. It was challenging for me, I think it challenges all of us, and that really helps a musician strive to get a little better.

MR: What were the studio experiences like? Any interesting anecdotes that happened while you guys were together?

DM: The first time I came in to play on those songs, it was in Georgetown. They were still kind of building it, and if you know Georgetown, it’s this kind of this put together part of Seattle. There’s not a lot of law down there or building codes yet. It’s an old, old part of town, hence all these kind of artists are moving down there and putting studios together in little bars and stuff. So this place is still trying to be built and the wall is between the studio and a bar that was next door, a bar that has karaoke. You know the video game Rock Band?

MR: Yeah?

DM: Okay, so it has karaoke Rock Band. So these two dudes, you can hear them playing this place like they were in the room with you. They were doing some Nirvana Rock Band and it was cranking, and the wall was paper-thin, it wasn’t even insulated, and I’m in there in the next room in the studio trying to listen to these songs and play with them. I could barely hear. I had to put headphones on and then Barrett’s kind of directing me with his hands and Jeff Angell’s pointing at the Pro Tools session that’s going by on a computer in front of me–I can’t play to a visual of a session. And it was hot! In Seattle, when it’s eighty-five, it feels like a hundred. I just remember the madness of that first session.

MR: And you guys are a Supergroup, in a way.

DM: The term “Supergroup” is really bizarre for me, only because the time I grew up in was when MTV started. This happened with Velvet Revolver, too–we were called a “supergroup.” I kind of cringe a little bit, and maybe that’s not the right word… Do you remember the band Asia who were guys from Yes and whatever else? I remember MTV started and they were playing the crap out of Asia and every time they’d say “Asia,” it was “Supergroup Asia.” “Supergroup, supergroup.” It was being marketed that way. That happened with Velvet Revolver. Some writer said, “supergroup,” and we said, “Well, s**t, we’re just guys.” We’re musicians and Stone Temple Pilots isn’t happening now. Scott’s doing this thing with us; I’ve been friends with him for a while, and Slash and I, of course, play like mad together. So it’s not like we sat out there in the ether and plucked certain guys like, “Let’s make this supergroup.” Of course, with Walking Papers, I have a history of playing in a few bands and so did Barrett, but Screaming Trees was twenty years ago.

MR: Then again, it’s still a “super” group though, right?

DM: We are super! But you know, the term is what it is and I think it’s kind of a throwaway term myself. I would never use it. If I was writing for the Seattle Weekly about this band, I couldn’t imagine I would use that. It’s just some guys, really, when you break it down to the music, and that’s what it’s all about. It’s some guys that have a chemistry, and it works in the studio and it works really well live. That connection with the audience is always the most important thing. Some bands just don’t have it. I’ve been in things where I’ve played and it’s just like, “Oh, s**t, this ain’t working.” You can’t really do anything about it. You get luck of the draw. I’m happy to be playing with this band, playing bass. I’m so inspired again on the bass, which is really nice in your career to get re-inspired on your instrument. So here we go.

MR: So you’re playing the Uproar Tour this year, right?

DM: Yeah, the second stage. Alice In Chains headlines the festival. Organizers of that tour really liked this record and sometimes you get a nice little break where somebody says, “You know, you guys have already been beaten up three times, you’ve got a good label that’s going to support this thing.” It’s a commerce thing, too. We’ll be able to do some good interviews and the organizers of the tour know that, so we’re doing our work to hopefully pull our weight, to be the headliner of the second space, and hopefully, we are a draw. When it comes down to it, everybody likes music, but if you’re organizing the Uproar Tour, it’s a money-making venture. They’ve got to pay the bills at the end of the day.

MR: Now, you’ve already had a couple of singles out from the album already, right?

DM: I guess, on different sites. Isn’t it different now? You put your singles out, but not to radio. That’s really cool that you said that.

MR: How do you feel about what’s happening as far as music and music delivery and the mechanics of it all these days? How’s it affected you?

DM: Well, right, that’s a whole ‘nother story, isn’t it? Obviously, it’s completely changed. It’s flip-flopped from where Guns N’ Roses and Screaming Trees were twenty years ago. Screaming Trees would be on MTV and, they’d go out and play on the Lollapalooza Tour and anything Seattle, at that point in ’92, ’93, if a Seattle band was coming through your town, those gigs were sold out. Whichever Seattle band it was, from Trees to Pearl Jam to Alice In Chains, we could just go down the list…Soundgarden. So there were huge waves that a band could kind of just ride on then. And people would buy records because there wasn’t that digital delivery really yet. There were CDs but not every house had a computer, you know? Maybe ’97, ’98. So now we know how files are being shared and all that, we don’t really need to get into that. So bands go out and they tour a lot more. I’ve probably toured more and traveled more in the last, well, jeez, ten years, than I did the preceding fifteen, by a lot. Bands have to pay a lot more attention to how much they’re getting their t-shirts for. Sometimes that’s the difference between making money on a tour and not, selling shirts. It’s not bad. Queens Of The Stone Age or bands like that, they’ve got a really nice poster on this last record. They always make great records, it’s not about how good or bad the band is, but this time, they’ll be able to ride this wave and they’re not going to probably make money off the record sales like we used to. But as far as the artistry, the combination of those days is really cool to see how things have melded together, what kind of career Mark Lanegan, for instance, has been able to put together post-Screaming Trees. Just like touring and working and producing more really good music. It’s nice to see good artists enjoying a career that supports them with their great art.

MR: So what do you think about the future? This is not a one-shot deal, you guys want to make this work, right?

DM: It feels good. We’ve already written I don’t know how many new songs. What happens is you make a record and with a band like this, we’ve been out touring–not in America, really, just a West Coast club run under the radar. But when a band like this starts rehearsing and going out playing gigs and doing sound checks, all we’re doing is writing new riffs and new songs. We probably have a lot more in the hatch ready to go, so we’ll tour this thing. The record comes out in a few weeks, and you hope something good happens commercially so that there is hope and that you get an audience, because that helps a band matriculate a career, obviously. That’s really stating the obvious.

MR: What advice do you have for new artists?

DM: It all comes down to the simplest thing that it’s always come down to. The music you’re making has got to be something you believe in and not what’s current. If you try to write music around what’s current right now… Maybe some pop songwriters can do that, but they’re just songwriters, they write for whatever’s current right now. But I think if you’re a band, if you’re an artist, do what you believe in and do something different. Break the mold and kind of put your head down and pin your ears back and go for it. All this stuff you and I have been talking about, the commerce and all that crap, that comes much later and that’s not the most important thing. If you don’t have good music, there will be none of that. So it’s music first, music first, music first.

MR: I wanted to ask you as far as your career, you’ve worked with so many bands between the three major ones you mentioned earlier and your own stuff. But do you have a personal favorite?

DM: No, I’ve been really lucky that different things I do will re-inspire me. Everything I’ve done, like Guns N’ Roses, was an amazing ride. I played with a band called Neurotic Outsiders with Steve Jones and John Taylor in the ’90s. That was the funniest band and a really rocking band. Everything I’ve done was really refreshing and awesome. When I play with Slash, there’s that chemistry thing that’s just great and it feels like playing with the best guitar player in the world who’s actually also one of my best friends. And Walking Papers, again, it’s this other thing, it’s this sort of dirty blues soul band that people are going, “Wow, f**k, Duff, that’s really different for you!” But you know, it’s still something that hits the right places in me that keep me going and keep me inspired.

MR: What about a year from now, what do you think you’ll be doing? What do you want to do?

DM: I don’t even know what I’m doing six months from now. What do I want to do? Sure, I’d love for this band to be at a point a year from now where we’re just about to put out another record and we’re playing to two-thousand people a night on our own, that would be wonderful. But I’m really just stuck in the day. A year from now, my eldest daughter will be driving for a year, she’s going to start driving next week. I think more like, “I hope there’s no car accidents in that year.”

MR: Are you working on any side projects that you can talk about?

DM: No, God no. Loaded is always a going concern for me, it’s a gang. Blood in, blood out. We’ll always do something for the rest of our lives, I think. But I don’t have time for side projects. I don’t even know what a side project is, because when I do something, I don’t do it halfway. I’ve never really been able to have a side project, I don’t think.

MR: Are you happy with the state of rock these days?

DM: Some good records came out for rock. We have Black Sabbath and Alice In Chains and Queens Of The Stone Age that all came out in the same week. That was exciting, six weeks ago. A lot of bands are out touring and playing; we’ve got the Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle this weekend, with Flaming Lips and all these cool bands. So I’m happy with the state of rock. I went to the Sub Pop twenty-fifth silver jubilee thing a couple weekends ago and I got to see new bands like Metz. They’re on Sub Pop, they’re from Toronto. Rose Windows are another band that’s just killer. Of course then they had Greg Dulli and J Mascis and all these crusters like me and everything in between. The day was beautiful, and everybody was playing, no violence in the streets, everybody was psyched to be there. It was pretty cool.

MR: Crusters, are you kidding me? It was just Mick Jagger’s 70th birthday!

DM: I know, yeah. All those guys our age are there with our kids now and it’s pretty awesome. They think they’re pretty cool, they’re “indies” and they’re wearing those Sub Pop “loser” shirts, and they think they’re the first ones who’ve worn those t-shirts. It’s really cool. So yeah, I’m happy with the state of rock, I suppose.

MR: What about your major tour after that second stage event?

DM: Oh yeah, I think this tour’s going to be really good. Everybody I know that’s going to be on this tour is looking forward to it. It’s going to be a bunch of us who know each other and we’re going to go riding in motorcycles and do stuff, and hopefully try and put on a great show every night.

MR: Duff, sounds good man. I appreciate your time, you’re great.

DM: Thanks so much.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne