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Interview: Duff McKagan on his new solo album and tour

The Guns N' Roses bassist will celebrate his Tenderness album with headline shows in late summer.

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Finding fame as the bass guitarist for rock legends Guns N’ Roses, Duff McKagan is currently preparing for the release of his long-awaited sophomore solo album Tenderness.

Releasing the follow-up to 1993’s Believe In Me on the 31 May 2019, the multi-instrumentalist will be touring his new material (plus some other surprises) across the UK and Europe towards the end of the summer.

His two intimate UK dates will see him take to London’s Islington Assembly Hall on 29 August 2019, and Academy 3 in Manchester on 1 September 2019.

Ahead of the album’s release, and his headline dates, Duff McKagan opens up about teaming up with producer Scooter Jennings – who provides his band for both the album’s recording and the live tour – the record’s rock and roll ethos, and his passion for playing live. Watch the interview above.

Tenderness was written whilst on tour with Guns N’ Roses across the globe. Duff notes that he spent much of his downtime exploring atypical attractions across the globe, speaking to people along the way. Unsurprisingly for him he discovered that despite the divisive rhetoric of our news media, the majority of people are looking to live in harmony and acceptance. The album emerged from the positivity of humanity.

Originally planned as a book – and following the release of 2015’s best-selling How to Be a Man (and Other Illusions) – Duff McKagan returned to music to get across his worldview.

As an early member of Guns N’ Roses, and having returned to the band in recent years, Duff has been instrumental in the success of the hugely influential Appetite For Destruction, Use Your Illusion and The Spaghetti Incident?, among others.

Other musical projects include hard rock outfit Loaded, and Velvet Revolver for which he teamed up with Stone Temple Pilot’s Scott Weiland, as well as Guns N’ Roses members Slash and Matt Sorum, and Wasted Youth’s Dave Kushner.

As a solo artist, Duff McKagan released Believe In Me in 1993, and teased the eventually unreleased follow-up Beautiful Disease.

To date, he has released three songs from Tenderness; the title track, Don’t Look Behind You and Chip Away. Teaming up with Scooter Jennings and his band, the album is built around Duff’s early acoustic recordings.

Catch Duff McKagan featuring Scooter Jennings and his band on the following dates:

29 August 2019 – Islington Assembly Hall, London
1 September 2019 – Manchester Academy 3, Manchester

Remaining Duff McKagan tickets for London and Manchester are available now through Ticketmaster.co.uk.