Roll back those rock & roll clocks, ladies and gentleman, Duff McKagen is back in Guns N' Roses - for the time being, at least.
McKagen will rejoin his former band for the South American leg of the band's current tour, temporarily replacing the band's current bassist Tommy Stinson who is tied up with a series of reunion shows for his own former band, The Replacements. Both bassists have been rehearsing with Guns N' Roses over the course of the past four weeks.
Duff was originally a member of Guns N' Roses for the band's glory days between 1985 and 1997 and was featured on all of the band's records, with the exception of 2008's comeback record Chinese Democracy.
Tommy Stinson was originally in something of a bind when he realised that two separate tours he was scheduled to be part of clashed and thanked McKagen for helping out.
"I didn't want to fuck anyone up in Guns by saying, 'Hey, I can't do this tour' or anything like that," Stinson said. "Luckily someone was able to reach out to Duff and he was amenable to the idea and was into doing it. It's Duff being the kind of good sport he is, trying to help Axl out."
McKagen, to his credit, seems more than happy to fill the gap. "It's pretty great to play these songs again, and [I'm] looking forward to playing some gigs with my pal again," he said. "South America is always a radical place for rock & roll, and I'm honored to be doing this thing, in that place."
All that's left is for Slash and Matt Sorum to get back on board and we'd have the original line-up of Guns N' Roses back together but the chances of that happening, in our estimation anyway, are precisely nil.
Source: Rolling Stone
