EP 315: Duff McKagan - From Guns N' Roses: Surviving Fame, Addiction & Finding What Really Matters!!

Host Mark Pattison sits down with Duff McKagan, founding member of Guns N' Roses, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, author, entrepreneur, and father who grew up in the same Seattle neighborhood as Mark before becoming one of rock's most iconic bassists, revealing why watching Joe Strummer stop a Clash concert at the Paramount in 1979 to defend fans from security taught him that there's no difference between performers and audience because we're all in this thing together which became the foundation for everything he does on stage decades later, how leaving Seattle at 19 with a broken drum kit and a Slant 6 Maverick to escape the heroin epidemic that destroyed his entire scene led him to sleeping in his car outside a Black Angus restaurant in Northridge while waiting for his first paycheck before meeting Slash and Steven through a newspaper ad that would change music history, and why waking up one morning in the house he just bought in Seattle unable to move because his pancreas had burst from years of cocaine and alcohol abuse became the turning point when his mother arrived in a wheelchair with Parkinson's and he realized the order of things was completely wrong because he should be taking care of her not the other way around. In this deeply authentic and inspiring conversation between two elite athletes from the same Seattle neighborhood who both made it to the top of their respective fields, Duff shares his extraordinary journey from being the youngest of eight kids in a firefighter's family in the Bryant neighborhood playing football basketball and baseball with Mark's teammates to discovering punk rock at 13 when flyers for bands like the Mentors appeared around Seattle and realizing he needed something of his own in a family where nothing belonged to just one person, to forming his first band at 13 and getting welcomed into Seattle's punk scene where it didn't matter that he had teen acne or was younger because the community was completely open, to playing with Dead Kennedys and Black Flag on tour at 17 and 18 before heroin devastated everyone around him in 1983 forcing him to sell his drum kit and drive to Los Angeles hoping to escape drugs only to discover you can't pull a geographical because drugs exist everywhere, to living in his car for two weeks outside the Black Angus in Northridge where he worked as a cook while saving money for an apartment and asking an older cook for directions to Hollywood only to learn it was 25 miles away, to meeting Slash Steven Izzy and Axl within months and getting in a room together where lightning hit and all five guys realized nothing would stop them from becoming the band they were meant to be. This episode offers a masterclass in understanding that fame was never part of the equation because the dream was always about finding the perfect band and writing the right songs not getting rich or famous, demonstrating why panic attacks that started at 16 when the shower seemed to drop three feet led to self medicating with alcohol which led to cocaine so he could drink more which made the panic attacks worse creating a vicious cycle that nearly killed him, how the bigger Guns N' Roses became with people recognizing him everywhere and Sweet Child of Mine exploding on MTV the more trapped he felt on stage where panic attacks would hit and he couldn't escape just like being stuck in an elevator, and why meeting his wife Susan on a blind date only happened after he spent years figuring out who he was beyond being Duff from Guns N' Roses because you can't bring somebody into your life until you take responsibility for yourself and discover your identity is more than just the linebacker or the bass player. Duff opens up about growing up with seven older siblings including two brothers who went to Vietnam and learning to play drums and guitar because the older kids would make him keep time or play three chords on Beatles songs which taught him he could actually play, standing at the Paramount watching Joe Strummer stop the show when security punched a fan in the nose for pogoing and demanding they take down the barrier because there's no difference between us and you which changed everything and made him realize we're all in this thing together, playing football with Eddie Hewlett Brian McCarty and Todd Fleischman on teams coached by the Fleischmanns which taught him teamwork and playing your part as the offensive tackle and defensive linebacker before deciding at 14 to focus entirely on music, the reality that being on a baseball team or football team teaches you to appreciate all the other parts because you're the linebacker and that's your role but you respect everyone else's role which translated perfectly to being in a band where you play your part and make sure you have the best players in every other part, leaving Seattle in 1984 with a crappy drum kit a guitar a bass some clothes and his 71 Maverick because somebody told him you better get out before heroin takes you...