Duff McKagan: New Guns N’ Roses album is “real”

Duff McKagan (Image credit: Jim Bennett - Getty)

Both Richard Fortus (opens in new tab) and Slash (opens in new tab) have recently spoken about the new studio album from Guns N’ Roses – and now bassist Duff McKagan was weighed in.

He was talking with Eddie Trunk on his Sirius XM show Trunk Nation (opens in new tab) when he gave fans an update. And when asked if a record was definitely in the works, he responded: “Oh, it's real.”

He said (via Blabbermouth (opens in new tab)): "I heard some new material and there's been some jams going around, and that's the next step for us, for the Guns N' Roses thing.”

McKagan added: “The fun part and the cool part about Guns N’ Roses is we don't really talk about it and what happens next just happens. It's never been that band where there's a direct schedule of how we do things.

“I’ve heard some magnificent stuff that Axl has – really cool stuff he'd been working on. So I'm excited about the possibilities with that, of course. 

“I don't mean to get anybody rabid. A new Guns N’ Roses album will happen when it happens, that's for sure.”

Speaking back in December, Fortus said that a new album from the band could be with us “faster than you think.” He also said that a single from Guns N’ Roses could arrive before the end of 2019.

Last week, McKagan released a lyric video for his new solo track Tenderness (opens in new tab), which will feature on his upcoming and as-yet-untitled studio album which he's recorded with Shooter Jennings.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.