2005.03.21 - Contact Music - McKagan's Downward Drink And Drug Spiral

McKagan's downward drink and drug spiral

Rocker DUFF McKAGAN left his Seattle hometown to escape the heroin epidemic crippling the Washington city's music scene - only to become a hard drink and drug abuser with GUNS N' ROSES in Los Angeles.
The bassist joined the mega-successful PARADISE CITY group soon after he arrived in LA in the mid-1980s, and quickly discovered his bandmates' hedonistic behaviour was the most extreme he'd ever encountered.

And it wasn't long before McKagan's own penchant for alcohol and narcotics took a serious turn for the worse.

McKagan, now playing in VELVET REVOLVER, says, "There was a lot of heroin in Seattle in the 1980s and I had to get away from that, so I moved to LA.

"I was really at the top of my game in Seattle, and there were a few people who told me, 'If you don't get out now, you'll never get out.'

"I left and went to Hollywood and got into a whole new set of troubles."

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McKagan immune to anaesthetic

Rocker DUFF McKAGAN took so many hard drugs during his wildman GUNS N' ROSES days, he's resistant to anaesthetic injections.

The bassist - now with VELVET REVOLVER - spent many years seeking out narcotic and alcohol highs, gradually building up his tolerance of toxins.

As a result, he now has to undergo a dozen numbing injections in the dentist's chair before the tooth drilling can start - otherwise he'd feel the pain.

He says, "The problem is that the more you do, the harder it is to get up there. I wasn't getting high off the coke, I wasn't getting drunk, so it was back to heroin or Quaaludes or whatever pills I could get.

"Even now my resistance is so high, after 10 years. If I go to get dentistry done or something, a usual person has two shots of novocaine. I have to have 12."