2010.06.18 - Spinner - Duff McKagan Learns to Ignore Rumors

Duff McKagan Learns to Ignore Rumors

By Steve Baltin

Before Duff McKagan officially joined Jane's Addiction, word began circulating that the Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver bassist was replacing Eric Avery in the famed L.A. band. McKagan, however, was purposefully oblivious to the blogosphere craziness.

"Rumors are always confusing and there were a hell of a lot more rumors coming out than I was even aware of," he tells Spinner. "I never quite respond to rumors and I won't. I write a column for Seattle Weekly. People are writing into me, 'Well, tell me,' and I won't. I'll just stick to my thing."

When you've gone from playing with Axl Rose to Velvet Revolver, a band that's dealt with tons of speculation about Scott Weiland's replacement, and then taken over as the new bassist in Jane's Addiction, you better get used to ignoring the rumors. McKagan, for his part, says they don't affect him. "I can't really be that bothered by rock media as a whole," he says. "It's not really part of my game. All the rest of it is you hear something about this or hear something about that."

The people that are important to McKagan know the truth. "My friends, my family, my people I work with know what's going on. That's what matters to me," he says. "If my wife were to hear something and come to me about it, OK, now it's serious. Or Perry [Farrell] or Slash or somebody, but none of us pay attention to rumors."

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