I N T E R V I E W

Interview Duff McKagan (face to face)

[We are sorry but we had an issue with the recording device during this interview, so this is all we could remember from it]

Hello Duff, can you start by presenting the band to our readers?

Yes, of course, we are a 4 pieces band from Seattle initially formed by Jeff Angell from The Missionary Position on vocals and guitar, and Barrett Martin on drums from Screaming Trees. After the first album Benjamin Anderson on keyboards officially joined, and so did I on bass. We were all part of the Seattle music scene. It's not so big, we knew each other and I had always wanted to work with Jeff and Barrett.

Can you explain to us the meaning of Walking Papers?

Ha, yes, we realized when we started touring that this expression was only really being used in the USA. It's pretty much a generic term to name a termination letter. You can send or receive this for the termination of a job, a contract. You can also send a walking papers to your girlfriend.

We met in Barcelona late 2013, you were opening for Biffy Clyro. At that time there were rumors that you were going to make Hellfest but you told me that no agreement was found. Obviously you have found an agreement?

Well I don't really remember the circumstances, to tell you the truth, I was sick during this tour, and when I finally landed in Los Angeles, my wife took me to the doctor and it turned out I had a pneumonia. But anyway it was a good tour, the Biffy Clyro guys were very nice with us and advertised us their fan.

You were already here a few years back with Loaded?

Yes, it's a lot bigger now, I can tell you

So I just watched you set, I enjoyed it very much. How was it for you guys up on stage?

Thanks. It was great from the stage. All these people, so early in the day. That was fantastic. We didn't really know what to expect.

It was 3PM, pretty early for a gig, how was the attendance? And the response from the crowd?

Yes, and the response was really good. I always try to concentrate and focus on a person in the public. This time it was a couple of older people, well of our age actually [laughters]. They were standing near the front rows. I kept looking at them, and I could tell they were enjoying it

Did you prepare a special setlist for Hellfest?

No not really. We are now touring with Aerosmith, and we play a mix of stuff from our first album and new material. Nothing special

Do you prefer to headline in a small venue or have 45mn in a huge festival like this?

Both are nice experience. Festivals like this are good because you get a chance to get new fan's attention. A real show, in the evening, with a longer set list in front of an audience that came just for you is also nice

Didn’t you think the festival was going to be too “metal” for your music?

Well, like you just said, I had been here before. I knew that many different bands are present. It's not a problem

Did you play any new material during your set as you did in Barcelona (Red and White, Climber, King Hooker for example)

Yes we have integrated several new tracks, which will be on the next album. Why wait for an album? We have the tracks let's test them live with the audience. Also Red and White is a nice track because Jeff doesn't have any guitar playing so he can drop it and do what he wants, he is more free to communicate with the audience, as he did today

How was the festival organization?

It was great, amazing, shall I say. When we parked our tour bus, they were here to help unload, and setup the equipment. It's not that I do it myself, but I know our guys appreciated it much. Also we have good food, and we met people that we have not met in years. That's also nice

Are you staying here to watch a few gigs? Any band in particular?

Some of the guys do. I would have liked to see Black Sabbath, because a few months ago, they were playing at the Hollywood Bowl and Tommy Iommi called me to invite me. I was excited to go, but then I realized that my daughter Grace had a gig that same evening with her band and I had promised to come and help. I'm her roadie you know. She sings in a band called Pink Slips. Anyways, so I had to call back Tommy and tell him I could not make it

I reviewed your first album on our webzine and really loved it. Was it well received by the press? The fans?

Yes it was well received but no it not really a commercial success, how can this be these days? It has become very difficult to sell albums nowadays. But yes reviews were really good. We didn't do much publicity, there was not a lot of leveraging of the fact that I was in the band. I just played bass on the album

I remember listing Lou Reed, Springsteen or the Doors as influences, will you hit me for saying this?

Not at all, I think these are great references. Jeff song writing was certainly influenced by such artists or also someone like Bob Dylan. He likes minimalist athmospheres and emotions

For that first album how did you compose?

On the first album, Jeff and Barrett composed everything. I joined later to add some bass line and so did Benjamin for the piano parts. We were asked to join the band later and we accepted. I have composed some new songs however, which we already play and which will appear on the new album

I really enjoyed the rough atmosphere of the stories told in the album. Are these autobiographic?

Yes they are rough, and yes they are autobiographic. You would not believe the amount of crap Jeff has been through in his own life, and has survived. Yes it's inspired from his life. He tried to build this minimalist athmosphere throughout the album

Are you already working on a new album?

Yes we already have a lot of new music for a new album. As I said, we already played most of it live. We need to stop and  record these tracks properly.

Did you manage to write new music while on the road?

Yes pretty much, we do come up with a lot of riffs and pieces that we test during our sound checks. We record everything. This becomes new songs over time

Will Mike McCready, be joining you again? Or any other guest?

We don't know yet, Seattle is a small music scene, we all know each other, who knows what guest could show up?

We heard that you joined G&R again?

Yes I did some some gigs in latin america with G&R. I was filling in for Tommy Stinson who could not make it. It was great to play in South America, we did Argentina, Peru and Brazil. It's always crazy over there

Any other plans for Walking Papers in the coming months?

We will first finish the tour with Aerosmith, then we will record our second album

What your prognostic for the World Cup?

I'm not such a big fan, although I have to say that the Seattle area is the most fanatic for soccer of the entire USA. Our team, the Sounders is quite successful. But on the tour, we have a lot of brits following the world cup. These guys don't really care for their national team, it's all for their clubs. I'm only worried by the fact that Brazil has lots of social issues to fix and that so much money was spent on the world cup, it's a bit crazy

Thank you very much

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