Loudwire is reporting that Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan has written a short biography to promote Alice In Chains’ new album Rainier Fog.
“To watch Jerry Cantrell, Sean Kinney and Mike Inez gather themselves along with the brilliant William Duvall, was to me, like watching Rocky in 1976 as a 12-year-old,” says McKagan. “The underdog who put in all the hard work and experienced all the hard knocks and hidden trap doors life could throw at you, yet rose to fight back with elegance and power. Only they knew what they had at first, but with the release of 2009’s comeback record, Black Gives Way to Blue, debuting at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and spawning two No. 1 singles and two Grammy nominations, the band remained at the very top of their game. The whole rock n’ roll world seemed to rejoice at once. This was our Rocky story.”
McKagan also offers his own observations, writing, “On a personal note, I’m convinced the band doesn’t give a damn about Grammys or any sort of award-driven accolade. They make music for and about their ardent fans. Attending an AIC show is akin to going to church and coming out cleansed and feeling generally better about the chaos that is this life. Their pure artistry and songwriting takes us all to another place.”
The bassist talks up the Rainier Fog album, not only hitting on the current songs “The One You Know” and “So Far Under,” but mentioning the reflective tracks “All I Am” and “Fly,” the searingly apropos “Red Giant” and the album’s title track.
Concluding the bio, McKagan offers, “This is a band to cherish and be thankful to have as our own — our living and breathing gauge of what is right with rock and fucking roll.”
