In a new MusiCares interview, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan discussed being in Seattle during the formative years of its alternative music scene, and how he thinks he could have maybe joined Soundgarden eventually had he stayed.
“A lot of heroin had hit this area in around 1981 or 1982. I was getting at an age, 19, where it was either put up or shut up. There were so many drugs in this town, and it permeated our poor little scene. I was at this job as a cook and Bruce Pavitt was a cook. I said, ‘I’m going to go to LA. I think it’s my only chance to do something.’ I should have stayed here, I would have been in Soundgarden maybe. I always think that.”
He also discussed later bonding with Kim Thayil in the 90’s.
“As soon as I could, I bought a house back home in the early 90’s, and I got to really watch this scene here, and meet a lot of new players. I met a lot of people through Mike McCready. I got to know Mark Lanegan from the Screaming Trees. Mark had a nice solo career going, I got to play on some of his records.
Going to Sonics games, me and Kim Thayil. There’s this league called the NBA, we used to have a team calls the Sonics, they were the best. They are actually undefeated this season, you notice that? No losses. So Kim and I would go to Sonics games.”
