DUFF MCKAGAN: 'My Bucket List Is A Lot Less Important Than My Kids' Bucket List'

During a recent interview with the Johannesburg, South Africa radio station RSG 100-104 FM, Duff McKagan (GUNS N' ROSES, VELVET REVOLVER, LOADED, WALKING PAPERS) was asked if there are still any items left on his bucket list after more than 30 years of playing rock and roll.

"I'll tell you what, playing yesterday [during a KINGS OF CHAOS rehearsal], Billy Gibbons [ZZ TOP] showing me songs, that's a bucket-list item," Duff responded. "I couldn't believe that I was in a room and Billy Gibbons… who I've gotten to know a little bit, but it's still Billy Gibbons. Me saying I know him doesn't belittle the fact that it's Billy fucking' Gibbons."

He continued: "But, you know, I don't know the bucket list. It's changed now that I have kids. So my bucket list is a lot less important than my kids' bucket list and what they wanna do, and they're both teenagers. And that has totally taken the front seat of my life in the last 17 years.

"All of the stuff we're talking about — rock music and all of that — it's all fun and games, and it is my occupation."

McKagan added: "When I was 18, I could have never imagined that you can actually make a living doing this. And so now I make a living doing this, and that's what I do.

"Bucket list… I don't know, man. There's so many things to do. I think I'm half way through, and I'm still kind of a kid. You look at AEROSMITH and THE ROLLING STONES and ZZ TOP and BLACK SABBATH and all these guys who are still filling arenas, they're all 20 years older than me. So I'm still the kid, and I've got a lot left to do."

WALKING PAPERS, which also features MISSIONARY POSITION's Jeff Angell and SCREAMING TREES drummer Barrett Martin, has just finished recording its sophomore album for a tentative early 2015 release.