Guns N' Roses' Duff McKagen Reminisces About CBGB Days & 'Biggest Week in My Career' [EXCLUSIVE]
Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagen has achieved worldwide success and recognition as a musician but before all the fame kicked in, he was a 20-something-year-old mesmerized by a famous New York club.
The Seattle native attended the New York City premiere of CBGB the movie on Tuesday. The film is true story about the famed venue by the same name in 1973 and its non-conformist founder Hilly Kristal, portrayed by Alan Rickman (Harry Potter). The legendary New York City club launched dozens of cutting-edge rock n' roll bands through its closing in 2006.
It is known globally as the home of American Punk Rock music and bands that started off there with performances include the Talking Heads, Ramones, Blondie, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, The Police and The Dead Boys.
McKagen and the rest of Guns N' Roses played at the famous club only once, but being there marked a special moment in the musician's life. He also admitted to feeling scared when he had to take the stage that night back when he was 21.
"Because I grew up on the music that CBGB's provided for my youth, being about to finally play there was terrifying," he said, "Like turning the corner and seeing the club, like I've seen so many pictures of it, and finally there it is.
"I have so pictures of me out in front but playing there and seeing the graffiti inside, even at 21 when I played there... I was so into it like, 'that's got to be original Ramones graffiti right there on the wall' and we probably sucked. It was overwhelming. It was really cool."
The venue also provided McKagen with some meet and greets that he will never forget with musicians who not only he considers iconic, but as well as the rest of the punk rock world. Performing at CBGB was not the only highlight of that week.
"I meet Cheetah Chrome from The Dead Boys like the next day so it compares to anything like a musical accomplishment, like playing at Madison Square Garden. Playing CBGBs and meeting Cheetah Chrome that week was one of the biggest weeks in my musical career."
Talking about his own clubbing days, McKagen explained, "we didn't really have that kind of thing when I was a kid...I just went to punk rock shows and played in bands."
CBGB the movie features a star-studded cast that includes Malin Akerman (Trophy Wife) as Blondie, Ashley Greene (Twilight franchise) as Lisa Kristal, Stana Katic (Castle) as Genya Ravan, Joel David Moore (Avatar) as Joey Ramone, Sting's daughter Mickey Sumner as Patti Smith, Taylor Hawkins as Iggy Pop, Alan Rickman (Harry Potter) as CBGB founder Hilly Kristal, and Justin Barth, Johnny Galecki and Rupert Grint as The Dead Boys.
The film hits theaters Oct. 11.
