DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED: New Album Title, Release Date Revealed

DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED — the band led by VELVET REVOLVER/ex-GUNS N' ROSES bassist Duff McKagan — has set "The Soundtrack" as the title of its new album, due on March 22, 2011 via Eagle Rock Entertainment. The CD was recorded at a Seattle-area studio with veteran rock producer Terry Date (SOUNDGARDEN, PANTERA, DEFTONES). Two tracks from "The Soundtrack", both available on all digital service providers, are already making a splash with the public. Anthemic rocker "We Win" was played during the World Series and is currently riling up football fans for McKagan's hometown Seattle Seahawks. "Fight On" draws inspiration from our military veterans, and proceeds from these downloads go exclusively to the Puget Sound Healthcare System.

In other news, Eagle Rock Entertainment will re-release DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED's 2009 album "Sick" (originally made available through Century Media) in April 2011. This special reissue of the CD also packs a bonus DVD, featuring 11 tracks from a live set at The Garage in Glasgow filmed in December 2008.

In a recent installment of his column, which appears on Reverb at SeattleWeekly.com, McKagan wrote about working with Date on "The Soundtrack", "For those of you who follow the band, you will also know that having Terry produce this new record is a departure from Martin Feveyear, the producer of the first two LOADED records. Martin is not only our producer, but one of my dearest friends, and I can probably speak for the other fellas in the band when I state that this was a very tough decision for us. Martin totally understood and told us to make a great record."

According to the West Seattle Herald, Seattle filmmaker and documentarian Jamie Burton Chamberlin is working on a feature-length film about Duff McKagan and LOADED. The film is based on the band's upcoming album.

LOADED performed "We Win" and "Fight On" at the Seattle Seahawks Veterans Day half time show on November 7.

"'We Win' is a pulsating anthem reminiscent of 'We Will Rock You', and 'Fight On' is an amazing song about overcoming adversity," said Chamberlin. "These two songs seem perfectly matched for the other veteran-related activities planned.

"My main focus for half time [was] to shoot how the band gets there and where they head after. It's more about designing a fictitious story line which will be a part of the larger project, and will be a contemporary version of, say, 'Hard Days Night' meets (LED ZEPPELIN's) 'The Song Remains the Same', with aspects of documentary, music video, and live performance, all interconnected by an underlying motivation. The album will serve as the soundtrack.

"Everything will be shot in Seattle and the Northwest," he added. "We hope to use locations in West Seattle and other familiar settings to create these vignettes that develop organically within them."

DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED recently parted ways with Century Media Records after releasing one EP (2008's "Wasted Heart") and one full-length album (2009's "Sick") through the label.

Drummer Isaac Carpenter (LOUDERMILK, GOSLING, OURS, THE EXIES) joined DUFF MCKAGAN'S LOADED as the replacement for Geoff Reading, who left the band last year.

"Sick" sold around 1,400 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 43 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"Sick" was released in North America on April 7, 2009 via Century Media Records. An e-card for the CD, which was produced by Martin Feveyear (PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, KINGS OF LEON),is available at this location.

In addition to McKagan and Carpenter, LOADED features bassist Jeff Rouse (VENDETTA RED, ALIEN CRIME SYNDICATE) and guitarist Mike Squires (ALIEN CRIME SYNDICATE).

Photo credit: Daniel Zetterstrom