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Duff McKagan is proud to announce today’s release of his eagerly awaited third solo album, LIGHTHOUSE, available now in a wide range of formats including streaming, download, CD, cassette, and LP. A number of deluxe versions and bundles featuring official Certificates of Authenticity signed by McKagan are also available. In addition, two webstore exclusive vinyl variants – “Transparent Green & “Black Marble” and “Black Velvet” – of the deluxe packaging are on offer, including three lithographs, a 12-page booklet, a sticker, and a guitar pick, all enclosed in a transparent PVC sleeve allowing interchangeability of the graphics displayed on the album’s cover. LIGHTHOUSE – as well as an exclusive line of brand-new LIGHTHOUSE merch – is available now at www.duffonline.com.
STREAM/PURCHASE LIGHTHOUSE
“Some of the fruit of my musical travails and triumphs are now available for mass listenership with the release of LIGHTHOUSE. Over the past fifteen or so years, I’ve delved into a songwriting area that seems to me, harkens back to my punk days in the simplicity of the chords, and trying to tell truths in the lyrics. Like the name of my and Susan’s radio show, I let ‘Three Chords and the Truth’ guide me when I sit down with a guitar. From the beginning song LIGHTHOUSE, a sort of illumination of goodness and hope, to the ending track I JUST DON’T KNOW…where there is a pondering of what is next- my thought process of the songs that fill in the rest of the album is there is an arc of a story. I am a huge reader of good books, and like a good novel, I tried for some rises and falls from beginning to end, lyrically at least.
I absolutely love my new studio in Seattle and realize I am a fortunate dude to have my own place to constantly create. I’m even more fortunate to have producer Martin Feveyear as my guide and mentor. We had that period of the pandemic, where it was just Martin and I in the studio for months on end. These 10 songs on LIGHTHOUSE are just the beginning of what we finished song-wise in this time. More to come on that…..but for now, we hope you enjoy this record,” says Duff McKagan.
Praise for LIGHTHOUSE:
"McKagan’s recent solo music channels the same outlaw spirit,
but instead through acoustic twangs and a weathered voice –
a lively meeting of reflective Americana and sonorous rock’n’roll."
– THE GUARDIAN
"Guns N’Roses bassist delivers full-beam brilliance on his third solo album.”
– CLASSIC ROCK
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LIGHTHOUSE sees Duff McKagan baring more of his artistic spirit than ever before, fusing acoustic elements with hard-edged rock ‘n’ roll to land at the sweet spot between soul-searching reflection and pure energy. The album was first announced earlier this summer alongside its title track, LIGHTHOUSE, joined by an official visualizer streaming now at the official Duff McKagan YouTube channel.
LIGHTHOUSE was soon followed by I SAW GOD ON 10TH STREET, also joined by an official visualizer streaming now. I SAW GOD ON 10TH ST received immediate praise from such outlets as Kerrang!, Revolver, and American Songwriter.
LONGFEATHER, the latest single from LIGHTHOUSE, arrived next, hailed by Revolver as “folky, elegiac” and joined by an official music video – directed by longtime visual collaborators Connor Ellmann, Kuj Durollari, and Arben Durollari – streaming now on YouTube. A new video for the song I JUST DON’T KNOW (FEAT. JERRY CANTRELL) is now streaming on YouTube as well.
WATCH I JUST DON’T KNOW (FEAT. JERRY CANTRELL)
OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
LISTEN TO LIGHTHOUSE
WATCH LIGHTHOUSE OFFICIAL VISUALIZER
LISTEN TO I SAW GOD ON 10TH STREET
WATCH I SAW GOD ON 10TH STREET OFFICIAL VISUALIZER
LISTEN TO LONGFEATHER
WATCH LONGFEATHER OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
For more than 40 years, Duff McKagan has been an unstoppable creative force, spanning a multitude of bands, tours, collaborations, and writings. Now, with his long-awaited new solo album, LIGHTHOUSE, the veteran musician proves to be, at his heart, a gifted singer-songwriter with a distinctive knack for authenticity and introspection.
In 2019, McKagan opened his own Seattle recording studio, allowing him a long-hoped-for opportunity to “finally explore songs that I may have written the night before or some of those old riffs from years ago. This is a big deal for me.” He spent much of the next two years working with longtime producer/collaborator Martin Feveyear (Mark Lanegan, Brandi Carlile), chipping away at a series of intensely personal new songs.
LIGHTHOUSE now marks the first full-length collection born in McKagan’s studio. Songs like HOPE (featuring veteran Paul McCartney drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. and melodic lead guitar from Slash) and the philosophical I JUST DON’T KNOW (featuring contributions from McKagan’s longtime friend, Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains) see McKagan baring more of his artistic spirit than ever before, fusing acoustic elements with hard-edged rock ‘n’ roll to land at the sweet spot between soul-searching reflection and pure energy. The 11-song collection is further highlighted by an additional take on the title track, LIGHTHOUSE (REPRISE), joined by the one and only Iggy Pop.
McKagan first unveiled his new music earlier this year with THIS IS THE SONG, a three-song EP honoring Mental Health Awareness Month alongside a call to action on Propeller. The EP – which was met by critical applause in Rolling Stone, Consequence of Sound, Loudwire, and American Songwriter, to name just a few – includes the deeply moving title track, THIS IS THE SONG, joined by an official companion video streaming now on YouTube HERE.
Starting at just 15, McKagan has been a part of such diverse and influential bands as The Vains (1979), The Fastbacks (1980), The Living (1982), The Fartz (1990), 10 Minute Warning (1993), and Loaded (1998), along, of course, with his historic role as founding member of both Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver. Produced by 3x GRAMMY® Award-winner Shooter Jennings, McKagan’s 2019 second solo album, TENDERNESS, marked a powerful new chapter for the ever-evolving artist, taking on societal ills and his own personal transgressions against a rich sonic backdrop of Americana-fueled arrangements. Named by Loudwire as one of that year’s “50 Best Rock Albums” and hailed by Rolling Stone in a three-and-a-half (out of four)--starred rave as “an album full of beauty and heart…It’s music of conscience, heavy songs with a light touch,” the album includes the volatile rocker, “Chip Away,” which earned extraordinary praise from the Maestro himself, Bob Dylan, who recently declared the song a personal favorite.
“There’s a Duff McKagan song called ‘Chip Away’ that has profound meaning for me,” Dylan told The Wall Street Journal. “It’s a graphic song. Chip away, chip away, like Michelangelo, breaking up solid marble stone to discover the form of King David inside. He didn’t build him from the ground up, he chipped away the stone until he discovered the king. It’s like my own songwriting, I overwrite something, then I chip away lines and phrases until I get to the real thing.”
Along with his prolific musical efforts, McKagan is the New York Times best-selling author of 2011’s It’s So Easy: And Other Lies and 2015’s How to Be a Man: (And Other Illusions), and the co-host (with Susan Holmes McKagan) of the popular Three Chords & The Truth radio show, airing in North America on Sirius XM’s Ozzy’s Boneyard (Ch. 38). In addition, Three Chords & The Truth airs weekly on stations around the globe including Denmark’s myROCK, the UK’s Planet Rock, Finland’s Radio Rock, Ireland’s Nova, Norway’s Radio Rock, Sweden’s Rock Klassiker, Germany/Switzerland/Austria’s Rock Antenne, Iceland’s x977, and Poland’s Antyradio. For more information and showtimes, please visit duffmckagan.ffm.to/threechordsandthetruth.
McKagan also currently serves as a core member of a modern-day “Wrecking Crew” alongside GRAMMY® Award-winning musician/producer, Andrew Watt, and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, recording and co-writing on such recent albums as Ozzy Osbourne’s Ordinary Man (2020) and 2x GRAMMY® Award-winning Patient No. 9 (2022) and Iggy Pop’s acclaimed Every Loser (2023). What’s more, McKagan – with Watt, Smith, and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Josh Klinghoffer – is part of the recently unveiled Iggy Pop & The Losers lineup, who made a high-profile televised debut earlier this year with an electrifying performance of the feverish “Frenzy” on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! (streaming HERE).
McKagan is currently traveling with Guns N’ Roses on an epic global tour currently traveling North America with dates slated through early November. For complete details and remaining ticket availability, please see www.gunsnroses.com/tour.
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DUFF MCKAGAN
LIGHTHOUSE
Release Date: Friday, October 20, 2023
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