DUFF MCKAGAN releases cover of DAVID BOWIE's 'Heroes' and original song 'True To The Death Rock N Roll Ballad'
27-09-2024
GUNS N’ ROSES bassist Duff McKagan has announced two new songs, “Heroes” and “True To The Death Rock N Roll Ballad”, both available now at all DSPs and streaming services. A distinctive cover of David Bowie‘s timeless classic, the double-sided single — which pairs “Heroes” with a brand-new Duff original — heralds next week’s kickoff of McKagan’s eagerly awaited “Lighthouse Tour ’24”, a world headline run getting underway September 30 at Dublin, Ireland’s The Academy. U.S. dates begin November 4 at Boston, Massachusetts’s Paradise Rock Club.
Stream the tracks below.
“We thought it was good idea to put out a couple of fresh songs right here on the eve of the ‘Lighthouse’ tour,” says McKagan. “Choosing David Bowie‘s ‘Heroes’ seemed to be a natural subject matter for me (I am, of course, a massive history nerd)…star-crossed lovers in the shadow of the mid-’70s Cold War-era Berlin Wall. To try and compliment this era, I chose a sort of ’70s glam-rock song that I wrote some time last year, ‘True To The Death Rock N Roll Ballad’, another lyric where love and lust and time are the central figures. We hope you dig this ‘single’ and thank you all for just being you!”
McKagan has also announced a Black Friday Record Store Day (November 29, 2024) exclusive RSD vinyl LP release of his searing performance at Easy Street Records in Seattle, Washington on December 8, 2023. The set contains tracks from McKagan‘s critically acclaimed recent album “Lighthouse” and “This is The Song” EP.
Track listing:
01. Intro By Matt Vaughn
02. I Just Don’t Know
03. Chip Away
04. Longfeather
05. Fallen Ones
06. Tenderness
07. I Saw God On 10th Street
08. Just Another Shakedown
09. This Is The Song
10. Lighthouse
“Lighthouse Tour ’24” will see Duff McKagan and his band traveling Europe and the United Kingdom, making stops in Scotland, England, the Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, France, and Sweden through late October. Support on all European dates comes from Cardiff, Wales’s JAMES AND THE COLD GUN. U.S. dates will follow, including intimate shows at New York City’s Le Poisson Rouge (November 6),Chicago, Illinois’s Outset (November 8),and Denver, Colorado’s Bluebird Theater (November 10),all of which will have special guests Lee Ving‘s RANGE WAR, marking the first live performances from the famed FEAR founder’s groundbreaking country punk outfit in over three decades. “Lighthouse Tour ’24” then hits Los Angeles, California’s historic El Rey Theatre (November 13) with support from acclaimed singer-songwriter Grace McKagan, before wrapping up at Portland, Oregon’s Aladdin Theater (November 18) and Seattle, Washington’s The Showbox (November 20) joined by extremely rare solo acoustic performances by legendary D.O.A. co-founder Joey “Sh*thead” Keithley. Tickets and VIP packages for all announced dates are on sale now.
McKagan says: “At last! At last! See you all soon.”
Tour dates:
Sep. 30 – Dublin, Academy, Eire
Oct. 02 – Glasgow, Oran Mor, UK
Oct. 03 – Manchester, Academy 2, UK
Oct. 05 – London, Islington Assembly Hall, UK
Oct. 07 – Utrecht, TivoliVredenburg, Netherlands
Oct. 08 – Cologne, Kantine, Germany
Oct. 09 – Munich, Freiheitshalle, Germany
Oct. 11 – Brno, Sono Centrum, Czech Republic
Oct. 13 – Warsaw, Stodola, Poland
Oct. 14 – Berlin, Heimathafen, Germany
Oct. 16 – Milan, Magazzini Generali, Italy
Oct. 17 – Solothurn, Kofmeh, Switzerland
Oct. 19 – Liege, OM, Belgium
Oct. 20 – Paris, Trianon, France
Oct. 22 – Stockholm, Nalen, Sweden
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 (1982), 10 MINUTE WARNING (1983) and LOADED (1998), along, of course, with his historic role as founding member of both GUNS N’ ROSES and VELVET REVOLVER. Produced by three-time 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 declared the song a personal favorite.
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 SiriusXM‘s popular “Three Chords & The Truth” radio show on Ozzy’s Boneyard (Ch. 38). McKagan 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 two-time Grammy Award-winning “Patient No. 9” (2022) and Iggy Pop‘s acclaimed “Every Loser” (2023).
