DUFF MCKAGAN talks about GUNS N' ROSES releasing standalone singles in recent years
05-02-2026
In a new interview with Ethan Jackson of the Des Moines, Iowa radio station Lazer 103.3, GUNS N’ ROSES bassist Michael “Duff” McKagan spoke about the band’s recently released two new songs called “Atlas” and “Nothin'”. When they were made available in December, the tracks marked the first new GN’R music since the 2023 singles “The General” and “Perhaps”. Both “Atlas” and “Nothin'” were produced by GUNS N’ ROSES singer Axl Rose and Caram Costanzo (Janet Jackson, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE); Costanzo co-produced GUNS N’ ROSES‘ latest album, 2008’s “Chinese Democracy”, alongside Rose.
Duff said: “We were putting out two groupings of two new songs before various tour legs. And we knew we were gonna tour for a long time, so I think us putting out a couple songs before full legs — I’m talking, a leg is like a year and a half — I think it was a cool thing to do. I think it was the right thing to do. It kept everything fresh all the time.”
He continued: “These last two (‘Atlas’ and ‘Nothin”), we kind of knew these would be the last two (songs that were reportedly first conceived during the sessions for ‘Chinese Democracy’). They’re different — they’re totally different songs — but it’s still definitely GUNS N’ ROSES. And I think ‘Nothin” is a really cool foray into almost R&B, really a lot of space in the song. Slash‘s guitar solo, I think, and Axl‘s vocal on that, on ‘Nothin”, is amazing. ‘Atlas’ we’ve played live now in rehearsal and stuff, and it’s gonna be a bigger sound… It’s a big-sounding song as it is, but I think that’ll come off pretty cool live.”
Asked how he prepares for and copes with the touring lifestyle more than 40 years into his career as a professional musician, Duff said: “It’s a long show. How do you cut out songs in our setlist? So we play three or three and a half hours, depending. And it’s an athletic endeavor, for sure. And you do the work, you do the athletic work to lead up to a tour and the shows and the week and do all that stuff. But once you get out there, that connectivity with an audience… And it is America, it’s Canada, it’s South America, it’s all over Europe, it’s Middle East and Africa and Asia and Iceland, and everywhere we go, it’s a thing. And this connectivity with this fanbase is quite an honor, to see people come and show up and do the thing. So that’s what I kind of center on. I have a wife and two daughters and we make it all work. And we have since we’ve been a family; we make it all work — meaning, they come out on the road a lot. And my wife now — our kids are grown, so she comes out quite a bit more. But now we have a dog, a new dog. So that’s gonna get in the way.”
Last December GUNS N’ ROSES returned with two new singles at once. Marking their first new music release since 2023, “Nothin'” and “Atlas”. Both songs are available via Interscope Records. Both singles are standalone, but Slash recently revealed that a new album is in the works.
Watch “Nothin'” and “Atlas” below.
GUNS N’ ROSES have recently announced they will hit the road again in the spring and summer 2026. This 2026 tour will see GUNS N’ ROSES visit Mexico and Brazil, before headlining additional European markets, as well as stadiums across the U.S. and Canada. The upcoming run includes a special performance at Los Angeles’s Rose Bowl, marking a historic return to the venue for the first time in over 30 years.
In North America, the tour will also offer a variety of different VIP packages and experiences for fans to take their concert experience to the next level. Packages vary but include premium tickets, behind the scenes tour, invitation to the pre-show VIP Lounge, limited-edition merch and more. VIP package contents vary based on the offer selected. For more information, visit vipnation.com.
In conjunction with the Nightrain fan club presale, GUNS N’ ROSES will release two new songs: “Nothin'” and “Atlas” via Geffen Records on Tuesday, December 2. Marking their first releases since 2023, these new songs join “The General” and “Perhaps” as vital additions to setlists otherwise featuring all the classic hits and deep cut fan favorites from GNR‘s early catalogue.
The announcement arrives days after GUNS N’ ROSES released their deluxe “Live Era ’87-’93” boxset, a limited pressing with remastered audio and revamped art. Though “Live Era” remains a document of GN’R in their younger days, the release couldn’t be better timed: then and now, GN’R are one of the most ferocious live bands on the planet.
With previously announced appearances at festivals in Mexico, Brazil, and the U.K., the 31-date tour will feature a European leg with performances in Poland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and France, before GN’R returns to North America for a run traversing the United States and Canada. Tickets are available at gunsnroses.com. For the full tour schedule, see below.
2026 tour dates
March 28 – Monterrey, Mexico – Tecate Pa’l Norte*
April 1 – Porto Alegre, Brazil – Estádio Beira Rio
April 4 – São Paulo, Brazil – Monsters Of Rock*
April 7 – São José do Rio Preto, Brazil – Alberto Bertelli Lucatto
April 10 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Engenhao
April 12 – Vitoria, Brazil – Estádio Estadual Kleber José de Andrade
April 15 – Salvador, Brazil – Arena Fonte Nova
April 18 – Fortaleza, Brazil – Arena Castelão
April 21 – Sao Luiz, Brazil – Estádio Governador João Castelo “Castelão”
April 25 – Belém do Para, Brazil – Estadio Olimpico do Para “Mangueirão”
May 5 – Hollywood, FL – Hard Rock Hollywood
May 7 – Daytona Beach, FL – Welcome To Rockville *
June 4 – Gliwice, Poland – PreZero Arena Gliwice
June 6 – Gliwice, Poland – PreZero Arena Gliwice
June 10 – Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena
June 12 – Donington, UK – Download *
June 14 2026
June 18 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome
June 20 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome
June 23 – Berlin, Germany – Uber Arena
June 25 – Berlin, Germany – Uber Arena
June 28 – Antwerp, Belgium – AFAS Dome
July 1 – Paris, France – Accor Arena
July 3 – Paris, France – Accor Arena
July 23 – Raleigh, NC – Cater-Finley Stadium
July 26 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center
July 29 – Tinley Park, IL – Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
August 1 – Hershey, PA – Hersheypark Stadium
August 5 – Toronto, ON – Rogers Stadium
August 8 – Shakopee, MN – Mystic Lake Amphitheater
August 12 – East Rutherford, NJ – MetLife Stadium
August 16 – St. Louis, MO – Busch Stadium
August 19 – Kansas City, MO – Morton Amphitheater
August 22 – Las Vegas, NV – Allegiant Stadium
August 26 – Edmonton, AB – Commonwealth Stadium
August 29 – Vancouver, BC – BC Place
September 2 – San Diego, CA – Snapdragon Stadium
September 5 – Pasadena, CA – Rose Bowl
September 9 – Arlington, TX – Globe Life Field
September 12 – Ridgedale, MO – Thunder Ridge Nature Arena
September 16 – San Antonio, TX – Alamodome
September 19 – Atlanta, GA – Truist Park
* Festival appearance
Former GUNS N’ ROSES manager Alan Niven has filed a lawsuit against the band to prevent them from blocking the release of his new memoir, “Sound N’ Fury: Rock N’ Roll Stories”.
Originally scheduled for a July 5 release, the book has been delayed a couple of times and is presently available for pre-order via Amazon, with a March 31, 2026 release date listed.
In a lawsuit filed on November 3 in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, Niven claims that GUNS N’ ROSES has “blocked publication of the book through repeated threats to Niven and contact with” publisher ECW Press.
According to the lawsuit, which was supplied to BLABBERMOUTH.NET by Niven‘s publicist, GUNS N’ ROSES wrote a letter in May 2025 “invoking the confidentiality clause in its 1991 buyout agreement with Niven… despite the fact that the agreement was not signed by all of its members; GN’R‘s members have commented publicly on Niven; one member encouraged him to write the book; and he has been speaking about his time in GN’R for over a decade.”
Niven‘s attorney writes in the complaint that “Sound N’ Fury”‘s “publication has been delayed for months, even though it received a favorable review from the Los Angeles Times, and has received many preorders.”
The New Zealand-born Niven, who managed GUNS N’ ROSES from 1985 through 1991, is suing for declaratory judgment of non-enforceability of contract; declaratory judgment of non-breach of contract; and tortious interference with contract or business expectancy.
Niven‘s long career in the music industry started in the early 1970s with Virgin Records in England and continued to the 1980s in California, where he “signed MÖTLEY CRÜE, managed, produced and cowrote for GREAT WHITE, broke popular groups such as BERLIN and DOKKEN, and later produced an acclaimed record with Clarence Clemmons,” according to the lawsuit.
“Sound N’ Fury: Rock N’ Roll Stories” is said to consist of “anecdotes about Niven‘s career, including distributing the first SEX PISTOLS singles in the U.S., cooking a dinner for guitarist Robert Fripp, going to bat for a scruffy musician named Frank Ferranna (later known as Nikki Sixx),and reinventing GREAT WHITE twice. It also includes stories involving the members GN’R, while he represented the five individuals who made up the classic lineup of the band.”
In 1991, a buyout agreement was entered into between Niven and his company, and GUNS N’ ROSES and various companies affiliated with the band. Broadly, the agreement laid out the terms for a parting of the ways between GUNS N’ ROSES and Niven. The agreement contained mutual privacy/confidentiality provisions. In broad strokes, GUNS N’ ROSES and Niven agreed that efforts would be made to maintain the confidentiality of information concerning each other learned during their mutual association, absent certain conditions best characterized as waivers or written permission. The agreement “said nothing about things learned after the parties went their separate ways,” Niven‘s attorney wrote in the complaint. “Finally, the agreement provided that it must be signed by all parties to be effective.”
According to the lawsuit, the buyout agreement between Niven and GUNS N’ ROSES was signed 34 years ago. “At the time, Niven was under severe personal distress because he had been betrayed by his former employee, the band’s lawyer, and his band,” the lawsuit claims. “He was forced to take a buyout that was far less than he would have received had he stayed with GN’R, and he was forbidden forever from talking about his time with GN’R.”
