Guns N’Roses bassist, Duff McKagan has confirmed that a collection of seven songs that he recorded with his pre Guns N’Roses band The Living will be made available to the public on April 16.
The LP will be released as The Living: 1982. McKagan also unveiled a video for “Two Generation Stand” alongside this news.
Duff McKagan was thrilled that these songs are finally being made available for the fans.
McKagan said in a statement, “Would this even ever get out of our basement?. We had something magical then, and it was ours, so who gives a f**k!”.
“I’ve cherished these recordings”
McKagan was just 17 years old when he joined The Living. This band also included drummer, Greg Gilmore. For decades, seven tracks were lost, until Gilmore found them.
The drummer said in a statement, “I joined a band and a community. These guys are still my brothers. I’ve cherished these recordings since the days we made them. This record is a fantastic document of a loaded moment. I love it”.
The group only last for a few months. They had opened for Canadian punk icons, DOA in Seattle and Vancouver. After these shows, the band recorded these seven tracks for their 1982 album The Living:1982.
However, the band split up before a label could be found to release this LP. It was after that, that McKagan moved to Los Angeles where he met Axl Rose and they formed Guns N’Roses. The rest, as they say is Rock n’Roll history!
We also brought you the news last month that Duff McKagan’s fellow bandmate Slash said that he hopes the band will make new music this year.
“Ground zero for the Seattle sound”
While Duff left and helped form Guns N’Roses, Gregg Gilmore stayed in Seattle and played an integral part in the formation of grunge with Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament in Mother Love Bone.
The Living: 1982 will be released on Gossard’s record label Loosegroove. It will also be made available digitally and on three different color variants of vinyl.
Gossard released a statement, “It doesn’t matter what year this music was recorded cause it is undeniable. But the fact that Duff, Greg, Todd and John created these fully realized songs in 1982 gives credence to the idea that this band, the Living, are ground zero for the Seattle sound”.
