Duff McKagan's Loaded
Wasted Heart EP
Century

No Axl? No Slash? No worries!... well almost. Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan - best known for being the original bass playing backbone of Guns N' Roses, and more recently for his tenure with Velvet Revolver - has thrown together his own team of hired goons during VR time-off, and they bring us Wasted Hearts. Clearly more VR that GNR, it's way less overblown and less over-produced than the latter, and is more about straight up rock.

Duff himself leads the way on vocals on this set of no frills rock songs with a voice not unlike his VR counterpart, the legendary Scott Weiland, but lacking his range or charisma. Nonetheless, it's not the worst thing you're going to hear come out of a 40-something rocker who used to "own" the infamous Sunset Strip. Opener Sleaze Factory sounds like a left over from a VR session, while No More follows a similar formula of straight up bogan rock. The choruses hit in the exact place you expect them too, with the exact right impact, in a very formulaic verse-chorus-verse way.

The main point of difference from this and Duff's other projects is the noticeable absence of epic, face-melting solos - something pal Slash would've come in handy for. Then again, Loaded is more about Duff - and Duff's just about rocking. The title track rounds out the set on a softer note, showing that even ex-drug-addled party boys get the blues. While Duff obviously isn't the hit machine that Axl or Weiland are/ were, and Loaded isn't exactly groundbreaking, some credibility is kept intact with this solid rock release.

Daniel Gaskin