Courtesy of Fender Com

By Thomas Semioli

 

You either loved or despised Guns ‘n’ Roses – which is the ultimate gauge of a great rock ‘n’ roll band. Muti-instrumentalist, composer, author, economic advisor, masculine mentor,  media host, and bassist Michael Andrew “Duff” McKagan distinguished himself from the majority of his hard rock peers – most of whom played the instrument as a root-note-only buttress – with fluid counter-melodies which weaved their way through Axl’s banshee wails and Slash’s raucous riffage.

 

Born and raised in Seattle, Duff (an Irish nickname) started off as a drummer. He gravitated to the bass by way of his brother Bruce. Plying his craft in various local punk bands, Duff migrated to Los Angeles in the early 1980s.  He answered an ad in a music paper and met his future GNR bandmates Slash and Steven Adler, and the rest, as they say is history… Fans are advised to read his intriguing autobiography It’s So Easy and Other Lies (2011) for the GNR story.  

 

Guns ‘n’ Roses emerged as one of the world’s biggest rock bands in the late 1980s – filling stadiums, whilst moving multi-platinum platters and merch. Akin to their ancestors the Rolling Stones, and Sex Pistols, GNR were the last of rock and roll’s bad boy bands.  Fans dressed like them, and musicians were inspired by them. They were among the few rock bands of any era that were recognized outside the parameters of the music business. GNR’s unsavory public behavior (mostly hype) garnered them headlines aplenty which further fueled interest in the band. Regardless of their persona, GNR delivered the goods: they were exemplary players, writers, performers, and recording artists.  

 

Sadly the original band (mostly) collapsed after four studio albums. However if you were to cherry-pick choice cuts from the members’ ensuing solo slabs: Duff’s Believe In Me (1993), all the Izzy Stradlin albums, Gilby Clarke’s Pawn Shop Guitars (1994), and a Slash’s Snakepit disc or two; you’ve got a few killer GNR sides. Axl’s hired Guns cut a dud of an album sans memorable songs, and fans attended the live performances to hear the classic Duff/Slash/Izzy/Adler era material.

 

Duff’s debut solo slab Believe In Me and his most recent release Tenderness (2019) show him to be well versed in a variety of musical styles – spanning hard rock, blues, funk and Americana.  His band Loaded waxed three sides intermittently between 2001 -11 with Duff on guitar – a collective which echoed his Seattle punk daze with a modern metal modus operandi.

 

McKagan also anchored super-group Velvet Revolver with Scott Weiland, Slash, Matt Sorum, and David Kushner which kept the LA style hard-rock flame burning in pop era of the early 00’s with two fine releases. Among Duff’s other high-profile projects include Neurotic Outsiders with Sex Pistol Steve Jones and John Taylor of Duran Duran, a brief stint in Jane’s Addiction, and Alice Cooper’s star-studded Hollywood Vampires to cite a few. McKagan has also guested on slabs by Iggy Pop and Ozzy, among many others.  In 2015 Duff, Axl, and Slash began a series of GNR reunion tours which resurrect the old glory for those who missed it the first time around. No word as of 2020 if they’ll cut another disc.

 

Duff the bassist is a song-player who renders deep pocket grooves and countermelodies – usually with a slight flange / chorus effect.  Fender feted the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bassist with a signature model (basically a P/J combo), attitude not included! Duff’s main weapon of choice during the Guns heyday was a Fender Aerodyne bass.

 

 

Duff McKagan Sound & Vision…

 

Guns ‘n’ Roses:

“Pretty Tied Up” https://youtu.be/uOzA23ibxjU

“So Fine” (written and sung by Duff) https://youtu.be/2bM4sdnrNf0

“Paradise City” https://youtu.be/Rbm6GXllBiw

 

Velvet Revolver:  

“Fall to Pieces” https://youtu.be/9JhsUFuqbCM

“Slither” https://youtu.be/BKz2U4fvA4U

Neurotic Outsiders: “Jerk” https://youtu.be/bOs3wBAfwMo

 

Solo Duff:

“Believe In Me” https://youtu.be/2-Xd6I-hMgU

“Wasted Heart” https://youtu.be/uY8TEcR5vjM

“How to Be a Man” https://youtu.be/yyIn8hvue7A

“Flatline” https://youtu.be/tcDS_7p99bA

 

By Thomas Semioli

“Rock ‘n’ Roll,” proclaimed Dennis Dunaway to this writer – “if it doesn’t kill ya’ it will keep you forever young!”

‘Twas a time when rock ‘n’ roll actually horrified parents! And no band mortified America’s elders more so than the original Alice Cooper band circa 1969-74.

A composer / conceptualist who commandeers his signature mirrored Fender Jazz and, previously his “Frog” Gibson EB, Dennis Dunaway’s bass passages for the original, Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame Alice Cooper band were as daring and unconventional as his ensemble.

Greatly inspired by the Yardbirds, Cream, and Sir Paul, among others of his generation, and an inspiration to a few generations of hard rockers; Dennis worked brilliant upper register motifs (“No More Mr. Nice Guy”) cascading glissando passages (“Muscle of Love” – kudos to engineer Dennis Ferrante), cool Latin rhythms (several cuts on Pretties for You), and sinuous in-the-pocket grooves; all of which served the song.

Dig my select sampling of Dennis’ work with the original Alice Cooper Band, spanning 1969 to 1974:

“Shoe Salesman” https://youtu.be/BQZE7jLbbYU

“Ballad of Dwight Fry” https://youtu.be/FfqrZvKI_1g

“Halo of Flies” https://youtu.be/fGOD1-NtxH8

“No More Mr. Nice Guy”  https://youtu.be/PkRxh-8mpcQ

“Muscle of Love” https://youtu.be/Hi5ole3ikFQ

Dennis continues on the bandstand and the recording studio with Joe and Albert Bouchard in Blue Coupe, guest appearances with the Hollywood Vampires, the Dennis Dunaway Project, original Cooper clan reunions, and as a solo video and recording artist.

Dig Dennis and Blue Coupe “Everybody Goes Insane” https://youtu.be/3R_qsoqcYbA

Dig Dennis solo “Cold Cold Coffin” https://youtu.be/FQV_596ELYo

Dig Dennis with the Hollywood Vampires “School’s Out / Another Brick in the Wall” https://youtu.be/_BgStW37oUc

Dig The Dennis Dunaway Project “Subway” https://youtu.be/EnHO_2HcvPg

Dig Dennis on “A Runaway Train” with Alice Cooper from Welcome to My Nightmare 2 https://youtu.be/qMWVZwqTRew

Dennis’ autobiography  “Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs!”  (with Chris Hodenfield) is essential reading for rockers of any era. I had the opportunity to chat with Dennis for Huffington Post Books in 2015.

They say “never get too close to your idols” – well, they were wrong about Dennis, he’s a humble cat with a wicked sense of humor! As you would expect….

Dennis Dunaway: The Billion Dollar Bassist Re-Writes the History of Rock ‘n’ Roll

Tom Semioli – Huffington Post June 2015

“How can you kick the bucket if you’re writing a book? Every time I’d read something about Alice Cooper, I’d complain aloud ‘ah, that’s not how it happened! And my kids had to put up with that for years, and years, and years. Finally they said to me ‘Dad! Shut up and write a book!”

My hot-blooded Sicilian mother oft warned me that there were three sides to every story “his, hers, and the truth!” The same loving women who doted on her only son also made a habit of tearing Alice Cooper posters off my bedroom wall in the 1970s- thankfully she never discovered the panties that spilled out of my vinyl copy of School’s Out (1972) back in the era when a certain band was re-imagining the art of album packaging. She also warned me that these degenerate creeps whom I worshiped and inspired me to join a band were actually Russian operatives on a mission to rot the minds of American teenagers. Nowadays my mom’s behavior is commonly referred to as “menopause.”

Behold the third side of the story of a bona-fide American rock ‘n’ roll legacy. Dennis Dunaway, bassist, songwriter, conceptualist for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame Alice Cooper band – that’s right, Alice Cooper was a group before he, the former Vincent Furnier, emerged as a Hollywood Square, celebrity golfer, and singular show business entity – has composed the definitive and most truthful tome detailing the groundbreaking collective that also included Michael Bruce, the late Glen Buxton, and Neil Smith.

Aptly entitled Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs! My Adventures in the Alice Cooper Group (Thomas Dunne Books – St. Martin’s Press, 2015), and written in collaboration with veteran rock journalist Chris Hodenfield – Dennis vividly details in the first person how the Alice cooperative of five endearingly misfit pioneering adolescents put the Woodstock generation to rest; and the rest, as they say, is history. Kiss, Marilyn Manson, Guns ‘n’ Roses, arena rockers too numerous to mention, and even MTV took their cues – and then some – from the original Cooper clan.

Dunaway laughs as I bestow upon him the new title of “literary lion.” He revels traveling in writers circles in New York City too. “I’m meeting all these famous authors…individuals who wrote books about such important historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln. I wrote about a band who threw a chicken at an audience!” I remind Mr. Dunaway that he too is an important part of history and that his new book documents the missing link between the transformations in American pop culture from the 1960s to the 1970s – an era that continues to resonate.

Among the unsung heroes afforded due recognition in Snakes! is his wife, Cindy Smith, sister of drummer Neal Smith. “Cindy created the look that set off the whole gam rock thing…other people got credit for it, and accept credit for it…and it’s not that they weren’t part of it…but Cindy was doing it way, way, before anyone else…” Dennis also speaks lovingly and reverentially of the band’s dearly departed guitarist, Glen Buxton. A true rock ‘n’ roll outlaw with a razor sharp wit to which Dunaway often quotes, it was Buxton who created many of the group’s signature riffs which every player who followed in his platform boot-steps is required to replicate, and air guitarists young, old, and middle-aged continue to mime.

Effectively re-writing the script to a vital period in rock ‘n’ roll history as demanded by the Dunaway brood actually commenced for Dennis during Easter of 1997 – the same number of years ago as the age of a rather distraught young adult who can’t figure out if he’s a boy or a man as per the libretto of the band’s first hit. But first he had to overcome a life-threatening disease. “If I was going to write a book,” Dennis recalls, “I had to survive the surgery. That sounds strange, but that’s what drove me as well.” Dunaway also had to conquer moods of bitterness borne by the age old injustices of the music business, and a feeling that the fans had forgotten him. Truth is, the hardcore fans always held Dennis and the original Alice Cooper band to close their hearts despite the fact that the Cooper brand continued without them.

“We were overshadowed by the monster we created,” emphasizes Dennis. “There are a lot of newer Alice Cooper fans out there that don’t even know that I or the band existed!” During our conversation I note that oft times in my career as a musician – my band-mates and I would refer to the sounds and mixes of the original Alice Cooper albums for our producers and engineers – all of whom nodded their heads with respect and approval. Even without the theatrics, the Alice Cooper band canon was Hall of Fame worthy.

My comment flatters Dennis, who is quick to point out that “we also upstaged ourselves as musicians with the visuals in the Alice Cooper band.” Ditto the boa constrictor which infamously slithered around the body of Mr. Furnier during concert performances. “Journalists would write half an article about the boa and not even mention the great songs we wrote for the snake!”

That was then, this is now. Mr. Dunaway, author and bassist, currently plies his craft in a kick ass trio dubbed Blue Coupe – which is made up of former Blue Oyster Cult members Joe and Albert Bouchard. They record, tour the world, and to my ears, they put guitar slinging bands (more than) half their age to shame.

At the official release party held in the Rare Books section of The Strand in New York City – Dennis and Blue Coupe tear the house down much like his old band did when a certain type of music was indeed a threat to society. To thunderous applause from glam grannies, young rockers, and Strand employees spattered in black eye-shadow akin to Dennis’ former singer, the bassist bellows “no more pencils…one more book for your summer!”

Dennis and Blue Coupe ripped the joint with rousing renditions of “I’m Eighteen,” “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” Blue Oyster Cult’s 1976 anthem “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” and close with “School’s Out” -abetted by the backing vocals of New York City legends Tish & Snooky.

During the question and answer segment for attendees, co-author Chris Hodenfield speaks eloquently of his time touring with the band for his well-known Rolling Stonemagazine feature in 1972. He quips “Dennis has an appallingly good memory….everyone in the band was a comedian who tried to outdo each other.” Reminiscing how Groucho Marx and George Burns were Alice Cooper band fans,
Dunaway praises his wife, the band’s former managers, his beloved band-mates, the road and lighting crews from years past, and of course, his loyal fans.

“Rock ‘n’ Roll,” proclaims the author to me – “if it doesn’t kill ya’ it will keep you forever young!”

Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs! My Adventures in the Alice Cooper Group by Dennis Dunaway and Chris Hodenfield is out now on Thomas Dunne Books – St. Martin’s Press, 2015

When Lou Reed decided to transform his persona from underground artist to a bona-fide arena rocker, he enlisted guitar shredders Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, drummer Whitey Glan, keyboardist Ray Colcord, and bassist Prakash John to forge his sonic assault. The result was one of rock’s greatest concert releases: Rock n Roll Animal (1974) – and one of rock’s greatest bass performances.

 

With Steve Katz in the producer’s chair, John and the band essentially threw every motif imaginable against the wall and somehow all of it stuck!

 

With a strong foundation in his native Indian music, along with studies in classical, and a passion for rhythm & blues borne of his dues paying days in Toronto based Top 40 bands, John’s harmonic extensions and endless rhythmic variations within the most basic of rock chord progressions were inventive ala Jack Bruce. Perhaps Jaco heard Prakash with Lou and decided to tweak his bridge pickup – we’ll never know. John’s soulful playing on Sally Can’t Dance helped Lou nail his only Top 10 album.

 

After Lou sacked his Animal band, John and his mates went to work for Alice Cooper and replicated their signature din as heard on the live Alice Cooper Show album.

 

Prakash John Sound & Vision…

 

Lou Reed:

 

“Intro / Sweet Jane” https://youtu.be/KqpWTC-rvhQ

 

“Sally Can’t Dane” https://youtu.be/gbfB9z4Am-E

 

“Vicious” video clip: https://youtu.be/gYUIZg3bhjU

 

Alice Cooper:

 

“Under My Wheels” https://youtu.be/o_oQa0dTQSI

 

“School’s Out” video clip with bass solo: https://youtu.be/Kbz7ZI6S6oU

 

Steve Hunter: “Eight Miles High” https://youtu.be/0KtgqCiiIhE

 

Prakash John & The Lincolns: “How Sweet It Is” https://youtu.be/27NO95PdPQg

 

Matt Schofield: “Black Cat Bone” https://youtu.be/qZZpezJcPl0

 

Jordan John “Do Right Woman” https://youtu.be/OdcwqSe1o14