DUFF McKAGAN JOINS JANE'S ADDICTION

It doesn't look like I missed too much while I was in Mexico, but for me, the biggest news is that, as rumored, former Guns N Roses (and maybe still current Velvet Revolver) bassist Duff McKagan has joined Jane's Addiction.

I found that so surprising.  Janes and Guns both came from L.A., but from very different scenes. Although I always did think that Guns were closer to punk rock than they were to the Crue or Ratt or the other glammier metal bands. Still, this is a development that would have been hard to predict in, say, 1991. But times change. And Duff comes from a more punk or "alternative" background than his Guns-mates.

Anyway, Rolling Stone says that Jane's is looking to have an album out by the winter of 2011, and then they are going to tour afterwards. I wonder if that means that the singer-less Velvet Revolver is over.  I think it's cool that Duff, Slash and Matt Sorum were playing together, I never cared for their singer Weiland though. Slash's new album comes out tomorrow.  Duff is on it, and so are former Guns members Izzy Stradlin' and Steven Adler. Also on the album, Lemmy, Iggy Pop, Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Grohl and Alice Cooper.  And Fergie.