Duff McKagan - It's So Easy (and Other Lies): Live at the Moore

by Aaron Brown

published: 4 / 6 / 2016

Duff McKagan - It's So Easy (and Other Lies): Live at the Moore

Aaron Brown finds riveting acclaimed bassist Duff McKagan's candid new documentary film about life in Guns N' Roses and his recovery from drug and alcohol addiction

Article

'It's So Easy (and Other Lies: Live At The Moore' is the documentary and part live show of the Guns N’Roses/Velvet Revolver bassist, Duff McKagan. Yes, we all know the story of Guns N’ Roses. The excess, the arrests, the riots, substance abuse leading to their inevitable implosion but out of all of that McKagan always seemed to be the level headed one. The dcumentary is a mixture of interviews, archive footage and McKagan’s spoken word show, 'It's So Easy (and Other Lies) is the story of a punk kid who went from playing grotty dive clubs in Seattle to bass in the most dangerous band in the world. McKagan tells his candid story, warts and all, from his humble beginnings in the blue collar Pacific North-west to meeting Slash, Izzy Stradlin and the other one for the first time in Los Angeles. McKagan talks fondly of the good times, his love for his family, friends and his love for music. He also talks about the bad times, his drug and alcohol addiction and how his life spiralled out of control to his eventual rebirth, sobriety and he became a martial artist. Unlike other 80s rockers who brag about their hedonistic past, even trivialising it to sell books and make bad reality television, McKagan preaches that it wasn’t all fun and games. Out of all the member of Guns N' Roses, he seemed to be the sensible one who didn’t have the messianic complex or went on to record terrible music with Michael Jackson. Duff McKagan had his faults, he has overcome them and you can’t help but find him a likeable, intelligent guy.