Duff McKagan released his third solo album, Lighthouse, on Friday (October 20th), and the Guns N’ Roses bassist has unveiled a music video for the song “I Just Don’t Know” featuring Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains.
The plaintive and honest clip sees McKagan and Cantrell playing the acoustic-based track under a massive strobe light that changes based on the mood of the music. Cantrell also contributes a guitar solo and backing vocals to the track.
Lyrically, it’s McKagan at his most sincere and personal, his voice dominant amongst the chiming acoustics — for which Cantrell is a perfect fit. The collab also sees Cantrell reciprocating McKagan’s contribution to the the former’s 2021 solo album, Brighten.
As for Lighthouse, McKagan began work on the project after opening his own Seattle recording studio in 2019. In a press release, he said that the studio allowed him to “finally explore songs that I may have written the night before or some of those old riffs from years ago,” adding: “This is a big deal for me.”
Duff spent the next two years “chipping away” on the songs that would become Lighthouse, working with his longtime producer/collaborator Martin Feveyear (Mark Lanegan, Brandi Carlile). In addition to Cantrell, the album also includes collabs with Duff’s GN’R bandmate Slash and punk godfather Iggy Pop.
McKagan’s album dropped as Guns N’ Roses wrap up the final set of dates on their 2023 North American tour. A show on Tuesday (October 24th) in Nampa, Idaho, is next up, and a two-night stand at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on November 1st and 2nd was recently added. You can get tickets to upcoming GN’R concerts here.
Pick up a copy of Duff McKagan’s new solo album Lighthouse on vinyl here, and stream the video for “I Just Don’t Know,” as well as the full album, below.
