Since the onset of Velvet Revolver’s ongoing hiatus, Duff has concentrated on his punk project Loaded. While he’s aware that the band is unlikely to ever shift the millions that he has effortlessly sold in the past, he is completely at ease with where Loaded are today, and where they’re heading.

“It is being satisfied with the recording and how we got the song across. That doesn’t always correlate into commercial success but it isn’t any less satisfactory to us as a band. We can still go out and play these songs and have a handful of people that love our band and see the band as we see it, just this force. It thrives on a much smaller scale than Guns N’ Roses or VR, but it still does thrive and that’s cool. It grows.

“The Taking is the first record I’ve ever done with Terry Date, which was really cool. We’re both Seattle guys and he has done some shredding records and some really angry, intense records and I had some songs that fell into that grouping so off we went with Terry. It’s a record that it’s safe to assume will never get much commercial airplay or anything like that, but that’s ok.”