Duff McKagan releases a video for Cold Outside, supporting a Seattle homeless charity

Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan has released a video for the song Cold Outside, coinciding with a fundraising campaign supporting the Seattle Union Gospel Mission’s work providing emergency care and long-term recovery services for homeless people in the Greater Seattle Area. You can watch the video above.

The track is taken from McKagan’s recent solo album, Tenderness, which was released in May this year. McKagan spoke to Classic Rock about the origins of the song, and its goals: “I just visited a homeless camp in Seattle called The Jungle. It’s one of the worst in America, and it’s not the kind of place you or I could just walk up into. But I went with a gentleman who used to live there, but is now sober and in an outreach program.

“So a dude who lives up in The Jungle walks past me real fast and he says, ‘that guy who walked by? He didn’t want you to see him – his eyelid was eaten by a rat when he was nodded out on heroin.’ I talked to some people living up there. They fell through a hole and they can’t get out.

“I’ve seen homelessness all over the planet, and I don’t make eye contact. I do what we all do. You keep your keys in your hand in case you got to swing. You fucking walk faster. You get in your car and get the fuck out of that. Right? I hope to do something with this song bring some awareness and to lessen the stigma. I don’t know if I have an answer. I’m not saying I’m a fucking politician. I just hope to do something positive with that song.”

Read our interview with Duff McKagan about his love of his Fender Bass and the writing of Tenderness here.

For more information, and to donate, visit the Seattle Union Gospel Mission and the Propeller page for the campaign. For more music news, click here.