Bassist Duff McKagan - formerly of GUNS N' ROSES, currently in VELVET REVOLVER, LOADED and JANE'S ADDICTION - recently spoke with Spinner.com about the rumour mill going into overdrive prior to the official announcement he'd replaced Jane's Addiction's Eric Avery:

"Rumors are always confusing and there were a hell of a lot more rumors coming out than I was even aware of. I never quite respond to rumors and I won't. I write a column for Seattle Weekly. People are writing into me, 'Well, tell me,' and I won't. I'll just stick to my thing."

When you've gone from playing with Axl Rose to Velvet Revolver, a band that's dealt with tons of speculation about Scott Weiland's replacement, and then taken over as the new bassist in Jane's Addiction, you better get used to ignoring the rumors. McKagan, for his part, says they don't affect him.

"I can't really be that bothered by rock media as a whole," he says. "It's not really part of my game. All the rest of it is you hear something about this or hear something about that."

The people that are important to McKagan know the truth.

"My friends, my family, my people I work with know what's going on. That's what matters to me," he says. "If my wife were to hear something and come to me about it, OK, now it's serious. Or Perry [Farrell] or Slash or somebody, but none of us pay attention to rumors."

Following is an excerpt from McKagan's latest blog for Seattle Weekly:

"Man! Am I ever lucky to be doing what I do! My tenure in Jane's Addiction recently took me to Europe for two shows with RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE in Arnhem, Holland, and Madrid, Spain. This was to be a real trial by fire for me with JA. Don't for a second think that I wasn't a little scared.

I generally have confidence in myself. Confidence to me doesn't mean anything else other than self-assurance. You have to be a little bit cocky to go onstage in front of a lot of screaming motherfuckers. I do put in the work, though, to at least gain the confidence... sort of like studying hard and being ready for a tough exam at school, or reading What To Expect When You're Expecting, right before having a baby. Still, you can be as prepared as possible, but still experience many and varied outliers that no amount of preparation can steel you for.

As the house lights went out before we took the stage on that first show, my heart started to speed up and my breathing became shallow and hurried. I couldn't think straight and my hands were shaking just a bit. I've experienced this before, and because of my lifelong affliction with panic disorder, I know now that when my 'fight or flight' mechanisms shift into high gear, at least I am not going to die. But I was freaked the FUCK out."

To read the rest of Duff's blog, click here.