Slash And Duff McKagan Are On Gibson CEO’s Latest Single

Slash And Duff McKagan Are On Gibson CEO’s Latest Single

Gibson made headlines last week by hitting Donald Trump with a cease-and-desist, but the esteemed guitar company is back in the news today for other reasons. A year ago, Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian launched a new project called the Gibson Band, featuring rock stars Tony Iommi and Serj Tankian. Now Gueikian is back with another famous-people collab, this time for charity.

Guns N’ Roses members Slash and Duff McKagan join Gueikian on “I Can Breathe,” a new single released today for Giving Tuesday. The original version was 12 minutes long, but they’ve cut that in half for official release. Sales of the track will benefit the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

As Rolling Stone explains, Gueikian wrote the riffs that form the foundation of the metallic hard rock track, while McKagan penned the lyrics and sang lead vocals, and Slash applied his signature bluesy guitar leads. “It felt like lyrics were pouring out of Duff’s heart and head,” Gueikian tells RS. “I remember receiving messages from Duff with the lyrical sections and I was blown away.”

McKagan adds:

It was such a pleasure to work with Cesar and his whole crew on this tune. The musical slant and progressive rock-ness of this huge epic pushed me in a whole new direction. I love a challenge and Cesar killed it! Most importantly, to be of service for mental health issues and awareness is super important to me at this time. Let’s rock!

In addition to sales proceeds, Gibson is auctioning off “They’re Coming,” the Tankian painting that serves as the cover art for “I Can Breathe.” They’re also taking bids on a Les Paul guitar with Tankian’s artwork printed on it, featuring signatures from all involved parties. Visit the auction page here, and listen to “I Can Breathe” below.

If you’re interested, we’ve recently published career-spanning interviews with McKagan and Tankian.

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