After rising to fame as a member of Guns N' Roses, and co-founding Grammy-winning rock outfit Velvet Revolver, bassist Duff McKagan is now focusing on his solo band, Loaded.

"We made a great record and that's success to me," McKagan said during an interview with LiveDaily while discussing Loaded's recently released album, "Sick." "If this band can get to the point where we're selling out 500-, 800-seat clubs in the States, that would be something. The bar is attainable. I'm not nervous. I know this band. I know the guys in the band. We're best friends and we're going to have a killer time on the road."

"Sick" marks the first full-length studio album in eight years from the band McKagan formed in 1998 and grouped up with again in 2001.  Duff McKagan's Loaded [ tickets ] released "Live Episode" in 1999 and "Dark Days" in 2001, before other commitments meant Loaded was put on the back burner to some extent, although the band never split up. McKagan, who co-penned the new album with the rest of his punk-influenced band, named the album "Sick" simply because it was the first song that was written.

"'Sick' is an older song we wrote back in 2002," McKagan said. "That was sort of the cornerstone for us to start the record on. It kind of gave us a direction. We sort of go in that direction, but we veer off on 'Mother's Day' and 'Wasted Heart.' But all of the songs have a theme. It's hard, but it's also kind of dark and melancholy. There's glimpses of hope on the record. It's just like life."

McKagan said he is always writing, whether it's music for his bands or his columns that he writes for SeattleWeekly.com or Playboy.com.

"I always write songs, that's what I do," he said. "While people are thinking about going to work the next day, I'm thinking about what song I'm going to write. I'm in a very creative period in my life. I have two columns that I write every week and I'm writing music all the time. "

While he is pushing Loaded, McKagan and Velvet Revolver are continuing to look for a new lead singer for that band. Scott Weiland exited Velvet Revolver on bad terms a year ago.

"It's OK that we haven't found somebody right now because I'm able to do this," McKagan said. "But, yes, we certainly are looking. We will find the right guy."