Duff McKagan praises new Guns N’ Roses drummer Isaac Carpenter

Guns N’ Roses recently fired their longtime drummer Frank Ferrer who was part of the group since 2005. The band announced that Isaac Carpenter was the chosen one to replace him and in a video posted on his Youtube channel, the bassist Duff McKagan praised the musician who had previously worked with him in his band Loaded.

Duff McKagan praises the new Guns N’ Roses drummer Isaac Carpenter

“I have known Isaac since he was in his first band called Loudermilk. They were in high school. They’re from Washington state, so not far from Seattle. And I’d heard about the band. They got signed to American Records — Def Jam, basically, Rick Rubin’s label. And they made a record. And they were, like, 18 years old. I think I met Isaac when he was 19. And I loved his band Loudermilk. A bunch of years — a few years later, like nine years later, I needed a drummer for Loaded and Isaac’s name came up.”

“He was coming through somewhere I was at, and he came and we played together. And [I told him], ‘I have this tour. Would you wanna do it?’ And he was in. Then he and I made ‘The Taking’ record. He and I wrote a lot of the songs for that record together in his garage. And I wrote a lot of my book, believe it or not…”

“He had this couch in his garage that was really old and it would hurt my back. And it’s where I found I could write my darker sections of my book better ’cause I was in physical pain. So I’d actually come over to his house just to use his garage and that couch to write. So I’ve known him for a long time, I guess. Now that I think about it — 25 years. And it’s great to have him in the band. It’s fucking awesome.”

He continued:

“I’ll tell you what Isaac brings to the band. No commentary on Frank, ’cause Frank’s a lovely guy. Isaac has got this ability, though, to swing and groove that only a few drummers have. Steven (Adler) had it as well, Steven Adler, and Matt (Sorum) is a great, solid drummer with amazing fills — and Matt’s amazing. They’re both amazing drummers. And Isaac somehow blends both of those two guys and adds his own thing. So he adds a new sort of excitement to the songs. And the groove and swing of the songs right now with Isaac is super impressive and super fun,” Duff McKagan said (Transcribed by Blabbermouth).

Since the classic Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler was fired in 1990, the group had many other drummers like Matt Sorum (1990 to 1997), Josh Freese (1997 to 2000), Bryan Mantia (2000 to 2006) and Frank Ferrer (2006 – 2025).

Who is Isaac Carpenter

Born in Tri-Cities, Washington back in 1979, Carpenter started his musical career in 1995. His first band was Loudermilk, which was initially formed as a Guns N’ Roses cover band, with the name .22s and Tulips. But then the group started to write their own songs and had the chance to release three studio albums from 1998 to 2006.

During his career, Carpenter also recorded with other less known groups and artists like Gosling (Previously known as Loudermilk), The Exies, Marion Raven, Black Lab, Tyga, Evan Taubenfeld, Reve Theory and for the past 11 years he was a member of the group Awolnation.

But another Guns N’ Roses connection that Carpenter has is that he was also a member of Duff McKagan’s band Loaded from 2009 to 2011. He played the drums on the band’s 2011 album “The Taking”, which is their most recent one.