Slash n’ Duff Join Forces On New Charity Single, ‘I Can Breathe’

Have you ever heard of Gibson Band? They’re a revolving collective of musicians who play together and raise money and awareness for worthy causes. And they just released a new song, “I Can Breathe”! The benefit single features rhythm guitars and piano from Cesar Gueikian, CEO of Gibson, with special guests Guns N’ Roses members Duff McKagan on bass/lead vocals and lyrics, and Slash on lead guitar and solos.

Gueikian says, “I am grateful for the collaboration from Slash, Duff, and from my friend Serj Tankian’s (System Of A Down) participation with cover artwork. I’m thrilled we are donating all proceeds from the song to a great and relevant cause.”

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!”

Slash chimes in, “Cesar and Duff came to me with a really cool piece of music. I loved the riff idea, and Duff’s vocal, so I felt right at home on the track.”

Gibson Records, McKagan, Slash and Gueikian, are donating ALL PROCEEDS from the sale of “I Can Breathe”, in addition to ALL auction funds raised to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), through Gibson Gives. NAMI is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health resource organization that is dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.

As I told you earlier, the cover artwork for “I Can Breathe” is by SOAD singer Serj Tankian – or based on a large-scale original painting by him called “They’re Coming”. The original painting by Serj will be auctioned off along with a one-of-a-kind Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar which also features the hand-painted artwork as part of Julien’s Auctions’ forthcoming global auction.

So cool to see Slash n’ Duff continuing to create, beyond G’n’R, hey? Love it. And this time around, what a great cause!

Written by Todd Hancock