You are not logged in. Please register or login.
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
Re: LA Guns thread
cool thanks! i didnt think they actually released any material together
anyway found this on blabbermouth.net about LA guns
L.A. GUNS Drummer STEVE RILEY Says He Will Never Play With TRACII GUNS Again - Jan. 6, 2008
Greg Schmitt of Rock Eyez recently conducted an interview with L.A. GUNS drummer Steve Riley. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:
Rock Eyez: You've been in L.A. GUNS from the get-go, really.
Steve Riley: Right from the beginning '” yeah. And they say that me and Phil [Lewis, vocals] aren't original members? It's like, "Come on, you motherfuckers, what are you talking about?" From the very first day the band stepped out of L.A., it was me and Phil with the band. Yeah, they did this recording in a studio here in L.A., and fired the drummer right after he finished the recording. So you wanna call him the original member 20 years later? Come on, you fucks!
Rock Eyez: I saw him a year ago with Tracii. It's a weak band. I mean, Tracii is good, but everybody else is like'¦ Your lineup is so much better.
Steve Riley: Well, we're the real band because me and Phil have been in this from fucking day one. And we co-wrote every song. Any song that you hear by L.A. GUNS, me and Phil co-wrote it with Tracii, and with Mick and Kelly. We co-wrote every single song. Like we're doing now '” we all get in the studio and write together. And it's just '” the thing that Tracii has out right now is not a musical thing he's taking out, it's a destructive thing. He's only out there for one reason, and that's to ruin the name of L.A. GUNS. He has just burned every bridge in the book. I mean, I can go on and name bands that you wouldn't even believe '” from MÖTLEY to GUNS N' ROSES to L.A. GUNS to QUIET RIOT '” I'll go on '” POISON, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS'¦ These are bands that dislike Tracii so much that they don't even want him around them. All these big bands '” they can't stand this guy. So what does he do? He burns all his bridges with Nikki (Sixx) and all of those connections '” he fucked that whole thing up, too. And now he's got nothing left to do. Me and him own the name! But he has every right to take it out, and what's he doing? He wants to take it out to destroy it right now. I know Trace '” he likes to play with good musicians. And he's not playing with good musicians. Oh, they're horrible, Greg. Come on '” they're terrible. They don't sound anything like L.A. GUNS. And I just think that if I wanna go see a classic rock band, I really, really want to see the fucking lead singer who sang the songs!
Rock Eyez: And they have an argument where they say, "We're the original guys." And it's like all right, fair enough, but you know '” they're just not (very) good!
Steve Riley: Not at all. And you know, that "original guy" thing too '” Paul was in the band, right? And they co-wrote a couple '” not even co-wrote '” they started writing "One More Reason" and "Sex Action". They were just pieces, not completed songs.
Rock Eyez: So, what do you think is going on in Tracii's head?
Steve Riley: He's out there thinking'¦ Well, first of all he had to come up with some sort of a fucking shitty story about why he's out of our band. Just to capsulize it one more time: We did the album for Spitfire '” "Waking the Dead" with Andy Johns. It came out and it sounded so fucking good, and we were so proud of it. We couldn't believe it. It was our first album with Andy Johns, and it was like, "Oh my god '” this thing is huge!" Well, we got great reviews on it, and we got the whole ALICE COOPER tour for the world. Starting in Russia, going all the way through Europe, and then coming over here. And he quit to do the fucking BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION. Bottom line: Me and Phil begged him not to quit. "Please do both '” you can do both things, man, you do not have to quit!" He told us to go fuck ourselves, in a matter of words. He said, "Forget it, I'm out of here." We lost our record deal, we lost the tour, and we had to start from scratch to build our way up again. This guy turned around '” and now he knows he looks like an asshole '” and he turns it around and makes it look like the band ripped him off for money, that I ripped him off for money'¦ You know, it's just so fucking bad '” it's horrible. It's like this guy is reaching so bad that me and Phil know we'll never play with this guy again. He's that devious, that bad. And we love Stacey's playing '” Stacey's fucking killer. We love him '” he fits in, and the fucking guy '” he's really into it and he's really low-maintenance, and he knows it's a rough scene right now, but he'll do it. Trace, on the other hand, is into the mode of destruction. He knows he's out there hurting L.A. GUNS' name by having another L.A. GUNS out there.
Rock Eyez: And is he really making enough money to make this worthwhile?
Steve Riley: No! He's not. That's the way he's hurting L.A. GUNS. Not just in the name, but financially too. We make a certain amount of money, and he's going out for like one-third of that. So the clubs are going, "Hey! I've got L.A. GUNS for this price over here!" So me and Phil right now, and the guys in the band, we're just trying to stay strong. Phil's gotten into a few Internet wars with Trace, but I'm staying out of that. I'm trying to take the high road and not be a little pussy on the Internet, shooting lines that don't make sense. So I'm just taking a back seat on it. We know 'cause when I was in STEPPENWOLF in the '70s, I was in one of the bands that didn't have John Kaye. Now John Kaye, the lead singer, wasn't going by "John Kaye and STEPPENWOLF." He was in STEPPENWOLF, and then the other guys had STEPPENWOLF too, because they all owned the name. When I was in STEPPENWOLF, we sounded really, really good. I thought we sounded great, and I was making all this money, but guess what? We fizzled. And I realized why '” we were a classic rock act without the real singer. And we couldn't go on. And me and Tommy went on and started THE B'ZZ 'cause we were still young '” we were young 'uns back then playing with STEPPENWOLF. But the fact of it is that we're gonna sit back right now, and we're gonna wait for this thing to peter out. People know it sounds like shit, people know Phil's not singing in it, and they know they're not gonna hear the songs the way they think that they're gonna hear the songs. So we're gonna wait for it to peter itself out and people are gonna eventually ask the question, "Is this the band with Phil in it? No? Oh, OK, I understand '” it's that other band."
Read the entire interview at www.rockeyez.com.
- The Cusack
- Rep: 1
Re: LA Guns thread
Phil Lewis posted the interview link on the LAGuns.Net board and had this to say about it:
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabber....D=87871
Brilliant. He's so right about Tracy burning bridges, Remember when the G&R behind the music came out witn not so much as a wisper of the so called founding member even tho I know for a fact that he did a two hour interview for the program. And I remember thinking how frosty they were to him the few times we played together back in the day.
If only I'd know then what I know so well now........
- Gunslinger
- Rep: 88
Re: LA Guns thread
This thread has reminded me of how much I liked L.A. Guns once I got turned on to them. Cocked and Loaded was the one that won me over, in particular Never Enough/Malaria and The Ballad of Jayne. Hollywood Vampires was decent but I preferred Vicious Circle. I really liked Long Time Dead/Chasing the Dragon/Killing Machine and Crystal Eyes off that one. That was the last I heard of them. Any suggestions for post Viscious Circle to reintroduce a one-time fan?
- The Cusack
- Rep: 1
Re: LA Guns thread
This thread has reminded me of how much I liked L.A. Guns once I got turned on to them. Cocked and Loaded was the one that won me over, in particular Never Enough/Malaria and The Ballad of Jayne. Hollywood Vampires was decent but I preferred Vicious Circle. I really liked Long Time Dead/Chasing the Dragon/Killing Machine and Crystal Eyes off that one. That was the last I heard of them. Any suggestions for post Viscious Circle to reintroduce a one-time fan?
The Phil Lewis version of the band does an incredible version of "Long Time Dead" in their live set. To me it was the highlight of their show. The first time I saw them perform it, it was the defining moment of the show where the band went from just playing the songs (which they do well) to actually caputuring the audience and making a statement so to speak.
As for suggestions; "Waking The Dead" is required listening. It's the last album they did with Tracii Guns and possibly their best work. I also suggest, "Tales From The Strip" and "Rip The Covers Off" which are the two albums they've done with Stacey Blades. "Man In The Moon" is the first album they did after Phil Lewis returned and it's got some good songs, including the title track. "Hollywood Raw" also has some great stuff. As for non-Phil stuff. "The Black List" which is a collection of demos recorded with Paul Black is an interesting look into the band's roots that a lot of LA Guns fans seem to like. "American Hardcore" with Chris Van Dahl is a nice heavy LA Guns goes hardcore style record. Not many LAG purists like this album but I really do. "Shrinking Violet" with Jizzy Pearl of vox is a decent but I only like a few songs on it. Overall the only thing I'd avoid is "Cuts" which is an EP they put out after "Hollywood Vampires" that isn't all that good IMO.
- Gunslinger
- Rep: 88
Re: LA Guns thread
Excellent reply. That is some great information Q and it is well received. I will check some of this stuff out for sure.
- The Cusack
- Rep: 1
Re: LA Guns thread
BTW, the Phil Lewis version of the band doesn't miss a beat with Stacey Blades on lead guitar. As a live player he's a legitimate star and as a studio player, he's a bit different than Tracii Guns but he definitely fits into what LA Guns is all about.
Re: LA Guns thread
Waking the Dead is definitely a must-buy, even for non-die-hard LAG fans. It's just a great hard rock record in general. From start to finish, it's excellent. There's really only 1 song I don't care for. The rest rock. And as The Cusack said, Tales from the Strip is good, and you don't really miss Tracii Guns.
