L.A. Guns is an American rock band who gained popularity by playing gigs on the Sunset Strip in the 1980’s. Today two different bands share the L.A. Guns name. One is fronted by Tracii Guns, the founder of the original band, and the other is headed by Phil Lewis and Steve Riley, two members of the most successful version of the band.

Intro (Edit)

L.A. Guns is an American rock band who gained popularity by playing gigs on the Sunset Strip in the 1980’s. Today two different bands share the L.A. Guns name. One is fronted by Tracii Guns, the founder of the original band, and the other is headed by Phil Lewis and Steve Riley, two members of the most successful version of the band.

In 1983, Tracii Guns formed the band known as L.A. Guns with Michael Jagosz, Ole Beich, and Rob Gardner. Jagosz was sent to prison and he was replaced by Axl Rose. Axl soon quit LA Guns to form Hollywood Rose. Then Jagosz again joined the band when he returned from prison.

LA Guns was reformed in 1985 by Mau Maus and Paul Mars Black. They teamed up with drummer Nickey “Beat” Alexander, who was jamming with guitarist Tracii Guns at the time. This lineup is considered to be the original version of the band. Tracii left the band at the end of the year. He joined a band called Penthouse Pet, who was, at the time, signed with Atlantic Records. He moved to New York and told LA Guns that he would not be returning before their record label showcase at the Troubadour.

Paul Black recruited Robert Stoddard to be the new guitarist. This line-up of the band picked-up where they left-off. They demoed and gigged throughout 1985 and 1986. Paul Black contributed most of the material that would be recorded on their debut album. Several record labels were already interested in signing the band.

At the end of 1986, Tracii was brought back in to make L.A. Guns a five piece band for the first time. A record deal with Polygram Records was secured. This was due to Paul introducing a song called “Love and Hate.”

Paul Black was replaced by Phil Lewis. After this change, L.A. Guns hit the studio to record their self-titled debut album. The album went Gold due to the singles “One More Reason” and “Sex Action.” Both of these songs were writted by former LA Guns vocalist, Paul Black. The song “Sex Action” came from the original song “Love and Hate.”

During the tour, Nickey was replaced by drummer Steve Riley, who had previously played for the band W.A.S.P.

In 1989, they released their second album Cocked & Loaded. It featured the hits, “Never Enough” and “The Ballad of Jayne.” Due to the success of those two songs, the album went Gold, and eventually Platinum. The song “Rip & Tear” was also a hit. This was the commercial peak for LA Guns. They would never hit this amount of success again.

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History (Edit)

1991 produced LA Guns third album, Hollywood Vampires. The album did go Gold, and featured only a few hits. These hits include “Kiss My Love Goodbye” and “It’s Over Now.”

In 1992, the band released the EP called, Cuts.

In 1995, the bands fourth album was released. It was called, Vicious Circle. After this album, the band was released from Polygram Records.

In 1995, Tracii Guns and Steve Riley recruited Chris Van Dahl for vocals.

In 1996, LA Guns released their sixth record. It was titled American Hardcore. The new album built on the heavy music from their previous album. It also projected a darker image of the band.

During the tour in support of the album, the band let Chris go, in hopes of getting Phil Lewis back and the bands former glory with it. When Phil refused, the band recruited Ralph Saenz for the job.

The band continued touring with the line-up of Tracii, Steve, Johnny and Ralph. Then in 1998, the band released a six song EP called Wasted.

Halfway through the Rock Never Stops Tour, Ralph quit to form his own band. Tracii had two canidates in mind. Joe Joe Lesté from Bang Tango and Jizzy Pearl from Love/Hate. Lesté originally got the job, but that only lasted a week. So Tracii and Steve picked Jizzy Pearl for the bands new singer.

Throughout 1998 and 1999, LA Guns toured clubs with the new line-up.

In 1999 the band released Shrinking Violet. Two different versions of the album were released. The American version, and the French version. They contained the same songs, but in different orders.

Tracii and Steve had been talking with former bandmates about a reunion around 1999. When Johnny found out about this, he left the band. The reunion album, Greatest Hits and Black Beauties, was released. It was released around the same time as Shrinking Violet.

On September 1, 1999, Jizzy and Chuch were fired from the band to make way for the former band mates reunion. The reunited band toured and recorded a live album in their hometown of Hollywood. The album, Live: A Night On The Strip was released in 2000.

In August of 2000, the band re-recorded and re-released Cocked & Loaded. This album was released under the name of Cocked & Re-Loaded.

In April of 2001, the band released a new album called Man In The Moon. This is the only LA Guns album to feature the bass guitarist Muddy.

In 2002, the band released Waking The Dead. It is known to fans as one of the strongest and heaviest material the band has ever recorded.

A remastered set of demos was released from the band in 2005. These were recorded around the time LA Guns recorded their first album. These demos featured former vocalist for the band, Paul Black. This album was called the Black List.

In 2005, Tracii Guns formed a solo band consisting of former LA Guns members. The line-up included Paul Black, Nickey “Beat” Alexander, Tracii Guns, Jason Saenz and Jeremy Carson. The band started using the LA Guns name since it contained three of the founding members of the band.

In 2006, Phil Lewis’ version of LA Guns released Loud and Dangerous: Live From Hollywood. It is a live compilation of the bands current line-up. The release also included a DVD.

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Update (Edit)

Bassist Adam Hamilton was replaced by Scott Griffin as of March 2007 who was replaced by Kenny Kweens in July 2009.

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