Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns each grew up as an only-child. Then, about 33 years ago, Lewis, a British singer, and Guns, an Angeleno guitarist, became each other’s musical brother. It began while making the hard-rock band L.A. Guns’ blazing 1988 self-titled debut, and deepened on now-classic 1989 sophomore LP “Cocked and Loaded” and prismatic 1991 disc “Hollywood Vampires.”
Lewis’ alley-cat howl and Guns’ ferocious virtuosity gave L.A. Guns that frontman-guitarist dynamic-duo allure essential to hard-rock. Songs like “Electric Gypsy,” “Never Enough,” “Sex Action,” “Rip and Tear,” “It’s Over Now” and signature country-tingred song “The Ballad of Jayne” are among the most enduring rock songs of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.
Years of touring the country and world together, making more albums and enduring music-biz ups and downs, breakups and makeups and band-lineup carousels gave the Lewis-Guns bond even more texture. “I don’t have that connection with anyone else,” Lewis tells me, “and I know he doesn’t either.”
Their musical connection remains strong on the Los Angeles-founded band’s excellent new album, “Checkered Past.” Unlike many long-running bands from their era - including more-famous bands - L.A. Guns’ latest holds up to their classic recordings. It terms of quality, “Checkered Past” sounds like it could have been the follow up to “Hollywood Vampires.” It’s a trend that’s built up from when Lewis and Guns reunited in 2016, after 15 or so nonspeaking years apart, including times when both had competing versions of L.A. Guns out on the road. (Currently, classic era L.A. Guns drummer Steve Riley and bassist Kelly Nickels have a band called Riley’s L.A. Guns.)
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“I’m glad we sort of buried the hatchet and got back to working together,” Lewis says of his relationship with Tracii Guns, “And it’s funny, you know, after all that time it really didn’t take us long to get right back up to speed. I think we both feel we’ve got to make the most of our time and we certainly have. And we’ve both developed a lot as musicians and recording artists, and writers too.”
The albums they made together since, including 2017′s “The Missing Piece” and 2019′s “The Devil You Know,” have all been better than solid - particularly the title track to the latter album and the song “Speed” from the former.
“Checkered Past,” L.A. Guns’ 13th studio album, is legitimately among the best the band’s ever made. Key tracks off “Checked Past” include bittersweet acoustic gem “Get Along,” thrashy “Better Than You,” catchy “Knock Me Down” and haunting “Let You Down.” You can order/stream the album via orcd.co/checkeredpast.
Lewis is in fine voice throughout the album. Like a sky-walking basketballer who develops a sweet fallaway jumper later in their career, Lewis sings more in midrange frequencies on “Checkered Past” than the high-screams that dominate L.A. Gun’s debut album. But just as Mick Jagger in 2021 still sounds like Mick Jagger, Phil Lewis in 2021 still sounds like Phil Lewis. And although Lewis picks his spots for treble sizzle, when he goes for it, he gets there – as on bulldozing track “That Ain’t Why,” one of my favorites off “Checkered Past.”
Guns still wields Randy-Rhoads-eloquence-meets-Johnny-Thunders-energy that made him stand out, even among a generation saturated with elite guitarists. His soloing on “Checkered Past” goes from melodic to savage, focused to hypnotic, bluesy to metallic. The cascading maelstrom on “Better Than You” is a jaw-dropper. And maybe one of Guns’ best solos ever.
For the uninitiated, yes, Tracii Guns was a founding member of Guns N’ Roses and his surname remains the first word in GN’R’s appellation. And pre-GN’R, Axl Rose was the singer in L.A. Guns, who had another singer by the time they got signed but due to drug issues regarding Lewis was brought in to replace that other singer. Guns had been a fan of Girl, Lewis’ cult-fave London band with future Def Leppard shredder Phil Collen. And on their debut LP, L.A. Guns covered the Girls song “Hollywood Tease.”
On “Checkered Past,” L.A. Guns bassist Johnny Martin and rhythm guitarist Ace Von Johnson bring the boom and grooves, with studio wizard Adam Hamilton (a longtime band associate who’s also played bass and guitar with them) stepping up on drums. Former L.A. Guns drummer Shane Fitzgibbon has returned to the fold for touring. Due to challenges of the pandemic, the band recorded remotely, uploading tracks for Hamilton to compile and work his supersonic magic on.
Drive-by lazy dismissals of ‘80s rock bands like L.A. Guns often don’t give those bands credit for exploring songwriting subjects beyond that era’s signature decadence - or they make fun of ‘80s rockers who sing about something besides partying and super-hot babes. Part of what makes the current reboot of L.A. Guns work so well – in addition to vocals and music evoking the band’s original spirit while allowing for subtle evolution - is the lyrical themes have evolved in a way that comes across as genuine. On “Checkered Past,” Lewis often sings about resilience, relationships ending, moving on, being in the present.
As Lewis puts it, “We still have the boyish enthusiasm that we did back in the good old dirty days. But we wanted something a little a little better, something a little more challenging. Nobody wants to hear a guy in his 60s say [Lewis quotes some “Sex Action” lyrics here] he’s ‘a sex gun lover in the heat of the night.’ That was then and it was a great time. That was when we were young and a party band. This new version is a different personality and the sleaze factor isn’t as prevalent. Not everyone’s thrilled with it, but I am.”
What will certainly thrill fans of ‘80s rock are the plans, Lewis says, for a summer 2022 tour comprised of L.A. Guns, fellow Los Angeles rockers Faster Pussycat and Cinderella frontman Tom Keifer. Through the end of 2021, L.A. Guns has a string of West Coast shows, leading up to a New Year’s Eve gig at West Hollywood’s famous Whisky A Go Go. In February, the band will set sail on the Monsters Of Rock Cruise, headlined by shock-rock legend Alice Cooper. More info at agunsmusic.com/tour.
I connected with Lewis for this interview via Zoom video-chat. My laptop conked out right beforehand. Got the laptop restarted and when Zoom came up, Lewis was onscreen, strumming and singing the vintage Kinks tune “Sunny Afternoon” while he waited for me, from his Las Vegas home. I said hi to let him know I was on and then Lewis finished the song before we started our interview. Below are edited excerpts from that conversation. (Recently, I also spoke with Lewis as a cohost on an episode of the podcast Appetite for Distortion, which you can watch/listen to on youtube.com)
British-born singer Phil Lewis performs on stage with American rock group L.A. Guns, late 1980s. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)Getty Images
Phil, it was cool listening to your sing that Kinks song just now. Because one of the things I love about L.A. Guns is your vocals, and how unique they are. A lot of singers from your era, it’s easy to hear “Oh, he really likes Steven Tyler” or “He’s doing the Robert Plant thing.” But your roots are harder to pin down. Who made you want to be a singer?
People a lot of people haven’t heard of. People like (Scottish rocker) Alex Harvey, like Steve Marriott (of Humble Pie and Small Faces), people like (British glam-rocker) Gary Holton. There was a very thriving British scene in the ‘70s, of vocalists.
There’s something about those singers. They’ve got this personality - like Ray Davies (of The Kinks) – snotty maybe? I don’t know what it is, but it’s got a bit of an attitude or it’s supposed to. (David) Bowie was brilliant. The best English singer with attitude that there ever was.
But there are lots of them. I mean, I love Iggy Pop. I love David Lee Roth. Sammy Hagar, absolutely incredible vocalist. For his age and what he’s done, it’s just absolutely amazing.
Well your voice still sounds amazing too on the new L.A. Guns album. One of my favorites on the album is the song “That Ain’t Why.”
That was the last track, the last vocal on the album. And when I was doing it, I thought surely it would be the opening track of the record, as it is just so strong. I gave it a lot, man. Everything I had I put into that song and it turned out great. But, you know, it didn’t take long for me to realize or be persuaded that “Cannonball” was really the way to go, the great opening song of the set and the big fanfare of the band, welcoming us back after two years.
And our objective and plan is to pick up right where we left off. We left off on a roll. “The Devil You Know” (album from 2019) had come out, we played all over the states with it and it was doing gangbusters. We were all set to go over to Europe and do “Cocked and Loaded” for the 30th anniversary in its entirety, from top to bottom.
We had so much going on, we had great festivals in England and the U.K., in Spain, and we had Wacken in Germany. Everything was so lined up, but then of course the air got sucked out of it (by the pandemic). We did a live stream once (of the entire “Cocked and Loaded” album live) and recorded it (released as a live album this year), but I would love to have done a whole tour of it. But yeah, to come back, blazing with this record, and indeed with “Cannonball” … That will be the opening song in our (live) set. And it’s a f---ing monster.
Now here’s a funny thing. I’ve never sung that one live. I haven’t sung any of them live. You know, this (album) was recorded in such untraditional way. Everything was done backwards. Normally, when you start recording, you get together in a room, you work out songs, you figure them out, and you practice countless times so that when that red light goes on, when it starts to record, you can do it in your sleep.
And it wasn’t like that at all. I was getting virtually finished songs from Denmark, from Tracii (who splits his time residing in Denmark and Los Angeles), and I was left to my own devices to work on those, which I did.
He basically came up with the music in about a month. And it was just a question of getting through them one at a time and getting them right. Very, very different. Not being in the studio with the guys, having a drink and “What do you think of this?” and telling stories … An hour’s-worth of work and two hours of stories. None of that. It was mostly grindstone.
And it was solo too. I was doing my own engineering, which was a bit of a balancing act, because I’d have to put it in “record,” and then run into my vocal booth under the stairs and do my vocal. Sometimes I’d have to keep working on something – I’d do it (a vocal) like half a dozen or 10 times - so I got pretty fit running back and forth from the mic to the computer.
Unconventional, but in many ways a lot of advantages. As in, I could do it exactly whenever I felt like it and there’s no pressure. Ten songs in three days is usually what I have to do, and that might sound easy, but when you think that I’ve got to do those 10 songs about six times a piece, that comes up to a lot of singing. And quite often it will be in another town, like in New York, on the clock. The studio, my accommodation, the hotel, everything is just tick-tock. And there was none of that. It was taking my sweet time and I did. But it was really great not having that vomit-inducing pressure when I wake up on Monday morning and I’ve got to be in the studio and it’s got to be done by Wednesday. I didn’t miss that a bit. [Laughs]
Another song I love off the new album is “Get Along,” which is kind of “Led Zeppelin III”-ish.
Exactly. You nailed it.
There’s also kind of a Southern feel to that song, I think. Was any Southern music important to you, as you were growing up, whether that’s like the Allman Brothers, or going back to Muddy Waters and Mississippi blues, or the R&B from Muscle Shoals? There’s a bit of country tinge to “Get Along” too, and that’s a vibe that goes back to “The Ballad of Jayne.”
No, I love that too. Yeah, huge influence on Tracii certainly and of course Jimmy (Page) and Robert (Plant) were hugely influenced by the whole Southern sound, for Zeppelin. So yes, you’re correct and I thought same thing to first time I heard it, heard the music (for “Get Along”). It sounds like something from “Led Zeppelin III.” Or (“Led Zeppelin IV” song) “The Battle of Evermore.”
And “Jayne” , as you as you point out, is different because it’s kind of got a country twang to it, as opposed to “Get Along,” which is way, way more folkie. So we’ve got a great combination of Tracii’s Southern roots intermingled with my English, Sandy Denny, Fairport Convention, that kind of folk music. So once again the amalgamation between Tracii and I, musical chemistry, it’s just great. And I’m really happy with the way that turned out. It’s all folkie and dreamy and then when it breaks down and it goes into that guitar solo, and it’s an electric solo …It’s a very exciting record.
You just mentioned Tracii’s guitar playing on “Get Along.” What do you think makes him special as a guitarist? Your band came up in an era crowded with guitar heroes, but Tracii has his own zip code in there.
There are countless combinations of guitar and vocalists that are the nucleus of the band. You have Keith Richards and Mick Jagger (from The Rolling Stones), you have Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, you have (The Who’s) Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey. And there’s something about it.
And it certainly isn’t where we always get along or we’re always on the same page. It couldn’t be further from the truth. There’s a great deal of friction - fusion, if you will - in the chemistry of him and I. And I have worked with lots of guitar players, really good ones and I’ve just been so blown away by being invited to play stuff with people like George Lynch. Virtuosos, mind blowing.
I don’t know what it is about Tracii. He makes me work harder than any other guitar player, any other collaborator. I’m a little bit scared of him, to be honest. [Laughs] Because I know he’s giving me the very, very best that he’s got. Never half-assed. It’s never like, “I’m working on this idea, but haven’t quite finished it and I don’t really know where it’s going, but you see what you can do with it.” It’s never like that with him. It is done, it is printed, it is so direct.
And consequently, I have to reciprocate with that and be equally as f---ng brilliant as he is and what he’s given me. The pressure is immense, but the payback is just incredible.
Here’s the thing: Tracii has been playing since he was about 6-years-old, and not guitar lessons but like in the backseat of his mom’s Volkswagen Beetle, while she was hanging out with hippies on Laurel Canyon. Tracii would just sit there and he just figured it out himself. It’s just amazing a kid that age can even f---ing tune a guitar, without any kind of musical knowledge. He’s sitting there and playing along with the radio, picking up scales, playing Hendrix and Page, where he’s self-taught with his ear and at 10-years-old he’s like f---ing Mozart. It’s incredible. He took that and developed into a songwriter. And now he is musically trained, he has had proper training, and you can hear that in his arrangements and the way he puts songs together.
It’s a dream working with him but it’s not all champagne and caviar - which he hates both those things, by the way. It’s not all fun and games and it’s a lot of work. But boy, when it’s done, when it’s in the can and we nailed it, that’s a good feeling.
And just that look that we have that we give each other … It’s like, you know, when we first did (the early L.A. Guns song) “Sex Action,” because he wasn’t sure, he didn’t know if I was going to be right for the band. He wanted me in it. But that was the first song that I’ve got my teeth in, and actually I’m going to rewrite these words and change the melody, and he loved it. And it was such a great feeling when he said yeah it’s gonna be great, and it has been.
Speaking of the song “Sex Action” and we talked about “Ballad of Jayne” earlier … Do you still have the original lyrics you wrote down for those songs and a lot of the classic L.A. Guns songs, like “Never Enough” and “Rip and Tear”?
Yeah, I do. And in my scrawny English schoolboy spider writing. Yeah, I’ve got all that stuff tucked away in books and just notepads you buy at the drugstore for a buck. Nothing fancy. No leather bound Renaissance journals or anything like that. Just scribble it down on bits of paper.
All those songs you mentioned, I love them and they’re our legacy and those are the songs that put us on the map. But not to be too cynical, that’s last century’ music. When I agreed to do this reunion, it was never for nostalgia. But we have a responsibility. If you go to an L.A. Guns gig and they don’t play “Sex Action” or “Ballad of Jayne” or “Never Enough,” there’s going to be problems. [Laughs]
And so it’s a balancing the juggling act, how we can include new songs which we are just dying to play. I’d love to play the whole f---ing new record top to bottom because it’s such a strong album. But, you know, that’s completely unrealistic. But we wouldn’t have “Cocked and Loaded” in its entirety when it came out either.