LA Guns

LA Guns
LA Guns live concert in Poughkeepsie , New York (2008)
General information
Genre (s)	Hard rock , glam metal
founding	1983
Website	laguns.net
Founding members
singing	Axl Rose (1983)
Guitar , backing vocals	Tracii Guns (1983–1985, 1989–2002)
bass	Ole Beich (1983–1985)
Drums	Rob Gardner (1983–1985)
Current occupation
singing	Phil Lewis (1987–1995, since 2004)
guitar	Michael Grant (since 2013)
bass	Kenny Kweens (2009–2011, since 2014)
Drums, backing vocal	Steve Riley (since 1989)
former members
singing	Michael Jagosz (1984–1985)
singing	Paul Black (1986-1987)
singing	Chris Van Dahl (1996)
singing	Ralph Saenz (1998)
singing	Jizzy Pearl (1999)
guitar	Robert Stoddard (1986-1987)
Guitar, bass, keyboard , backing vocal	Mick Cripps (1986-2005)
guitar	Johnny Crypt (1996-1999)
guitar	Stacey Blades (2004-2012)
bass	Kelly Nickels (1987-2001)
bass	Muddy (2001)
bass	Adam Hamilton (2002-2006)
bass	Scott Griffin (2006-2009, 2011-2014)
Drums	Nickey Alexander (1986-1988)
Drums	"Bones" (1992)

The LA Guns are an American hard rock band that celebrated their greatest successes in the late 1980s.

history

The early years (1983–1987)

The LA Guns were founded in 1983 by guitarist Tracii Guns and drummer Rob Gardner. The first line-up of the band also included the bassist Ole Beich and the former Rapidfire singer Axl Rose . Rose left the band before the first demo was recorded and founded the band Hollywood Rose . He was succeeded by Michael Jagosz, with whom the LA Guns tackled their first demo in 1984. Shortly thereafter, the two bands LA Guns and Hollywood Rose and the members Tracii Guns, Rob Gardner, Axl Rose, Ole Beich and Izzy Stradlin joined forces and called themselves Guns N 'Roses from then on . When Tracii was replaced by Slash at Guns N 'Roses , he re-founded the LA Guns.

In addition to Tracii, bassist Mick Cripps, drummer Nickey Alexander, singer Paul Black and the second guitarist Robert Stoddard were new to the band. In this line-up, the band drew attention to itself on the Sunset Strip and was able to attract the interest of several record companies. When they finally signed a record deal, the cast changed radically.

In 1987 guitarist Stoddard and singer Black took off their hats. Mick Cripps switched from bass to guitar, and bassist Kelly Nickels and singer Phil Lewis joined the band . Lewis had previously attracted attention with the band Girl . After the recording of the debut album , drummer Nickey Alexander was replaced by Steve Riley .

First successes (1988-1994)

The self-titled debut album LA Guns was released in 1988 and made it into the US Top 50. Not least because of the success of Guns N 'Roses , the LA Guns enjoyed great prestige at the time. The band was part of a new generation of rock. In 1989, the second album Cocked and Loaded was released , which made it into the top 40 of the US charts. The single "The Ballad of Jayne" became the band's biggest hit and brought them a gold album in the USA for over 500,000 records sold. A European tour in support of Skid Row followed. The band then played a cover EP called Cuts , on which Michael Gershima sat on drums instead of Steve Riley. When the remaining band members also fired founder Tracii Guns, the LA Guns disbanded.

Years of Frequent Change (1995-2001)

Tracii Guns reformed the band for the album Vicious Circle in 1995 and the time of major line-up changes began. The first line-up, Lewis, Guns, Cripps, Nickels, and Riley, didn't last long. The only constant over the next few years were guitarist Tracii Guns and drummer Steve Riley. Seven more albums with four other singers (of which the best known ex- love / hate singer Jizzy Pearl is), three different bassists and various second guitarists did not necessarily contribute to the success of the band.

Fragmentation and consolidation (since 2002)

Stacey Blades, LA Guns guitarist, 2008

In 2002 Tracii Guns left the band. Together with Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx , he released the album Here Come the Brides with the band Brides of Destruction , followed by extensive tours through America and Europe.

However, band leader Phil Lewis failed to secure the naming rights for the band, which led to Tracii Guns - with whom Lewis was at odds - using the band name for their own live performances. On this tour was in the following period, among others, ex-LA Guns singer Paul Black, who released a solo album with "Jo Dog" - ex-guitarist of The Dogs D'Amour - ( Sun Down and Yellow Moon ).

The LA Guns line-up, consisting of singer Phil Lewis, new guitarist Stacey Blades, bassist Adam Hamilton and drummer Steve Riley, released the cover album Rips the Covers Off in 2004 and Tales from the Strip in 2005 . They toured both the United States and Europe in the following years, before bassist Adam Hamilton interrupted his band work in the spring of 2006 to work as a producer and studio musician. During the live performances he was replaced by Scott Griffin.

In 2005 ex-LA Guns singer Paul Black released the live album The Black List , which contains demo recordings from the early days of the group with the cast Paul Black, Tracii Guns, Robert Stoddard, Nickey Alexander and Mick Cripps.

In 2007 bassist Tom Hamilton was permanently replaced by Scott Griffin.

In 2010 the band released the album Covered in Guns , on which Adam Hamilton took over the bass part again. Also involved in the production of the album - which includes cover versions of Arrows , Buckcherry and Blue Öyster Cult - were band leader Phil Lewis and longtime LA Guns drummer Steve Riley as well as Stacey Blades. Despite the fragmentation of the group in 2002, it seems to have since stabilized around Phil Lewis in its partially new line-up.

The live album A Night on the Strip was also released in 2010 . The recordings contained there are from a concert on the Sunset Strip that took place on October 7, 1999.

After the formative members Jeremy Guns (bass) and Chad Stewart (drums) left the band in 2011, Tracii Guns dissolved his version of the LA Guns in 2012. In the end it consisted only of new members apart from him.

In 2012 Stacey Blades left the band and was replaced by Michael Grant. In 2014 Scott Griffin was fired and replaced by Kenny Kweens, who had represented him from 2009 to 2011.

Although Tracii Guns refuses to return to the LA Guns due to a lack of interest, Phil Lewis was on stage on April 29, 2015 with Guns' new band GUNZO in Las Vegas as a guest singer and sang the LA Guns classic The Ballad with them of Jayne .

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1988	LA Guns	-	-	-	UK73 (1 week) UK	US50 gold (33 weeks)US	First published: January 4, 1988
1989	Cocked & Loaded	-	-	-	UK45 (2 weeks) UK	US38 gold (56 weeks)US	First published: August 22, 1989
1991	Hollywood vampires	-	-	CH28 (2 weeks) CH	UK44 (1 week) UK	US42 (18 weeks) US	First published: June 25, 1991

more publishments

• 1995: Vicious Circle
• 1996: American Hardcore
• 1999: Shrinking Violet
• 2001: Man in the Moon
• 2002: Waking the Dead
• 2004: Rips the Cover Off
• 2005: Tales from the Strip
• 2010: Covered in Guns
• 2012: Hollywood Forever
• 2017: The Missing Peace
• 2019: The Devil You Know

Live albums and compilations

• 1992: Live Vampires (Live)
• 1997: Hollywood Rehearsals 1987-1992
• 1999: Greates Hits and Black Beauties
• 2000: Cocked and Re-Loaded
• 2000: A Nite on the Strip (Live)
• 2003: Golden Bullets (Best of)
• 2005: The Black List
• 2006: The Very Best of LA Guns
• 2006: Loud & Dangerous (Live)
• 2010: A Night on the Strip (Live)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1990	The Ballad of Jayne Cocked & Loaded	-	-	-	UK53 (3 weeks) UK	US33 (22 weeks) US	First published: March 1990
1991	Some Lie 4 Love Hollywood Vampires	-	-	-	UK61 (1 week) UK	-	First published: November 1991
1992	It's Over Now Hollywood Vampires	-	-	-	-	US62 (11 weeks) US	First published: February 1992

More singles

• 1988: One More Reason
• 1991: Over the Edge
• 1992: Cuts ( EP )
• 1998: Wasted (EP)

Video albums

• 1990: One More Reason (US:gold)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cineastentreff: LA Guns: Covered In Guns. May 16, 2010, archived from the original on January 19, 2015 ; accessed on January 20, 2015 . 
2. ↑ [1]
3. ↑ heavyharmonies.com: Search Results. The search found 9 CDs upon which Stacey Blades performed. Retrieved January 20, 2015 . 
4. ^ Heavyharmonies.com: LA Guns. Black list. Retrieved January 20, 2015 . 
5. ^ Heavyharmonies.com: LA Guns. Covered in guns. Retrieved January 20, 2015 . 
6. ↑ Musikreviews.de: LA Guns: Live! - A Night On The Strip (Review). April 2, 2010, accessed January 20, 2015 . 
7. ↑ blabbermouth.net: Video: LA GUNS Performs At Whiskey A Go Go. January 17, 2015, accessed January 20, 2015 . 
8. ↑ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/video-phil-lewis-and-tracii-guns-perform-la-guns-the-ballad-of-jayne-in-las-vegas/
9. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: CH UK US
10. ↑ Music Sales Awards: US
11. ↑ LA Guns "The Devil You Know". Frontiers Music Srl, March 29, 2019, accessed April 13, 2019 .  

Web links

Commons : LA Guns  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• laguns.net official website
• Full biography on musicmight.com (English)
• LA Guns at Allmusic (English)