{"id":76995,"date":"2019-03-29T00:00:04","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T00:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=76995"},"modified":"2019-04-05T14:01:10","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T14:01:10","slug":"feature-la-guns-03-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-la-guns-03-19\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A. GUNS – Trigger Happy (March 2019) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

L.A. GUNS – Trigger Happy<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nMarch 2019<\/span><\/p>\n

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L.A. Guns (l-r): Shane Fitzgibbon, Tracii Guns, Phil Lewis, Ace Von Johnson and Johnny Martin<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\nLos Angeles, California-based hard rock outfit L.A. Guns authored much of 12th full-length studio album The Devil You Know<\/em> \u2013 issued in March 2019 \u2013 while on tour during the promotional cycle for October 2017 predecessor The Missing Peace<\/em>. Rough ideas inaugurated the process, initiated by guitarist Tracii Guns.<\/p>\n

\u201cSitting down on a tour bus all day waiting to play, it can be a bit of a challenge,\u201d reckons Phil Lewis, vocalist of L.A. Guns. \u201cWe do our best to be creative in that time. Tracii\u2019s always playing, anyway; he\u2019s always got a guitar around his neck. He\u2019s always plugged into an amp or whatever and records through GarageBand on his computer, so it\u2019s kind of a comfortable process. He\u2019ll play something; he might play it at soundcheck, or he might incorporate it into a jam during the set. If it\u2019s got wings, then it\u2019s gonna fly (laughs). It sort of snowballs from there. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we have half a dozen of these sketches, we go into the studio and record them properly. When it\u2019s all done and recorded, and nice and sounding good, I\u2019ll come in. I do the vocals in New York; I do the vocals with Mitch Davis, who collaborates at writing lyrics, and is a great engineer. It\u2019s essentially the same team, the same format. It\u2019s basically the same template as The Missing Peace<\/em>, but this one is a bit more stripped down. The Missing Peace<\/em> had strings and embellishments. This is a lot more raw in the way that it sounds and the way that it was created.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rawness of The Devil You Know<\/em> surfaced as a result of the circumstances in which the effort was created. \u201cI think that a lot of the ideas on The Missing Peace<\/em> were ideas that Tracii, Shane (Fitzgibbon, drums) and Johnny (Martin, bass) had knocking around before I joined, before the reunion,\u201d the frontman remarks. \u201cHow far back those ideas went, I don\u2019t know, because I wasn\u2019t around at the time. I do know that the starting line for The Devil You Know<\/em> was completely equal, though. We all started at the same time. That, and the fact that we were on tour when we were putting it together made for a more raw… Some people say a more punk rock kind of sound. I\u2019m alright with the punk rock sound, but we\u2019re definitely not a punk rock band. There\u2019s such gifted players in the band, you couldn\u2019t call them punk (laughs). It\u2019s a fun record nonetheless, and one that we\u2019re all incredibly proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Devil You Know<\/em> has drawn comparisons with earlier L.A. Guns fare. \u201cPeople have said that it\u2019s reminiscent of Cocked & Loaded<\/em> (August 1989), and if that\u2019s the case, then I\u2019m alright with that,\u201d Phil shares. \u201cIt\u2019s L.A. Guns Mach 2, 2.0. Shane and Johnny, not to put too fine a point on it, are essentially better players than the guys in the original line-up. I\u2019m not knocking the guys and their ability, because for the songs they played on they were perfectly adequate, but this is a very, very different machine. Apart from me and Tracii, I can\u2019t really compare it sonically with anything from the back catalogue. It\u2019s like brand new to me, to my ears.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almost 30 years separate the respective issues of The Devil You Know<\/em> and Cocked & Loaded<\/em>, and so sonically speaking, one would argue that with the benefit of experience, Phil and Tracii have improved through the years. \u201cI suppose,\u201d the singer muses. \u201cTracii might say that he\u2019s a better guitar player, but it\u2019s hard for me to tell because he\u2019s always been on eleven. We had to do a video for \u2018Killing Machine\u2019 (from October 1994\u2019s Vicious Circle<\/em>) and the director wanted it in slow motion, which meant that we had to play it quite fast. It came to the guitar solo, which is incredibly fast at normal speed, but Tracii had to play it at double speed for the video. He nailed it (laughs). He absolutely aced it at the first take. He was waving his arms afterwards, but yeah, he\u2019s that good. Johnny and Shane, they\u2019ve been playing music all of their lives. Shane has been playing drums and been involved in music since he was a toddler, and the same for Johnny. They\u2019re just real musicians, as opposed to rock stars like me (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

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Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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Should Tracii operate on eleven as it were, this begs the question as to which number Phil operates on. \u201cTechnically, I\u2019m a better singer than now than I was,\u201d he reflects. \u201cWhen I listen to old Girl tapes from the Marquee, from 1979, 1980, they sound great and the vitality is there, and it puts a huge smile on my face. For me, it\u2019s not singing so much, but more shouting in tune. You\u2019ve got to remember, when I first started with Girl in \u201979, me and Gerry (Laffy) both played guitar. We were auditioning singers at the time, and it didn\u2019t go very well. We spent a lot of time trying to find the right singer, so in the end \u2013 out of frustration \u2013 we said \u2018Look, let\u2019s just flip a coin, and whoever loses is the singer and has to stop playing guitar (laughs).\u2019 I lost the toss, and became the singer. It was never a dream when I was a kid growing up, like \u2018Oh, I wanna be like Cliff Richard\u2019 or \u2018I wanna be like Tom Jones.\u2019 No, I wanted to be like Alex Harvey (The Sensational Alex Harvey Band) and Gary Holton (Heavy Metal Kids). <\/p>\n

\u201cOver the space of time though, I got to be a better singer. When I started working with Bernie Torm\u00e9 (ex-Gillan), he brought out a new side of me vocally and musically that I wasn\u2019t aware that I had. Then all these countless covers, tribute tracks, that I\u2019ve had to record over the years \u2013 I\u2019ve lost count of how many I\u2019ve done. It\u2019s a real breeze; you go in, and it takes an hour. You bang it out, and you get paid… Very well actually for an hour\u2019s work. Doing lots of those has made me a better singer, and then the discipline of touring. Bands nowadays, that\u2019s how we make our money. The majority of our money is made from live shows. It means that we\u2019ve got to be on our game, and we\u2019ve got to be athletic in many respects. If you\u2019re out for six to eight weeks and you\u2019re doing four or five shows in a row, you\u2019ve got to take care of yourself, and I do. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy voice has served me well, so I\u2019ve got to serve it well. I\u2019ve got to take care of myself; I\u2019ve got to do warm-ups before I go onstage. I\u2019ve got to zip it afterwards \u2013 you can\u2019t do interviews after a show. You want to \u2013 it\u2019s so tempting \u2013 but you\u2019ve got a show the next night and maybe even a show the night after that, so you pretty much have to just knock it on the head. You\u2019ve got to go back to your room or get in your bunk, and that\u2019s the discipline of the gig. I don\u2019t hate it. It\u2019s a pleasure doing gigs; it\u2019s incredibly rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lyrically speaking, The Devil You Know<\/em> ventures in different areas compared to its immediate predecessor. \u201cThe Missing Peace<\/em> was very ethereal,\u201d the musician judges. \u201cAt times, it sort of crossed over into fantasy lyrically. The Devil You Know<\/em> is bitchy, and it\u2019s right fuckin\u2019 raw. It\u2019s not necessarily autobiographical, or specifically about anyone. It\u2019s about certain situations of sheer annoyance, and just frustration. It\u2019s a lot poppier than The Missing Peace<\/em>, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penning lyrical content, certain emotions arguably have to be felt. Perhaps some emotions you feel in everyday life do not elicit inspiration. \u201cEveryday life is me going down to Trader Joe\u2019s, and buying a box of wine and a bag of cat litter,\u201d Phil divulges. \u201cNo-one wants to hear about that. That\u2019s the great thing about Mitch; he got me out of that rut, lyrically, like vampires, gypsies. All that stuff is done \u2013 we\u2019ve played it out so many times \u2013 and it\u2019s so refreshing to collaborate with somebody that doesn\u2019t want to go down that corny old route.\u201d<\/p>\n

The involvement of Mitch Davis surfaces later in the songwriting process. \u201cTracii gives me the track, the demo,\u201d the lyricist explains. \u201cHe\u2019ll send it to me, and I\u2019ll send it to Mitch. Mitch comes up with his ideas. I come up with mine, and we exchange sketches. By the time I get to New York to track it, it\u2019s already locked in and I would\u2019ve been working on it at home. I do as much homework as I can before going out there, because there\u2019s an extraordinary amount of work involved in doing it this way. I love it, I really do. <\/p>\n

\u201cI go out to Long Island, and I stay at a cheap hotel, 16-17 subway stops away from the studio. It\u2019s totally immersive. I don\u2019t have any friends come over \u2013 I don\u2019t socialise. I basically get up, put my clothes on, go to the studio, and then grab anything I\u2019ve got to take for on the way back. It\u2019s monastic, like a monk, day after day. It\u2019s a little bit scary. I don\u2019t mind saying that because when the tracks are all done, everything\u2019s recorded, and the ball is in my court, or definitely in our court. We work hard on lyrics and vocals, as the guys do putting down the tracks, so it\u2019s a great team effort. Everyone knows their job, and does it well.\u201d<\/p>\n

That \u2018great team effort\u2019 has grown since the 2016 reconciliation between Phil and Tracii. \u201cIt was beneficial, and we both knew,\u201d he admits. \u201cThe first time we played after this enormous length of time and estrangement, we knew right away. It wasn\u2019t something that would\u2019ve come back eventually. It was right there, right away. Me getting up onstage and doing four songs, it was fine. After that, he was like \u2018I\u2019ve got these new ideas. I don\u2019t know if you\u2019d be interested in singing.\u2019 As soon as I heard them, it was like \u2018Fuck yeah.\u2019 After a while, he did become a better person and so have I. Maybe we needed some time apart. That\u2019s quite often the case, but I don\u2019t think 16 years necessarily. Honestly now in hindsight, I think it\u2019s a little disingenuous to our fans that we didn\u2019t attempt a reunion sooner than that. Better late than never, though. We\u2019ve done it now. As you can see, we\u2019re doing everything making up for lost time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The 2016 reunion caused only one L.A. Guns incarnation to exist, but on December 17th, 2018, former drummer Steve Riley announced that an incarnation featuring himself would perform at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland as part of the M3 Festival. \u201cThere can\u2019t be another version if they haven\u2019t done a show,\u201d the performer replies. \u201cThere can\u2019t be another version if they haven\u2019t put anything out. There can\u2019t be another version if they don\u2019t have a singer. Yeah, there is a little bit going on, but I don\u2019t really want to talk about it. We\u2019re not here to talk about Steve Riley and a fictitious version. If something happens, yeah, we\u2019ll talk about it then, but right now I just wanna talk about this record, if you don\u2019t mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phil arguably summed up his feelings, and so there is no issue in moving onto a different topic. \u201cMy feelings are fine,\u201d he clarifies. \u201cI just don\u2019t want to give any credence to something that isn\u2019t actually a reality. Let\u2019s talk about this good stuff. Let\u2019s talk about the band, and let\u2019s talk about what we\u2019re gonna be doing. I don\u2019t want to waste time with that. That\u2019s just gossip, and that\u2019s just plain and simple. It\u2019s all to do with a festival that takes place in Baltimore in the summer, and I don\u2019t think your readers will be particularly interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guitar-wise, Tracii handles all parts on The Devil You Know<\/em>. \u201cHe plays all of the guitars, and this is a question I get asked a lot,\u201d Phil begins. \u201cThe thing is, these are his songs. These are his riffs that he\u2019s coming up with, and studio time isn\u2019t cheap, so it makes more sense. It\u2019s more efficient for him to do the rhythm parts first, and then effortlessly go into the leads. Shane Fitzgibbon, our drummer, is basically the principle engineer of the record, so him and Tracii get together and they bang out the tracks super-fast. There wouldn\u2019t be as much done if there was another guitar player in the studio. It doesn\u2019t make sense, and it\u2019s not necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Missing Peace<\/em>\u2019s guitar parts were all handled by Tracii, the vocalist states. In light of the fact that Tracii authored the riffs for the resultant L.A. Guns material, the reasoning for such an approach is understandable. \u201cObviously,\u201d he responds. \u201cHe could teach them to Ace (Von Johnson), or Adam (Hamilton), or someone, but that slows things down a little bit. They\u2019ll learn it afterwards so they can play them live and it\u2019ll sound great like the record, but before you get into the studio, you don\u2019t really wanna fuck around. You just get the job done as quickly and as efficiently as possible, and get the fucker out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faster Pussycat axeman Ace Von Johnson joining of the ranks of L.A. Guns was confirmed on September 28th, 2018. \u201cAce has been part of the same scene, the same circuit as us, for a long time,\u201d Phil tells. \u201cHe\u2019s a good feller, he\u2019s a great player, and I wanted him in the band when we started talking about the reunion. We asked him. He said he would have loved to have done it, but he had commitments. He had touring, contractual commitments, that as a man of integrity, he stood by. Time went by, and things changed. As it worked out, he\u2019s in a position now to join us. We haven\u2019t played in the UK with him, but oh boy, you wait until we do. He really brings it. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we did the video for the album, he said \u2018Let\u2019s go out and have a drink at the Rainbow afterwards.\u2019 I hadn\u2019t been in years, so I said \u2018Yeah, of course.\u2019 We get there, and ten o\u2019 clock becomes eleven o\u2019 clock. He\u2019s sitting at a table; it\u2019s his own table, with a little brass cat behind the table with a funny phrase written on it. For somebody that hasn\u2019t been in LA that long and not playing that long, and without any gold records, I was really impressed with his attitude. He\u2019s no bullshit; he\u2019s the real deal, and people like him. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a really nice guy. He\u2019s a great player; I\u2019m really happy to have him, and I hope that he stays. In this day and age, line-ups change and people are like \u2018Oh, fucking hell. Not another line-up change.\u2019 It\u2019s not like the old days when the record company would give you a million, half a million dollars. You stayed together. It was everything; it was your job. You couldn\u2019t walk away, and you couldn\u2019t change players like you can today. There\u2019s not that kind of label control, so things are a lot more fluid as far as band personnel goes, and we get that. It\u2019s the nature of the industry, the nature of the beast. Some people have it stuck in their heads that it\u2019s 1988, and it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cutting and releasing albums would be a more profitable venture, if 2019 bore comparison with 1988. \u201cYeah,\u201d the frontman agrees. \u201cWe\u2019re not kidding ourselves. We know we\u2019re not gonna sell anything like we did in those days, in the Cocked & Loaded<\/em> days, where it sells 10,000 in the first week and then 100,000 before you know it. No, those numbers are long, long gone, but that came with its own downfalls. The label control was just overwhelming \u2013 the management controlled what you wore. It was awful. It was a lot of pressure, and I think that\u2019s ultimately what drove a wedge between me and Tracii. We really got on in the early, innocent days, writing on the bus to the studio \u2013 writing lyrics for \u2018Electric Gypsy\u2019 (from the January 1988 self-titled debut) with not a care in the world. We just got on great, but as soon as we started to feel the pressure of the label, it took away a lot of the fun. Now we don\u2019t have the pressure, but you don\u2019t have the same amount of sales, so then people say \u2018Why bother making records that people aren\u2019t gonna buy, that you\u2019re not gonna make any money out of?\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cBecause you do. That\u2019s what we do, because we have an opportunity. A label\u2019s giving us a budget, a fraction of the old budget. We spent more on catering for Hollywood Vampires<\/em> (June 1991) than we did recording this record, but if they\u2019re prepared to take a chance, why not? Why shouldn\u2019t we? And just the feedback alone is amazing. We never got this kind of feedback from those first records. It took a long time for people to warm up to us, as it should with a new band.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Missing Peace<\/em> and now this album has got great feedback from so many of you guys; magazines and websites and radio stations. It means a lot, and if that carries on, we\u2019ll carry on making them. Also, you can buy it on vinyl if you\u2019re quick, and I really, really suggest you do because it\u2019s a much better experience. That\u2019s what happens with me and Tracii \u2013 we both listen to vinyl. We\u2019re from the 70s. There\u2019s no better feeling than going from a rough idea \u2013 the sketch of an idea \u2013 on a tour bus to putting it on the turntable, and laying down the stylus on the first track. It\u2019s amazing. So, we do have vinyl, but not much. If you want to get it, you better be quick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cover artwork can be better viewed in vinyl format. \u201cThe cover artwork is so good and so intricate, and you just don\u2019t get that on a CD,\u201d Phil argues. \u201cYou get a miniaturised version of it, and of course with downloads, you get fuck all. Vinyl is tangible. The ritual of pulling out an LP, and opening it, and sliding it out, and putting it on, and listening to it, and while you\u2019re listening to it, staring at every centimetre of the cover and the sleeve notes and the credits. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

L.A. Guns embarking on a tour of the United Kingdom in support of The Devil You Know<\/em> is a likely premise. \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d the singer figures. \u201cOf course we will. There\u2019s nothing concrete yet, but the last couple of times have been phenomenal. There\u2019s stuff going on that I don\u2019t know about, but yeah. It\u2019s inconceivable that we wouldn\u2019t come. We\u2019re really looking forward to coming back and doing this record, and playing and promoting, and launching this record over there. When we were over there, we were playing a new song from The Devil You Know<\/em> and it went down gangbuster, so the UK has already had a taste of it, but yeah. Nothing concrete yet, but absolutely. Definitely guaranteed; you can take that to the bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Devil You Know<\/em> was released on March 29th, 2019 via Frontiers Music Srl.<\/p>\n

Interview published in March 2019. Promotional band photograph by Jason Christopher, with live photographs by Tommaso Barletta<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

L.A. GUNS – Trigger Happy Anthony Morgan March 2019 L.A. Guns (l-r): Shane Fitzgibbon, Tracii Guns, Phil Lewis, Ace Von Johnson and Johnny Martin Los Angeles, California-based hard rock outfit L.A. Guns authored much of 12th full-length studio album The Devil You Know \u2013 issued in March 2019 \u2013 while on tour during the promotional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,374],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-l-a-guns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76995"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77011,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76995\/revisions\/77011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}