Idolator: l.a. guns

L.A. Guns Is Now Led By A Radiohead Fan

Anthony Miccio — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EDT

Not sure why Maura thought Jani Lane would leave the recently reunited Warrant after two warm-up gigs to lead a less successful band he had nothing to do with, but I'm happy to say that the new singer of Tracii Guns' L.A. Guns (as opposed to the other L.A. Guns) is not the once and future Down Boy. The new singer for L.A. Guns is Marty Casey, who was formerly a Radiohead-crazy hopeful on Rock Star: INXS. Rock on, reality show contestant! [Blabbermouth]

Get out your "Where are the hard-rock dudes ...

Maura Johnston — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:45:00 EDT

Get out your "Where are the hard-rock dudes of yore now?" scorecards: The version of L.A. Guns that has Tracii Guns playing lead guitar has fired its lead singer, Paul Black, and the band will officially announce its "as-yet-undisclosed replacement singer with 'blond' hair" sometime within the coming days. Well, I guess now we know the answer to the "which L.A. Guns is being fronted by Jani Lane at the Sunset Strip Music Festival?" query that some of us posed a few weeks back! And it will probably break Anthony's heart, since he was so excited about the Warrant reunion and all. [Blabbermouth]

Two Touring Versions Of L.A. Guns May Be More Than Enough For The Courts

Maura Johnston — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:00:43 EST

It's probably appropriate that the Los Angeles Times ran a piece on the many disputes over who "owns" the names of yesteryears' hard-rock favorites in the hours before the Rocklahoma lineup announcement, what with that festival's lineup likely being studded with many of the argued-over names. Not only does the piece have an amazing quote on why these debates usually wind up in court, courtesy of Faster Pussycat's Taime Downe ("It's my company. Someone from Starbucks is not going to go out and form another company called Starbucks."), it has more on the origins of the L.A. Guns vs. L.A. Guns battle that's resulting in two versions of the band touring—and engaging in a price war!—right now:

Guitarist Tracii Guns, who formed the band in 1982 and was the original "Guns" in Guns N' Roses, says his crew is the real deal since it includes one of the band's earliest singers, Paul Black. "Phil and Steve were not even the original members of the band," Tracii wrote in an online post after declining to be interviewed for this article. "Now they . . . say that I am not the 'real' version of L.A. Guns?"

The standoff persists because Guns and Riley each own 50% of the L.A. Guns name. Riley discovered in the mid-'90s that their manager had never secured the rights to "L.A. Guns." With the other founding members gone, Guns and Riley trademarked the name together.

But Riley says the guitarist forfeited the name when he left the band in 2002 to work with Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx. At the time, L.A. Guns was close to securing a tour with Alice Cooper, but still supporting lesser acts such as Warrant and Firehouse, which irked Guns. The band urged him to stay.

"We said, 'We got bills and families, we have to take jobs like this,' " recalls Riley, whose son is now 16. "He looked us right in the eye and said, 'I don't [care] about you or your families.'

"He shot us down completely."

While I can understand why Tracii Guns would have shot down Riley—after all, the "Guns" is in his name (not to mention that of Guns N' Roses, another band that's currently having name "issues" thanks to some legal wrangling)—part of me wonders of he shouldn't have been forced to forfeit at least part of the rights to it for cutting bait with L.A. Guns and trying to break back into mainstream consciousness with Brides Of Destruction, the Nikki Sixx project that put out an album to almost no fanfare a few years back. I mean, did any of you hear that thing? Yecch. And he stuck with it for three years.

Who owns a band name? [LA Times, via Matablog]
L.A. Guns - Never Enough [YouTube]

The Pitchfork Music Festival Might Have Some Serious Competition For Our Summer-Festival Dollars

mjohnston — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 18:40:27 EDT

The nearly-full docket of summer rock festivals has added another date to its calendar with Rocklahoma, a three-day music festival in the middle of Oklahoma taking place the same weekend as Pitchfork's outdoor fest. The rumored (and, somehow, Hinder-free) lineup, courtesy of Hard Rock Hideout:

POISON, RATT (featuring original lead singer Stephen Pearcy), VINCE NEIL and Y&T are among the acts that are expected to appear at Rocklahoma, a three-day outdoor '80s hard rock festival, set to take place July 13-15, in Pryor, OK at the Pryor Festival Grounds. The following is a partial list of bands that are **rumored*** to be taking part in the event:

BANG TANGO
BULLET BOYS
DOKKEN
FASTER PUSSYCAT (feat. Brent Muscat)
FIREHOUSE
L.A. GUNS (feat. Tracii Guns)
POISON
QUIET RIOT
RATT
SLAUGHTER
TESLA
VINCE NEIL
WARRANT
Y&T

While that lineup (minus Firehouse) does look like it could go toe-to-toe with any episode of Headbanger's Ball in our VHS collection, we have to say that we'd be a lot more likely to attend if the bookers, somehow, convinced both versions of L.A. Guns to play in some sort of Guns-off, with the winner decided by the crowd. Mainly because we honestly have no idea who we'd vote for—do you give it to the Guns-led camp for authenticity's sake, or the Lewis-led version as thanks for keeping it real during the Brides Of Destruction days? Clearly, a "Rip And Tear"-off is the only thing that can solve this dilemma.

Rocklahoma [Hard Rock Hideout]

L.A. Guns vs. L.A. Guns: Coming Soon To A Courtroom Near You

mjohnston — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 10:20:32 EDT

We have a long-standing affection for vampiric Sunset Strip rockers L.A. Guns and their scrappy take on glam. So we're sad to say that it appears they're headed for a Ratt vs. Ratt road showdown. In one corner, you have band namesake Tracii Guns and his circa-1985 lineup. In the other there's Phil Lewis and Steve Riley, the lead singer and drummer during the band's "Ballad of Jayne" heyday. Both lineups are laying claim to being "classic" in this war of words, which is being waged through snide MySpace blog entries and press releases.

This tussle is one of those eternal rock quandaries. Which members define a band's sound? Sure, a lead singer may define a way listeners first approach a band, but the lead guitarist's contributions can't be discounted — especially if that band's albums are filled with that guitarist's somewhat indulgent (sorry, Tracii) solos. But considering that the Guns have had 27 members rotate through their lineup in the space of 20 years, we're thinking the best way to decide who owns the L.A. Guns name may be a random drawing. And if they wind up with three bass players and two singers, it's their own damn fault.

"The Real L.A. Guns vs. The Original L.A. Guns" [L.A. Guns' Myspace blog]
L.A. Guns — 27 members & 3 dozen lineups! WTF? [Metal Sludge]