LA Guns (Phil Lewis) Cancel January 29th Show at Bowery Electric

There must be something about NYC that disagrees with the members of L.A. Guns.

Last November, the Tracii Guns-led band was scheduled to play a poorly publicized show at Club Rebel. All I can find online about the show is a one line comment: "L.A. Guns (Tracii Guns version) were supposed to headline but had a dispute with the club and walked out."



The Phil Lewis / Steve Riley lineup were scheduled to play Bowery Electric on Jan. 29th and the show description listed on Reverb Nation read "Shar Gorgiiss's BIRTHDAY BASH With LA GUNS Phil Lewis and Steve Riley with Panzie* The Mighty Pragmatics, and Suicide Boulevard." I don't know what happened but it looks like Wildstreet is now playing this show in place of LA Guns.



The Phil Lewis lineup's recent signing to Cleopatra may be what derailed this show as the band announced that they are: "currently in pre-production and expect to start tracking in early February with legendary producer, and old friend, Andy Johns (LED ZEPPELIN, THE ROLLING STONES, CINDERELLA, VAN HALEN, as well as the last three L.A. GUNS albums). A CD and vinyl release, as well as bonus tracks available only on iTunes, is set for early summer. A nine-month world tour following the release is also currently being planned."

Links:
LA Guns

LA Guns Replace “New” Vocalist Dilana as Lead Singer after Two Months / BrooklynRocks Publisher Rejected as Replacement

Only kidding about the later portion of the title but…Tracii has swapped out Jizzy Pearl’s replacement, former Rock Star: Supernova contestant, Dilana Robichaux after just two months with the band. Tracii has had a revolving cast of vocalists over the years but Dilana’s departure has to set the record for the shortest tenure. Dilana’s replacement is Tony West, who played with the band Blacklist Union (never heard of him or the band…but I never heard of Chris Van Dahl either before or after his tenure in LA Guns).

According to Blabbermouth, Dilana called the band "a fucking joke" after being fired by Tracii and said "I have all the notes written n some recorded about this very fucked up L.A. GUNS tour," she wrote. "One day, you will understand!"

Editor's Note: Would anyone understand what is going on in Tracii's head at this point in time?

Tracii followed this by saying: “It was truly the best L.A. GUNS I ever heard on stage, hands down. Sometimes the greatest art comes from the madness and this was the case here. I know Dilana is ripping on every aspect of the situation and I know that’s how she vents, so I am OK with it. “

After watching one episode of Rockstar: INXS (and being nausiated), I’m opposed to any “reality show” contestant fronting ANY band. My fear is that I’ll see Sanjaya fronting a metal band as he will end up being “the most popular” contestant. (Crowdsourcing musicians doesn’t work!! What happened to talent and synergies within the group?). You can watch and decide for yourself if this swap-out is an improvement.



Somwhere, Steve Riley and Phil Lewis are laughing…

Links:
LA Guns

L.A. Guns - "Acoustic Gypsy Live" CD Review (Favored Nations Entertainment) / Show at Rebel on Nov. 5th

I don't know who thought it would be a good idea for the first release from the Tracii Guns led lineup of L.A. Guns to be an acoustic release. This "rehash" of Tesla's 5 Man Acoustical Jam is 20+ years past its stale date.

Jumping in - this fourteen track disc runs close to 70 minutes and contains one new song "Little Soldier", covers of Otis Redding's "These Arms of Mine" and Boudleaux Bryant's "Love Hurts" and ten assorted L.A. Guns cuts. The first problem with this disc is that it is flat out boring - there is a bare minimum of crowd banter and minimal energy to the performance. There is no doubt that Tracii can play but his acoustic finger-picking is the stuff you hear at B.B. King's while eating a pre-made, reheated hamburger and drinking grossly overpriced beer. Jizzy's vocals sound pretty good but acoustic takes on some of the slower songs ("It's Over Now") end up sounding like yacht rock cheese and the band's cover of "These Arms of Mine" is positively painful. Unfortunately, the band's one new song, "Little Soldiers", has L.A. Guns sounding like a country bar band so there is no salvation here either. There are some moments of redemption as the band finds its energy on some of the tracks from the first three L.A. Guns albums ("Over of the Edge", "Sex Action" [which briefly segues into "Paint It Black"], "Never Enough", "Ballad of Jane" and "Rip and Tear"). All-in-all though, the bloated portions of this disc take all the life out of this performance and make this one to pass on.

Generally, I'd say wait for the next disc but Jizzy Pearl has dropped out of the lineup and has been replaced by Dilana Robichaux (Rock Star: Supernova runner-up). I think this version of the L.A. Guns franchise is pretty close to having run its course.

For anyone who wants to check out the current incarnation of the band, L.A. Guns is playing Rebel on Nov. 5th along with 20 Shades, Metalfier and Suicide Boulevard. Tickets are $12 in advance.

Links:
L.A. Guns

Tracii Guns' Version of LA Guns Now Features One Original Member

I am in the process of being downsized at my corporate job so I may go look for Nicky Alexander and Paul Black and form a third version of LA Guns. I didn't know Paul Black left LA Guns (sort of regretting missing the band's show at Don Hill's now) until I got a press bulletin that the new singer is Marty Casey, who came to fame on Rock Star: INXS.

I'm not (quite) ready to give up on Tracii but I just don't see this new guy (Marty) having the voice to do justice to Rip and Tear or Never Enough.



LA Guns is touring with Bang Tango and Faster Pussycat. Here are the dates in the area:
July 31 - Crazy Donkey - Farmingdale, NY
Aug. 01 - The Haunt - Yonkers, NY

LA Guns Plays L'Amour on August 18th

LA Guns is making their only area appearance with a stop at L'Amour on August 18th. You almost need a scorecard to keep up with LA Guns as there are still two bands touring under the LA Guns banner. The band playing L'Amour is the Phil Lewis fronted band. Recently bassist Adam Hamilton left the band and he has been replaced by Scott Griffin (x-Gene Loves Jezebel, Bulletboys and numerous other Hollywood bands). Before anyone dismisses the band as being "has-beens", the band's last release "Tales from the Strip" (2005) got some great reviews. (link, link)

Links:
LA Guns Website

Update on LA Guns (Tracii Guns led version)

The Tracii Guns/Paul Black led version of LA Guns continues to go strong. The band is coming back through the US for some West Coast dates in March and are then heading to Europe in May.













The band has just release a great new song I Do which is available as a .99 cent download through MySongStore. It is a blues-based rock tune that shows the band in great form. I am looking forward to hearing more from this lineup.

Check out this live video of the band performing I Do live in Agentina last year that was posted to YouTube.


Tracii will be a guest on the internet radio show Maximum Threshold which airs tomorrow night (Monday, February 19th) at 8:00PM (EST).

LA Guns to Tour East Coast in March

The Phil Lewis led version of LA Guns is touring the East Coast in March. Right now, no NYC dates have been announced. It would be nice to see the band play somewhere local, but most of the clubs LA Guns have played in the last few years are gone (The Continental, L'Amours, Bottoms Up). Don Hill's is probably the only club that would book the band and they just hosted the Tracii Guns led version of LA Guns.

LA Guns are continuing to tour in support of their latest album, "Tales from the Strip". This new release and tour has gotten positive reviews thus far so this show should be worth checking out.

Current tour dates are:
Jan. 17 - Omaha, NE - Chrome Lounge
Jan. 19 - Mankato, MN - Busters
Jan. 20 - Burnsville, MN - Renegades
Mar. 17 - Bloomington, IL - U.S. Cellular Coliseum (w/ WARRANT, FIREHOUSE)
Mar. 23 - Jim Thorpe, PA - Penn's Peak (w/ WARRANT, FIREHOUSE)
Mar. 24 - Westfield, MA - Bentley Billiards
Mar. 25 - Clifton Park, NY - Northern Lights

LA Guns to Play Don Hill's on December 28th

It doesn't seem to happen that often that two bands tour at the same time under the same name. The last band I remember doing this was Christian Death in the late 80's/early 90's when both Rozz Williams and Valor were touring under the Christian Death banner. The Tracii Guns led version of LA Guns will play Don Hill's next week with special guest David JoHansen.

For those not familiar with the situation...In 2004 LA Guns announced that they would continue on without Tracii, who was off doing his thing with the Brides of Destruction. After the second Brides CD tanked, Tracii regrouped the "original" lineup of LA Guns and started to tour under the LA Guns banner. (Missing from the Paul Black-era lineup is Mick Cripps who is replaced by Tracii's son Jeremy).

Just over a year ago, Paul Black released an 18 song CD of recordings this lineup made by shortly before they signed to Polygram (and Black was replaced by Phil Lewis). This CD (entitled Black List) is directly available from Paul through his Black City Music website.

This is the band's only show on the East Coast and they are off to Europe in the beginning of the year. This should be a great show and a rare chance to see 3/4 of the lineup that wrote LA Guns debut LP. Tickets are only $15 dollars.