These musicians made their names during the 1980s, but they’re not stuck there by any means.
The last three L.A. Guns records are excellent. The most recent of which is 2021′s “Checkered Past,” which boasts gems like “Zep III”-style strummer “Get Along” and sauntering rocker “Better Than You.”
It’s kind of unique on this tour because we have a headlining set, we’ve got to put together, an hour set and a 45-minute set and, not very often a 40-minute set. So there’s those standards that we have to do, right? The “Never Enough,” “Rip And Tear,” Ballad of Jayne,” “Sex Action,” “Electric Gypsy” … there are like seven we have to do no matter what or we get a bunch of hate mail. So that’s about the 45-minute set.
I saw some footage from that, and it was stunning how good you guys sound still. How crucial is having good recent albums to a “legacy” band still being good live? People are always like waiting for the next new rock band and I’m like bands like L.A. Guns already know how to do it and they’re doing it.
You mentioned Phil Lewis earlier. I love guitar and frontman duos, from Keith Richards and Mick Jagger to Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, and so on. For you as a guitarist, what’s fun and cool about being part of a duo with Phil in L.A. Guns? And I think this version of L.A. Guns is a current rock band and our record sales show that. And half of our audience now is younger and guys our age. Hopefully, you learn after 30 years some tricks.
But live, it’s kind of like how my rig’s set up, to where I have almost like a country rock sound and then like a hard rock sound, and then a metal sound. I have to play those styles too, so it’s like switch to the sound, switch to the style, try not to think about it and just play. And sometimes if we play “Speed” right before “Ballad of Jayne” it’s a really hard transition. It’s like woah! My fingers are still doing this, and they just need to take a nap and just play and feel that stuff.
So depending on how my rig is working that night, really dictates what I’m going to do. And I don’t know until I pull the bow across the low E string the first time in front of people. It’s like, OK, I have this much control or this little control. Page, Randy Rhoads, Johnny Thunders, I can hear those influences in your tone and your playing. Who are a few guitarist people might not guess that you love, that have impacted you a lot?
How cool has been for your to be a part of the reboot of Kramer Guitars with Gibson. I think of back in the ‘80s, Kramer players like Eddie Van Halen and Mick Mars, and now you have your own signature Kramer guitar, the Gunstar Voyager.
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