First stint with L.A. Guns and Guns N' Roses (1983–1985) L.A. Guns was formed by Guns in 1983, initially with singer
Mike Jagosz, bassist
Ole Beich, and drummer
Rob Gardner. This lineup recorded the
EP ''
Collector's Edition No. 1'' which would be the only release from the band with its original lineup. After Jagosz was arrested in a bar fight, Bill Rose (later known as
Axl Rose) joined the band as singer. Rose had previously fronted
Hollywood Rose, backed by
Izzy Stradlin and
Chris Weber. Rose's stint in the band was short-lived, as Jagosz returned weeks later. Guns joined a newly reunited Hollywood Rose (alongside Rose, Stradlin, Gardner, and Steve Darrow) for a 1985 New Years show. Shortly afterwards, L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose merged bands to become
Guns N' Roses, with the lineup consisting of Guns, Rose, Stradlin, Gardner, and Beich. Guns, Beich, and Gardner would exit Guns N' Roses just two months into the new band, with Guns leaving after an argument with Rose, claiming "It just wasn't fun anymore." Guns was replaced by
Slash, while Gardner and Beich were replaced by
Steven Adler and
Duff McKagan respectively, forming the "classic lineup" of Guns N' Roses.
Reformation of L.A. Guns (1985–2002) Later in 1985, Guns and singer
Paul Black reformed L.A. Guns, recruiting former
Dogs D'Amour singer Robert Stoddard to be the new guitarist with the group, which was rounded out by
Nickey "Beat" Alexander on drums and
Mick Cripps on bass. The group's lineup would change with Black being replaced by
Girl frontman
Phil Lewis, bassist Cripps switching to guitar, replacing Stoddard, and former
Faster Pussycat bassist
Kelly Nickels joining the group. L.A. Guns recorded their
eponymous first album that was released in 1988 on
Vertigo Records, charting at number 50 on the
Billboard 200. On the first album's supporting tour, Alexander was replaced by former
W.A.S.P. drummer
Steve Riley with the lineup being regarded as the
Classic lineup of L.A. Guns. This lineup remained until 1992. In 1989, they released their second album
Cocked & Loaded, which charted higher on the Billboard 200 at number 38. During 1991, the band released their third album
Hollywood Vampires on
Polydor Records. In 1994, they released their fourth album
Vicious Circle, drummer Michael "Bones" Gersema played on parts of this recording as this was around the time Phil Lewis fired drummer Steve Riley in January 1992 after touring with
Skid Row in support of Hollywood Vampires. Riley later returned to the band for the successful
Vicious Circle club tour. After this, L.A. Guns were dropped from Polygram (Vertigo/Polydor) Records. Phil Lewis and Mick Cripps then left the band. July 1995 saw Guns and Steve Riley recruit vocalist
Chris Van Dahl and guitarist Johnny Crypt (ex-Ripper, aka Johnny Crystal) after seeing them perform with their band Boneyard. Six months into recording sessions, Kelly Nickels left the band and Johnny switched to the bass. In 1996, the new L.A. Guns released their fifth record, titled
American Hardcore. They toured throughout 1996 and into 1997 where Tracii let Chris go, who was replaced by singer
Ralph Saenz. Tracii, Steve, Johnny, and Ralph toured for the remainder of '97 and in early '98 released the six song EP
Wasted. Halfway through the band's 1998 Rock Never Stops tour, Ralph quit to form his own band, forcing the band to find a new singer.
Joe Lesté from
Bang Tango and
Jizzy Pearl from
Love/Hate were considered as candidates, with Pearl getting the job. They toured in late 1998 and early 1999 and released
Shrinking Violet, produced by former Guns N' Roses guitarist
Gilby Clarke. This release was followed shortly by Crypt's departure. In September 1999, the classic lineup of Tracii Guns, Steve Riley, Phil Lewis, Kelly Nickels, and Mick Cripps prepared to reunite. L.A. Guns set out on the reunion tour in October 1999 and recorded a live album in their hometown of Hollywood, enlisting Gilby Clarke as producer. The album, named
Live: A Night on the Strip, was released the following year. After the reunion, Mick and Kelly couldn't commit to the summer 2000 tour, so they were replaced by guitarist
Brent Muscat and bassist
Muddy Stardust, respectively.
Ratt and L.A. Guns teamed up with
Warrant for a remainder-of-the-summer tour, which L.A. Guns dropped off in August due to booking problems. Mick Cripps again rejoined the band briefly in late 2000 to record an album with the band, entitled
Man in the Moon, which was released on Spitfire Records in April 2001. L.A. Guns released the album
Waking the Dead, the last album to feature Tracii Guns, in August 2002, produced by
Andy Johns, to mainly positive reviews from critics and fans. The future of L.A. Guns was in doubt until both Steve Riley and Phil Lewis told the
Hairball John Radio Show that the band would continue despite Tracii Guns' involvement in Brides of Destruction. Guns left the band in October 2002.
Brides of Destruction (2002–2005) Despite signing a deal with
Spitfire Records, Tracii Guns left L.A. Guns during the recording of a new album, and was the first album featuring Guns to chart since Hollywood Vampires in 1991. Nikki Sixx would leave the group in October 2004. Initially Guns was to form a new band with the remaining Brides members and also offered his services to
Axl Rose in a bid to join Guns N' Roses. Eventually he continued with the Brides and
Scott Sorry formerly of
Amen was chosen as Sixx's replacement.
Ginger of
the Wildhearts was added as the band's second guitarist. The band then started writing for what would become
Runaway Brides but soon after, Ginger departed the Brides. The follow-up to Here Come the Brides,
Runaway Brides, was produced by Andy Johns who had previously worked with Guns on the L.A. Guns album
Waking the Dead. Three of the songs of the album were co-written by Nikki Sixx, written during the "Here Come the Bride" sessions with former guitarist Ginger also contributing writing on 3 tracks prior to leaving. The album saw a change in a style with it leaning towards a
heavy metal sound in contrast with the
hard rock/
post-grunge sound of the first album. "Dimes in Heaven" was written as a tribute to recently deceased
Pantera and
Damageplan guitarist
Dimebag Darrell. After signing a new deal with Shrapnel Records, the album was released in Europe on September 13 and on September 27 in the US. A video was shot for "White Trash" but both the album and the single failed to chart. With the formation of The Tracii Guns Band, later the second L.A. Guns, the Brides were put on indefinite hiatus.
Third Stint with L.A. Guns (2005–2013) In 2006, Guns announced he was to perform a 'Best Of" tour with former L.A. Guns members
Paul Black on vocals,
Nickey Alexander on drums and former Brides live member Jeremy Guns rounding up the lineup on bass following a brief stint with
Quiet Riot. With
The Tracii Guns Band touring, this put Brides of Destruction on indefinite hiatus in 2006. Eventually The Tracii Guns Band would become the second L.A. Guns. Drummer
Chad Stewart eventually joined the group replacing Nickey Alexander. On March 4, 2008, Tracii Guns' L.A. Guns was announced as one of the acts of the second
Rocklahoma festival. In 2008, Tracii Guns' L.A. Guns signed a deal with Alexis Records and began working on material for a new album with producer
Steve Thompson. Singer
Marty Casey, of
Lovehammers, was asked to co-write some songs with the band by bassist Jeremy Guns. Eventually Paul Black left the group and Marty was asked to replace him. They finished recording the album and set a release date for March 2009. The group toured through 2008 and early 2009 and also recorded a pilot for
VH1. While waiting for a release date to be set for the new album, as well as deciding on a new name for the band, Marty Casey returned to Lovehammers releasing new album
Heavy Crown.
Jizzy Pearl returned to front L.A. Guns for a summer tour while guitarist Alec Bauer departed the band. After a long-running dispute with Phil Lewis (Lewis had been touring as "Phil Lewis's L.A. Guns") over the name to the group, Tracii Guns disbanded his version of L.A. Guns in July 2012.
Tracii Guns' League of Gentlemen (2012–present) In 2012, Guns formed a blues-rock band called "Tracii Guns' League of Gentlemen" with front man
Scott Foster Harris, a one-time member of the L.A. Guns. Harris, a native Texan, provides vocals for the League. Other musicians in the band bass player Craig "Patches" McCloskey, drummer Doni Gray (L.A. Guns,
Burning Tree), and keyboardist John Bird. The band's music is inspired by British and American psychedelic blues and rock music from the 1960s and 1970s. In June 2013, the band released their debut album,
The First Record through
Shrapnel Records. In August 2014,
The Second Record was released, again with Shrapnel Records. Under the "L.A. Guns" name, Guns and Lewis released a new album
The Missing Peace on October 13, 2017.
Sunbomb with Michael Sweet (2021) On May 14, 2021, Tracii Guns and
Stryper frontman
Michael Sweet released the album
Evil and Divine on
Frontiers Records as a project titled Sunbomb. In an interview with the radio show and podcast The Hard, Heavy & Hair Show with Pariah Burke, Guns described the Doom Metal-influenced Sunbomb album as, the "first focused, I-don't-give-a-shit Metal album I've ever done." Sometime during 2017, Guns was approached by
Serafino Perugino, President and A&R director of Frontiers Music SRL, about doing a solo album. Guns told Pariah Burke, "no way was I going to do an instrumental album." Eventually, Guns settled on the idea of writing and recording an album of music that reminded him of "what I used to listen to when I was a teenager first learning to play guitar." The result is an album of much heavier songs than Guns' usual songwriting for L.A. Guns or past projects Contraband and Brides of Destruction, though, Guns said, parts of the Sunbomb music are reminiscent of his playing in Devil City Angels. When it came time to choose a vocalist, Guns turned to Stryper's Michael Sweet, whom Guns told Burke he had befriended years earlier during a shared tour stopover in Massachusetts.
Evil and Divine also features drums by Adam Hamilton (L.A. Guns), Johnny Martin (L.A. Guns) playing bass on song "They Fought," and Mitch Davis playing bass on the other 10 tracks.
Other work Guns appeared in the cast of the video for
Michael Jackson's 1983 hit "
Beat It."
Contraband was a short-lived
supergroup/
side project that included vocalist Richard Black, of
Shark Island, guitarist
Michael Schenker, of
Scorpions,
UFO and
Michael Schenker Group, bassist
Share Pedersen, of
Vixen, drummer
Bobby Blotzer, of
Ratt, and Guns taking up the second guitar role. They released one self-titled album in 1991 which received lukewarm reviews. The album was a commercial failure and the band disbanded shortly after, while
touring with Ratt. In 1999, Guns played a show in
Hollywood, California with former
Guns N' Roses guitarist
Gilby Clarke, who produced the L.A. Guns album
Shrinking Violet in the same year, as part of his solo band with the performance being released the same year as
99 Live. In 2002, Tracii contributed guitars on the Clarke's solo album
Swag, with some of these tracks appearing on the 2007
compilation album Gilby Clarke. Also in 1999, Tracii released his debut album
Killing Machine, which was later re-released in 2004 with the new title of
All Eyes are Watchin. Guns was also in
Poison for a short time in early 2000, when
C.C. DeVille departed the band for a month over a dispute. In 2007, Guns guested on the debut album
Dopesnake by Hollywood Roses along with
Mick Taylor formerly of
The Rolling Stones,
Phil Lewis and
Paul Black both also of L.A. Guns,
Gilby Clarke formerly of
Guns N' Roses and
Rock Star Supernova,
Fred Coury of
Cinderella and formerly of
London,
Teddy Andreadis,
Pat Travers and Hollywood Rose founder
Chris Weber. In October 2008, Steven Adler had formed a new
supergroup with Guns called
Guns of Destruction. The band's lineup rounded up by
Adler's Appetite and
Enuff Z'Nuff bassist Chip Z'nuff and singer
Eric Dover of
Sextus and formerly of
Jellyfish and
Slash's Snakepit. They were to make their live debut at the Key Club in Hollywood on November, 19 with "very special guests" in attendance. However the group was to be short lived and Dover soon announced that he was not involved in the project. After performing together at the "Giving 2010" benefit event on May 3, 2010, Guns formed the cover band "Carnival of Dogs" with
Matt Sorum (
Velvet Revolver,
Camp Freddy, formerly of
Guns N' Roses and
The Cult),
Franky Perez (Solo,
Scars on Broadway,
DKFXP,
Apocalyptica) and
Phil Soussan (formerly of
Ozzy Osbourne,
Billy Idol and
Vince Neil). In 2012, Guns worked with Italian producer
Pietro Foresti on the song "America Dreaming" with Italian band J27. In 2013, Guns joined the band of the production
Raiding the Rock Vault at the
Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. In 2014 Guns formed the
Devil City Angels, featuring Brandon Gibbs (Cheap Thrills) vocals, Rikki Rockett (Poison) drums & Eric Brittingham (Cinderella) Bass. The self-titled debut album was officially released September 11, 2015. == Discography ==