Michael Grant reveals asked to join Steve Riley’s version of L.A. Guns after split w/ Phil Lewis & Tracii Guns

Michael Grant reveals asked to join Steve Riley’s version of L.A. Guns after split w/ Phil Lewis & Tracii Guns

Former L.A. Guns guitarist and current Michael Grant & The Assassins frontman Michael Grant was recently interviewed by Chuck Shute for the Chuck Shute Podcast.

From January 2013 to December 2016, Grant played in the L.A. Guns version featuring drummer Steve Riley and lead vocalist Phil Lewis before he jumped ship along with Lewis to join Tracii Guns‘ version of L.A. Guns in December 2016. Grant eventually left on his own or got fired from that L.A. Guns version in March 2018 depending on who you ask. Ever since then, Grant worked on his band’s debut album Always The Villain, which was eventually released via Frontiers Music Srl on July 10, 2020. A few months ago, Grant revealed in an interview on the Rock Talk with Mitch Lafon podcast that since leaving L.A. Guns, he had been asked to join Ratt but turned down that opportunity.

In his interview with the Chuck Shute Podcast, Grant indicated as follows about turning down the Ratt gig (as transcribed by the Chuck Shute Podcast with slight edits): “Absolutely. I had to turn it down you know for for the sake of Michael Grant & The Assassins, it was time for me to get my music out and make myself sound good and not another band. I was getting really tired of making people sound good and boosting their profiles and you know, and then getting absolutely nothing to show for it. Like I’m done with that shit. I’m ready to be my own boss and make music on my own terms. My own creative vision, like that’s the true goal. That’s where the true gratification comes from. Playing as a hired gun… it’s not that fulfilling and you might get a paycheck but you don’t see any of the real money. And you’re also joining someone else’s fucking soap opera, which I have no goddamn self with enough. I was in both versions of L.A. Guns, dude.”

Grant added: “And after the split with L.A. Guns with Phil and Tracii, I got asked to join the second version of L.A. Guns with Steve Riley. And I was like… I love Steve Riley.” He continued: “I didn’t even return his calls. And it was, and I meant no disrespect by my actions. I just didn’t want to give him the opportunity to talk me into playing with L.A. Guns because he’s pretty persuasive. All right, I’m sure he would have been dangling some serious dollars in front of my face to make it kind of like, you know, ‘Yeah, well, maybe I should do it.’ And then next thing you know, I’m talking so I knew, and plus, I’m gonna be completely honest with you. I knew that what I had with Always The Villain was miles better, miles better.”

In terms of timing for the revamp of Riley‘s version of L.A. Guns, it was revealed that bassist Kelly Nickels and guitarist Scott Griffin were part of the band in December 2018 while lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Kurt Frohlich‘s involvement was only revealed in mid-April 2019.

You can listen to the interview with Michael Grant by Chuck Shute on the Chuck Shute Podcast via Buzz Sprout‘s website.