Steve Riley’s response to Tracii Guns trademark infringement lawsuit is to announce L.A. Guns shows
Steve Riley’s response to Tracii Guns trademark infringement lawsuit is to announce L.A. Guns shows
L.A. Guns drummer Steve Riley has apparently made his first public “response” to the news that broke out a couple of days ago that L.A. Guns founder and guitarist Tracii Guns had filed a lawsuit alleging trademark infringement against him.
Rather than address the trademark infringement lawsuit, Riley‘s version of L.A. Guns has announced three concerts consisting of:
Mar. 19, 2020 — Mohegan Sun Wolf’s Den — Uncasville, Connecticut, USA
May 2, 2020 — M3 Rock Festival — Merriweather Post Pavilion — Columbia, Maryland, USA
May 3, 2020 — Elevation 27 — Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA
Riley‘s version of L.A. Guns which also features bassist Kelly Nickels, guitarist Scott Griffin and lead vocalist Kurt Frohlich are scheduled to release a new studio album via Golden Robot Records in the spring of 2020.
Guns‘ complaint against Riley includes a number of allegations including that (as reported by Blabbermouth with slight edits): “The Tracii Guns version of L.A. Guns is the real version of the band in the public’s mind… When the public goes to see L.A. Guns or thinks they are going to see L.A. Guns, they go to see the band containing its namesake… and they go to hear the signature voice of Lewis, who recorded the lead vocals on nearly every L.A. Guns album. They do not go to hear Riley, a drummer who, though [he] admittedly played on a number of L.A. Guns albums, is neither the face nor the sound of L.A. Guns.”
In an interview with Geeks of Doom back in April 2012, Lewis stated the following (with slight edits) about Tracii Guns‘ version of L.A. Guns (which did not include Lewis at the time): “Well Tracii [Guns] fucked us up, man. Him going out with his shit versions [of LA Guns] made it really, really difficult for us to get a record deal. It was basically depriving the fans of music. Everyone’s all like, well it’s two LA Guns and that’s fine, I dig them both. But they don’t realize supporting Tracii and his sham of a band it actually impedes us making records, making great music. It looks like he’s actually had enough and he’s going to go off and do something else now. I mean it’s a major pain having this idiot that quit the band and doesn’t know what else the fuck to do, so he just recruits anyone he can get hold of and calls it LA Guns and that’s total bullshit. It rips off the fans and it really impedes us to progress. So yeah, that’s why it’s taken so long.” Lewis left Riley‘s version of L.A. Guns in December 2016 to join forces with Tracii Guns in the latter’s version of the band, which currently features Ace Von Johnson on guitar, Johnny Martin on bass and Scot Coogan on drums.