Tracii Guns slams former L.A. Guns bandmate Steve Riley claiming drummer owes him a lot of money

Tracii Guns slams former L.A. Guns bandmate Steve Riley claiming drummer owes him a lot of money

L.A. Guns founder and guitarist Tracii Guns was recently interviewed by Eric Blair for The Blairing Out With Eric Blair Show at NAMM in Anaheim, California, USA.

When asked whether the title for L.A. Guns‘ upcoming studio album The Devil You Know meant that it’s better to know the devil that you do know rather than the devil that you don’t know, Guns replied (as transcribed by Sleaze Roxx): “That’s what it’s about. A friend of mine said that to me. [I’m] making big changes in my life and they said, ‘Oh. The devil you know is sometimes better than the devil that you don’t know.” Or you know, vice-versa or whatever. It stuck in my head and I’m sure that eight other bands have used that title for songs and fuck’ em. I have a personal expression that is it always takes a very long time to know one person. You know what I mean? You get on with somebody. All of a sudden, some true colours fly out or something like that. It’s… I tend to — as I get older — I gravitate to people who are not very cool. It’s better. When people are cool, they’re the ones that seem to later on be not cool. You know what I mean? So when you’re in your ’50s and old, you get philosophical because you’re bored.”

Guns continued: “I fall for people’s bullshit a lot, you know. I am a nice guy but the devil you know, I don’t know. I’d rather got for the devil I don’t know [laughs]. If you’re going to be obnoxious, I want to know now.”

In terms of guitarist Michael Grant who claimed that he was fired from the band in March 2018, Guns stated: “I wanted Michael Grant from the beginning when Phil and I got back together because I really thought that he embodied the youthful spirit about L.A. Guns. That’s kind of the weird thing about L.A. Guns. It’s a young person’s band and Phil and I aren’t very young anymore. So I really liked having Michael in the band. That wasn’t going to work out. There were some issues — some internal things that are nobody’s fuckin’ business. I love Michael Grant. Great guy.”

With respect to Riley playing an upcoming show as L.A. Guns, Guns stated: “Oh. He’s doing the M3 [Rock] Festival. Yeah, yeah. He’s a piece of shit. That’s what I think of it. [Speaking directly to the camera] You owe me a lot of money you fuckin’ ugly fuck [laughs]. And fuck you.”

Riley and Guns have not played together in L.A. Guns since the guitarist left the band in October 2002 after the Waking The Dead album (2002). Riley continued playing as L.A. Guns with Lewis handling the lead vocals until the end of 2016 when the latter resigned from his position to continue as L.A. Guns with Tracii Guns. From 2006 to 2012, Guns had his own version of L.A. Guns on the road and had a number of different singers consisting of (according to Wikipedia) Paul Black (2006-08), Marty Casey (2008-09), Jizzy Pearl (2009-11), Dilana (2011), Tony West (2011-12) and Scott Foster Harris (2012).

Sleaze Roxx interviewed Riley last month and asked him whether he was disappointed with some of the comments that Phil [Lewis]and Tracii [Guns] had made since he announced that he’d be playing the M3 Rock Festival with L.A. Guns. Riley replied: “Oh Olivier! I’ve been so disappointed with the comments that they have made even before while I was playing with them. They have a knack for saying the wrong things to the press that makes them look really like goof balls. I can’t play. Kelly can’t play. Well, we’re the original rhythm section that played on every one of the songs that people like from L.A. Guns. It’s me and Kelly playing and for somebody to turn around and say that we cannot play now, it sounds so goofy and I think the fans are way smarter than that and can see that it’s just a high school [level] comment to make. It baffles me because you’ll never hear me putting down a former member. If I played with a former member in any of the bands that I was with — W.A.S.P., L.A. Guns, Keel, Steppenwolf — any of those bands, I will never put a former member down and say that they can’t play because the question is, why did I play with them?”

Interview with Tracii Guns by The Blairing Out With Eric Blair Show at NAMM in Anaheim, California, USA:

L.A.Guns Tracii Guns & Eric Blair talk New album , Steve Riley and marriage

laguns #gunsandroses #nammshow2019L.A.Guns Tracii Guns & Eric Blair talk New album , Steve Riley, GnR and marriage