L.A. Guns was formed in the early 80’s with Michael Jagosz on lead vocals, Tracii Guns on lead guitar, Ole Beich on bass, and Rob Gardner on drums. For a short time Axl Rose replaced Jagosz while he was sent to prison but later left L.A. Guns to form Hollywood Rose with his childhood friend Izzy Stradlin. The band dissolved later that year when drummer Rob Gardner, Ole Beich, and Tracii joined Axl and Izzy to form Guns N’ Roses. Tracii, Rob, and Ole eventually left Guns N’ Roses and Tracii went on to form a new band called Faster Pussycat. Tracii recruited Nickey “Beat” Alexander on drums, Mick Cripps on bass, and Paul “Mars” Black on vocals. After their friend Raz offered to financially back the band if they changed their name back to L.A. Guns, friend Taime Downe took the name Faster Pussycat and started his own band. Tracii Guns was fired from L.A. Guns for a short time in their early days after agreeing to do a few shows in New York for a friend. He was replaced by Dogs D’Amour first singer Robert Stoddard. When Tracii returned from New York, he joined the band again and they had two guitarists from that point on. After a blow out in the band, Paul Black and Robert Stoddard both quit before the band inked a deal with Polygram Records. Former Girl vocalist Phil Lewis stepped in and they recorded their first album, filled with different versions of Paul Black’s original material. After the recording of the first album, drummer Nicky Alexander quit and was replaced by W.A.S.P. drummer Steve Riley. The line up of Lewis, Guns, Cripps, Nickles, and Riley would go on to record their next three albums with little change in line up besides Riley being replaced for a few songs by Michael Gershima during the ”Vicious Circle” recordings. Numerous line up changes later, including Phil Lewis leaving the band for a few records with Chris Van Dahl, Ralph Saenz of Metal Skool fame, and Jizzy Pearl (Love/Hate, Ratt , Adler’s Appetite) all failing to replace him before coming back, the band has continued to stay together. Lewis returned for 2001’s ”Man in the Moon,” which due to better production (along with the following albums), would capture their sleaze rock sound better. Tracii Guns quit the band after 2002’s ”Waking the Dead,” opting to form Brides of Destruction with former Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx. Guns was intially replaced with various touring guitarists, including W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes, Keri Kelli, and Faster Pussycat guitarist Brent Muscat. Guns was finally replaced by former Roxx Gang guitarist Stacey Blades, who has filled in on the covers album ”Rip Off the Covers,” as well as the studio album ”Tales From the Strip” and the live album ”Loud & Dangerous.” Current L.A. Guns line up Phil Lewis - Vocals / Rhythm Guitar|Stacey Blades - Lead Guitar|Kenny Kweens - Bass|Steve Riley - Drums |
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