Steve Riley, long-time drummer for L.A. Guns, passed away on October 24, 2023.  Riley died after a bout with pneumonia.  Riley was a talented drummer and songwriter.  He also played in W.A.S.P. and in Keel.  The following piece was written just a week before Riley's passing, and has not been altered.  Clearly, JCE is very sad to hear of Riley's passing.  Riley's L.A. Guns just released a new single, which was to be included on an album set for release next year. 

ONE NAME, TWO BANDS

Technically, one of these bands is now called Riley’s L.A. Guns, but that’s just court-ordered bullshit.  Here’s the story. 

 The classic L.A. Guns lineup, circa 1988, consisted of:

·         Tracii Guns - Guitar

·         Mick Cripps - Guitar

·         Steve Riley - Drums

·         Kelly Nickels – Bass

·         Phil Lewis – Vocals

What a great f*ckin’ band.  They were metal with a punk edge, dressed all in black, and just badass.  Don’t dare call them hair metal, because you would be wrong.  That classic lineup made some killer records together (3 to be exact), perhaps my favorite of which is Hollywood Vampires.  After that record, which was their third release, the lineup changes began, and the band was a bit of a revolving door for many years to come.  For the most part, Riley, Nickels and Lewis stayed together as the core and soldiered on for years, making more killer records along the way.  Lewis, being the vocalist, seemed to be the critical piece to any L.A. Guns record (much like Dave Vanian of The Damned).  But at some point, Lewis left while Nickels and Riley continued on with a new vocalist.  Soon enough however, Tracii Guns, who had been playing in an alternate version of the band, and Phil Lewis made peace regarding whatever feud they had going on, and they began anew as L.A. Guns.  The first record by that version was even called The Missing Peace in reference to their reconciliation. 

So, at this point, there were again two bands touring as L.A. Guns:  The Guns and Lewis band and the Riley and Nickels band.  So, who deserves to keep the name?  Well, the band was founded, and named after Tracii Guns, and Phil Lewis was always the voice, so that seems simple enough.  Simple, that is, until you consider some other factors.  The classic lineup all had an equal hand in writing the songs, sharing royalties five ways at all times, regardless of who contributed what (as a side note, I love that and think it should be that way with every band).  In fact, based upon what I have read, Tracii Guns probably did the least amount of writing.  Much of the writing credit would go to Mick Cripps, but he has moved on to other projects (check out The Brutalists, they are excellent), and he wants nothing to do with the L.A. Guns, the feuding, or the past.  The bands’ biggest song was Ballad of Jane, and that was in fact written by Riley and/or Nickels, with only a bit of contribution from Lewis.  Also, if you were able to keep score over the decades, it is actually Riley who has been an unequivocal L.A. Guns member without having left at any point. 

So where am I going with this?  Well, both current bands have good cause to call themselves L.A. Guns.  Both bands tour and play classic L.A. Guns material, while also releasing and playing new music at a good clip.  Both bands are still great.  So, I say to each his own.  Take your pick, or be like me, and don’t pick a side.  They’re both great, and it’s not that hard to figure out who is who.  With a band this great, what the hell, let’s have three or four of them!  Bands break up and have legal disputes all the time, and usually it’s a pretty easy call to make on who is right.  In this case though, I say they are both right.  And as the title of this blog says, I am fine with that.   

Check out these tunes/videos— one classic L.A. Guns, one new L.A. Guns and one Riley’s L.A. Guns.

Some Lie 4 Love / 1995 classic lineup

Knock Me Down / 2021 L.A. Guns (Lewis, Guns) 

Crawl / 2020 Riley’s L.A. Guns (Nickels and Riley)

JCE, or John to his friends, was born in 1963 in the Nation’s Capital.  He grew up in the VA suburbs of D.C.  His earliest musical memories are tied to a transistor radio with a single earphone that he carried everywhere listening to AM radio. At this point he still listens to a steady diet of punk, power pop, metal (Faster Pussycat=Yes, Megadeath=No), alt country and almost anything that has plenty of good guitar and drums.