For Phil Lewis, the road from England’s rock clubs to becoming the unmistakable voice of L.A. Guns has been one filled with triumphs, reinventions, and hard-earned lessons. His journey has taken him from the streets of London to the heart of the Sunset Strip, where his attitude, charisma, and commanding presence helped define one of hard rock’s most electrifying eras.
Decades removed from the chaos and excess of those early days, L.A. Guns have done what few bands from that era have managed to do: they’ve kept moving forward. In an age when many of their peers have either faded into the sunset or grown content to rest on their laurels, L.A. Guns continue to write new chapters. Since reuniting in 2017, Lewis and Tracii Guns have embarked on a remarkable creative resurgence, delivering a string of acclaimed studio albums that prove the chemistry between them remains as dangerous and compelling as ever.
That ongoing evolution is captured perfectly on “Live From The Guild Theatre,” a blistering live document that showcases the unique balance L.A. Guns have achieved between honoring their legacy and pushing forward creatively. Rather than simply relying on classics like “Sex Action,” “Never Enough,” and “The Ballad of Jayne,” the band confidently places newer material like “Cannonball” and “Speed” alongside those fan favorites, creating a set that represents every chapter of their journey.
With L.A. Guns in the midst of their latest national tour, Jason Price of Icon Vs. Icon caught up with Lewis for a candid conversation that spans the full arc of his remarkable career. From chasing his rock ’n’ roll dreams in England with Girl to cutting his teeth on the mean streets of Hollywood, Lewis reflects on the moments, lessons, and creative fire that shaped him. He also opens up about the impact of reuniting with Tracii Guns, embracing change on his own terms, and keeping L.A. Guns moving forward with purpose.
Phil, it’s always great to hear your voice. Thanks so much for taking the time today. Before we dive in, I just want to say thanks for all the work you and the guys have put into keeping L.A. Guns moving forward. I grew up listening to the band, and your music has been part of the soundtrack to some truly excellent times in my life. I really appreciate all the blood, sweat, and tears you’ve poured into it along the way.
That’s very gracious. Thank you very much.
You’ve dedicated your life to rock and roll. What initially drew you in, and what was it about the craft of songwriting that spoke to you? Was that something you were drawn to right away?
I’ll tell you a story. I grew up in London, and every Thursday night we had one show: “Top of the Pops.” It came on at 7:00, and I’d watched it a few times. At that point, I must have been about 12 or 13, and I was a soccer nut. A total soccer fanatic. Soccer just flowed through my veins. I supported Chelsea, knew all the players’ names, had the swag, had the merch, went to the games, and played every chance I got. I was on my school team, and it’s hard to explain just how obsessed I was with the game. One day, I’d been playing in the local park and came home afterward with my cleats, as you call them here, tied together with a bit of string and dangling around my neck. I came into this old-fashioned ’70s living room, with the big Zenith TV sitting in the corner, and “Top of the Pops” was on. Alice Cooper was doing his thing. It wasn’t live. Well, maybe it was, but I don’t think “Top of the Pops” did that. Anyway, there he was in full regalia, snake and all, doing “School’s Out.” I dropped to my knees in front of the TV. My mouth was wide open, and I just watched it. I never played soccer again in my life. That was it. I never kicked a football, a soccer ball, again after that.
What I loved about it wasn’t just the glam and the spectacle. I loved the lyrics and I loved what the song was about. The line that really caught my attention was, “We can’t even think of a word that rhymes.” BOOM! [laughs] I was like, “This is fucking great. It’s funny, it’s captivating, and I want to do it. I want to do this.” So, I stopped playing soccer and started following bands. I started reading “Melody Maker” and “Sounds,” going to gigs at pubs, gigs at universities, wherever I could. I actually went to the Greyhound on Fulham Palace Road. It was a pub. At most, if you really packed it out, you could probably squeeze 200 people in there. And I saw AC/DC playing there. In a pub! Bon Scott, bagpipes, the whole fucking thing! I’d never been a religious person, but from that point on, rock and roll was my religion. Between AC/DC, Alice Cooper, and a myriad of bands over in England that you probably haven’t heard of, that was it.
There were bands like Humble Pie and, of course, the ones you have heard of: Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath. I saw Sabbath at the Albert Hall, and it cost me a pound. I made eye contact with Ozzy because I was right up front. It was the band. It was loud and clear. That’s when I decided I wanted to be in a band and play music. However, there was just one minor detail, one small roadblock: I knew absolutely fucking nothing about music, other than the fact that I loved it. I didn’t know how to play guitar. I had no idea. I knew how to sing because I was in the school choir and all that, and I had a big set of lungs. I was a runner, and we would do half marathons. I’d always come in somewhere in the top five.
So, I had the equipment to be a singer, but I just didn’t have the knowledge. From there, it was really a series of osmosis and doing demos, eight-track demos. The first ones were appalling, just terrible, my attempts at songwriting. It was very disheartening, but after about the third or fourth one, I remember thinking, “Ooh, that bit’s good.” It got to the point where, with the first demos I did, I didn’t dare play them for anyone. After about the third or fourth one, I was like, “Check this out. What do you think of this?” It wasn’t great by any means. It wasn’t like some big epiphany. I wasn’t suddenly blessed with any magical ability. I just loved it so much. I loved the craft. I loved being in the studio. I loved poetry, and I used to write a lot.
Going from poetry to music, putting words that rhymed to simple chords and simple music, that part came naturally. I had that going for me. Everything else, though, was from scratch. As they say, whatever subject you choose, you put in your 10,000 hours and you should be pretty good at it by that point. I’d like to say I’ve done a bit more than 10,000 hours by now, but yeah, it’s been good. It’s been kind to me. I’ve had good songs, bad songs, and some terrible songs, or “chronic,” as we call them. But overall, the trajectory has been favorable.
Before you ever touched down in Los Angeles and began your journey with L.A. Guns, you had already spent years in the business and had success with Girl. When you look back on that era now, who was Phil Lewis at that point in time?
The Girl thing came about while I was doing those demos. I hadn’t done too many at that point, but I was in a studio with a local character in London named John Benson, who was actually a superb musician. He was a keyboard player, a pianist, and an amazing songwriter. He kind of took me under his wing a little bit. I said, “John, I want to do some demos, but I’m not very confident. I’ve never been in a studio before. Will you help me?” And he was like, “Yeah, no worries.” So, I gave him some rough sketches of three songs I planned on recording, and he said, “Okay, yeah, we can do something with this. Don’t worry. I’ll use my band. I’ll bring in my drummer and bass player, and I’ll make it sound good for you.” Which he did. The bass player he brought down was a guy called Simon Laffy, who was his bass player. Simon brought his younger brother down, a chap called Jerry Laffy. Jerry was on a similar musical level to me, but he could play guitar. He wasn’t a bad guitar player, and he was really constructive and helpful in the process. By the end of it, I was like, “I’m going to write some more songs. Do you want to collaborate?” And he said, “Yeah, sure.” We got together a few times and put some stuff together, and that was really the conception of Girl. It was me and Jerry. We would play, we found drummers, and Simon helped us out on bass occasionally.
The thing is, here’s the story: I was leaning more toward playing guitar than singing. So we were both playing guitar, and we started auditioning singers. We looked everywhere, trying to find a decent singer for the band. In the end, we just said, “Look, it’s not happening. We’re not going to find a singer. One of us has to do it.” So we flipped a coin, and I lost! [Laughs] That’s how I became the singer.
Then we got a little more confident and did a couple of gigs. Once I became the singer, we needed another guitar player, so we put an ad in “Melody Maker.” I think we said, “Whiz kid peroxide guitarist wanted,” because it was all about the glam. We got a few calls, and then one came in. “Hello, did you call about a guitar player?” I said, “Yeah, we’re looking for a guitar player. What’s your name?” He said, “Oh, my name’s Phil.” I said, “Cool. Do you have any experience?” He goes, “Oh yeah, I’ve got a band. They’re called Dumb Blondes. We play in Walthamstow.” And I was like, “Oh, wow. This guy’s got a drummer, he’s got a bass player, and he’s done gigs.”
So, we got him down. We were on level two, and he shows up, plugs in, and he’s on level 11. He starts playing these insane fucking solos, and we’re like, it would’ve been stupid not to hire him on the spot because he was that good! He was way overqualified for what we were looking for, but he dug it. He dug the whole glam thing. He looked like a young Rod Stewart at the time. And that was the trio: me, Jerry, and Phil Collen. Then we started looking around for different drummers. Simon came and joined the band, played bass, and we were off to the races!
When you look back at all the music you’ve created through the years, are there clear milestones for you in your evolution as a songwriter?
Yeah. Here’s the funny thing: I was pretty stoked with the first Girl record. The fact that we had gone from absolutely nothing to producing 11 or 12 songs, putting them down in the studio, and having something tangible, that was a milestone for sure.
Things started to go sideways after that. We were managed by Don Arden, who was Sharon Osbourne’s dad and a notorious villain from the London music scene. He managed Small Faces, Alan Price, The Animals. He was an entrepreneur. He also managed a woman who, somehow, I was seeing at the time. “Dating” is probably a bit of a stretch, but he managed Britt Ekland, who had just split up with Rod Stewart. She took a shine to me, and I was seeing her for a bit. I told her about my band, and she said, “Oh, cool. I’d like to come and see them.”
She came down to a couple of rehearsals and got on really well with Phil and Jerry. Then she said, “I’m going to bring you in to Don and see if we can do something.” And Don was like, “Yeah, I’ll give them a production deal, a development deal.” That’s how we got our shot. I don’t think, purely on musical merits, we would have gotten signed. But it’s who you know, and knowing her certainly gave us a ladder. Like in “Snakes and Ladders,” that was definitely a ladder! That’s also when we found out, the hard way, about the music industry. Don turned out to be not a very nice fellow, as most biographies will attest.
We were stuck in this terrible deal, and we had to give him another album. Jerry wasn’t into it, and people were calling Phil. Iron Maiden called Phil. Def Leppard called Phil. He was saying, “No, I’m going to stick with my band.” In the end, I just saw the futility of it. I didn’t want to do it anymore. I didn’t enjoy the process of making the second album, and that was it. I dissolved the band. Phil joined Def Leppard. Jerry went off to Australia and did a bunch of stuff, making videos and whatnot.
I was in limbo for a while, and then I got a call from Bernie Tormé, who had a big name on the local club scene. He asked me if I’d fancy being a singer. He had been singing in his own band, but he’d done a gig and got severely slagged off for his singing abilities. He decided he didn’t want to do that anymore, so he needed a singer, a frontman.
I said yes, and he sent me the cassette. I listened to it, and Bernie was a master songwriter, a master guitar player, and actually a master producer. We did some gigs, it blew up, and we got a little record deal. We made an album, and it was a really good one. The band was called Tormé, and the album was called “Back to Babylon.” It really expanded my horizons. Some of Bernie’s recording techniques were incredible. We were using loops and samples, and I was getting pretty nifty, pretty slick in the studio.
I assumed that would be my entire trajectory, the direction I was going to go. But it got very frustrating. The London music scene was really dreadful at that point. It was all Boy George, Spandau Ballet, and Duran Duran. We were a rock band, a really good rock band, and none of the labels would touch us because we weren’t trendy. Fundamentally, that sowed the seeds of discontent. The writing was on the wall. It wasn’t going to work out. Bernie and I were over each other. The frustration of it all just became unbearable, so we split up. I stopped doing shows, and he carried on. He tried a bunch of different singers. I was like, “Okay, I guess I’ll get back to the drawing board and start something else.”
Then I got the call from Tracii in L.A. “Hey, man, we’re looking for a singer. Would you be interested?” He sent me over a tape and some photos, and I was immediately interested. He told me all about this great scene happening in L.A. at the time. There was Guns N’ Roses, Faster Pussycat, Jetboy, and it was really happening. He said, “Can you come over?” I said, “Yeah.” He said, “How soon can you come over?” I said, “How about tomorrow?” I was in London, so it wasn’t the next day, but it was the next week. They sent me a ticket. I had my friend drive me to the airport, got on a plane, got off in L.A., and there it was: sunshine, beautiful girls, palm trees. I never went back, and that was getting on 40 years ago!
The thing was, as I said with Bernie, I had cultivated a sort of technology with recording ideas, using loops and samples and whatnot. And Tracii said, “Oh no, I don’t want that. I want Phil Lewis from Girl. I want ‘Sheer Greed’ Phil Lewis.” I was like, “Really?” And he said, “Yeah, that’s what I’m looking for.” It was a few steps back, and then a massive leap forward from that point.
You have such a rich history. What goes into preserving those early works, whether it’s Girl, L.A. Guns, or your personal material? What kind of archive do you keep of all that stuff?
I don’t keep anything, really. If we release an album, yeah, I keep it and file it away. But I don’t have a suitcase full of demos. When the project’s done, I keep a copy, and I move on.
It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly a decade since you and Tracii reunited and began this incredible chapter of the L.A. Guns story. When you look back at the early days of rekindling that partnership, what stands out most?
I can’t remember what album it was. Oh, yes, “Waking the Dead.” Andy Johns produced it, and it was a great record. It is a great record. We were all set for the release and about to go on tour. We had 30 dates lined up with Alice Cooper to promote the record. Then Tracii came in and said, “Look, I’m quitting the band. I’m going to do this project with Nikki Sixx.” And I’m like, “You’re quitting the band? Are you really going to do this thing?” He said, “Yeah. One hundred percent, heart and soul. That’s all I want to do.” And we were like, “But we’ve got this album we’re trying to promote.”
It was a terrible blow. A really terrible blow. Obviously, we didn’t do the Alice Cooper tour, and the album came out and did okay. But without the full band, it was futile. It was difficult to promote and support it. There was a decade-long estrangement where we didn’t talk to each other. I had nothing to say. He went off and did that side project, it fizzled out, and Nikki went back to Mötley Crüe.
He never left Mötley Crüe. Even Nikki told Tracii, “Don’t give up your band. This is just a side thing.” And Tracii was like, “No, we’re going to be massive. We’re going to be the biggest thing since the Sex Pistols.” And they weren’t. It fizzled out. Meanwhile, I picked up what was left, what he’d left behind, and we went out without him for several years and had a moderate amount of success. At that point, I was thinking, “I doubt I’m ever going to see him again.”
In fact, there’s a clip from “That Metal Show” with Eddie Trunk where I was asked that question. We had released an album without Tracii. We released several albums without Tracii. Eddie goes, “So, do you think you and Tracii will ever bury the hatchet and get back together?” I thought about it for two seconds, looked at him, and went, “Never!” [laughs]
So, Christmas time rolls around, and I get a call from Jason Green, a local manager and promoter. Every Christmas, he put on a charity show for Toys for Tots. He asked me, and I had done a couple of them before, so he goes, “Listen, do you want to do this one?” I was like, “Yeah, sure.” And he goes, “But I’ve got to tell you, Tracii has agreed to do it as well.” I was like, “Oh. Oh, really?” He goes, “Yeah. Are you okay with that?” I didn’t want to drop the ball. It was for charity, and it was a good charity. It was something I felt proud of doing. So I said, “Fuck it.” It wasn’t what I wanted to do, but I wasn’t going to be a pussy about it. So I said, “Yeah, I’ll do it.”
A month later or so, we were going to do it in Vegas at Vamp’d, a local club that was kind of like the Vegas Whisky a Go Go. I walked into the dressing room early for soundcheck, and he was sitting there in the corner. I hadn’t seen him or spoken to him in well over 10 years. He was sitting there drinking a glass of milk. He looked like he was 12 years old. I looked at him and thought, “Is this my nemesis? Is this the guy I’ve been so wound up and freaked out by? The guy I felt so betrayed and hurt by?” And it was this little guy sitting over there drinking a cup of milk. Actually, a bit of a side note, it wasn’t milk. It turned out to be a White Russian. But I was like, “Okay, I’m going to do it. I’m going to do it anyway.”
We agreed to do “Over the Edge.” That was the opening song from “Hollywood Vampires.” We hadn’t been onstage together in years, but the song starts, I start singing, and it’s instant. I’m like, “Wow.” That chemistry was undeniable, and he felt the same way too. It was like, “Bro, it’s disingenuous to our fans to keep this feud going. We’ve got to bury the hatchet.”
We both agreed. A couple of days later, I had a solo acoustic show at a nearby venue, and I said, “Come to my show and just sit in. I’ll play a little bit of acoustic guitar.” He goes, “Yeah, cool. I’ll do that. Can I bring my drummer, Shane?” I said, “Yeah, sure.” He didn’t play drums. He played one of those percussive box things. I went over to Tracii’s house, and we ran through some songs I was going to do in my short acoustic set. The chemistry was there. The vibe was there.
Then it was like, “Do you want to do some shows with this?” He had a singer at the time, but he had a show in Chicago, and I had a show with my version of L.A. Guns a couple of days before his show. I’m not sure if he was calling it L.A. Guns. I think it might have been something else, like Gunzo or something like that at the time. So he goes, “Do you want to get up?” And I was like, “Yeah, sure.” I stayed in Chicago for a couple of days after my show, got up and played with him, and it was like the old band. That pretty much sealed the deal. I stopped doing my version, and we put our heads together and said, “Look, we’re going to do this.” And we did.
We started working on “The Devil You Know,” which is a very funny, appropriate title for the situation between the two of us. It’s been great ever since. We’ve made up for lost time. We both realized how stupid we were and how we should have done it way earlier than we did, but better late than never.
“Never ever say never. That’s the lesson I learned, because I was so adamant about it when I looked Eddie right in the eye and he asked, “Are you going to play with Tracii again?” I went, “Never.” So that’s the story. That’s the story of the amazing reunion!
In the decade that followed, L.A. Guns has delivered five studio albums and you’re still out there killing it on the road. On July 3rd, you’ll release “Live From The Guild Theatre” via Cleopatra Records, which really captures this chapter of the band. As music fans, we’re hearing more and more about “Blue Dot Fever” and the realities of modern touring. L.A. Guns continues to push forward, as the band always has. As someone on the frontlines, what kind of impact has that had on you and the band?
I understand these are very difficult times for people and for bands, especially budding bands and new bands. It’s also a very difficult time for established bands, even the big bands, the A-list nationals that are feeling the pinch. We’re somewhere in the middle.
I don’t want to get cocky about it, but it feels almost recession-proof. We’re filling shows. We’re filling big clubs and small theaters by ourselves, and the presence is there. We’re really lucky to be in that niche, right between the struggling new bands and the big bands that have exorbitant expenses. We go out, get on our BandWagon, and make it work. We make decent money, get great attendance, and we’re selling merch. No complaints from us personally, but I am aware that it’s a tricky time for a lot of musicians.
As a fan who has waited in line to see one of your shows, it’s always cool to hear other fans talk about their experiences and what a great performance you deliver. They know it’s a quality ticket, that they’re going to get what they paid for, and that they’re getting all that rock history in one place. I think that speaks volumes about the work that you, Tracii, Johnny, Ace, and Shawn put in every single night.
That’s great to hear! Thank you. Tracii is my greatest foil. I’ve played with hundreds of guitar players, but none of them can get the very best out of me the way he does. He does that because he always gives his 100% best. He’s never half-assed. He never just goes up there and plays. Every time we get onstage together, we both give absolutely everything. It’s a really satisfying feeling for us, and clearly, it’s infectious. People dig it. They pick up on it, and it’s great.
It’s keeping us young. It’s keeping us happy. It’s keeping us from sitting at home, feeling miserable, and resting on our laurels. We’ve done five albums since the reunion, and every one of them has been great. Every one of them has been fun. Every one of them has been very different. Long may we reign! People like you, and fans who acknowledge that we’re not fucking around, that’s such a driving force.
Another development in the L.A. Guns story that really has fans buzzing is the new look you recently debuted. It’s bold, confident, and it feels like a statement. You totally own it. What inspired that change, and what made now the right time to switch things up?
It’s funny because I look back at us in the late ’80s, and all the bands that were around at the time in the Hollywood scene, they all looked the fucking same. They all had the same hair. They all wore the same kind of threads, and they all claimed to be individuals.
It was like, “No, we are individuals.” And they weren’t. It was a uniform. Everyone dressed the same, everyone spoke the same, everyone behaved the same. Looking back on it now, I see old flyers for bands that didn’t break through, and it’s absolutely terribly boring.
Cut to now. We played the Whisky this year on New Year’s Eve, and then we didn’t have anything for a couple of months. I went home, looked at myself in the mirror, and thought, “Oh, this hair. I’m going to get it cut. Or I’ve got to dye it because it’s getting a bit gray. Should I part it on the left? Part it on the right? Down the middle? Push it back? Push it forward?”
And I just said, “Fuck it.” I shaved it all off. The whole fucking thing! Honestly, I’d been meaning to do it for a long time, and it was just where the dice landed. I thought, “Whatever. I’m going to start again from scratch.” Fortunately, it’s grown since February, and it’s doing its own thing. I’m not doing anything to it. I didn’t plan on stopping dyeing my hair or stopping trying to tease it up. I didn’t plan on any of that. It was just liberating. It felt so liberating not to have to fucking worry about it. And it’s grown in beautifully. Tracii loves it, and 99% of the fans love it. Some of the South American diehards think, “He’s sold out. He’s just getting old now.” And they can fuck off. I tell them that, and our fans tell them that as well! So be it.
This is it. I’m never going to dye my hair again. I’m never going to try and look like I’m 30 anymore. I’m over that. And consequently, dress sense as well. I’ve got all the gear. I’ve got all the leathers and all the studs and all of that. But I’m a bit bored with that, to be honest with you. I’ll leave that to Alice Cooper! I’m just being myself.
So, now for the million-dollar question: What does the future hold for L.A. Guns from here?
As I said, we’ve done these five studio albums. Rather than going in and just repeating ourselves with another album, I think we proved ourselves as original songwriters in this era. Hence the release of the live album, “Live From The Guild Theatre.”
The live album is a mixture of songs that our fans know, like “Sex Action,” “Never Enough,” and “Electric Gypsy,” but it’s also peppered with new stuff that has become a staple in our set. For me personally, the live album really cements the old L.A. Guns and the new L.A. Guns. It’s a trophy of those two eras!
We’re really lucky because a lot of bands will go, “This is the new one,” and they’ll clear the room because people just want to hear “The Ballad of Jayne” or “Sex Action.” But no, our fans dig it. They dig the new stuff. They dig “Cannonball.” They dig “Speed.” And as they should, because they’re great fucking songs. It’s L.A. Guns. It’s undeniably L.A. Guns! We haven’t tried to get techno or change the vibe. It’s the same vibe. I think we’re better. I’m a better singer, and we’re just better at what we do.
What’s next? I don’t know. Tracii is talking about doing a new original record next year, so we’ll see how it goes. To be honest, I’m not in a hurry to do another original record quite so soon. I think it might be a bit of overkill to just rush back into the studio for the sake of it because we haven’t put something out in a couple of years. In terms of touring, we’ve been talking about going over to England and Europe. We haven’t been over there in a long time, over a decade, so that’s promising. I’m looking forward to that.
The relationship between Tracii and I has never been better. We have a great band. We’ve never had a better band than this — EVER! People say, “You should get the original guys.” No, fuck that! The original guys don’t have a fraction of the passion that Johnny, Ace, and Shawn have. It would be crazy to take such a step back. The other guys stopped doing music. Tracii and I have never stopped doing music. We’d be carrying old souls for no reason at all. We’ve got current, strong players, and I hope this lineup is an indefinite lineup.
After all these years with L.A. Guns, is there still any creative territory outside the band that you’ve been exploring?
I’m doing a lot of sessions. I’m doing a lot of stuff for video games, mostly covers, but some original material as well. It pays really well, and I can do it from the comfort of my own home. Everyone’s got a studio now. With a laptop, an interface, and an internet connection, you’re good to go. I’ve been doing a lot of that and really enjoying it. A lot of musicians and writers who aren’t necessarily the strongest singers like to hear what their creation sounds like with a supposedly good singer. I’ll leave that for you and them to decide! But I’m happy to do it. It lets their song, their work, shine a bit. I’ve been doing quite a bit of that and really liking it. That and the nude male modeling, of course. [laughs]
I’ve asked you before about the possibility of writing an autobiography. With everything you’ve lived through in this business, is that still something that interests you?
No, it’s completely out of the question. The potential for damage doesn’t equate to what I’m going to sell. What am I going to sell, 100 books? 1,000 books? They’re not going to make a mini biopic of my life story. Get real, Phil!
It’s just not worth burning bridges and upsetting people inadvertently. You might say something and piss somebody off. No. I’ll tell stories. I’ll tell you stories all day long, but I’m not putting them to paper because it’s too volatile. It’s incendiary. I couldn’t. I just… nah.
When you look back on your journey, what do you think is the biggest lesson people can take from it?
When we started this conversation, I talked about falling to my knees in front of the TV on a Thursday night. Coming from there to actually being a real musician, a real songwriter, a real singer, that’s just osmosis. It’s sheer love and determination and wanting to be what we are now. It was a dream, and it’s definitely a dream come true.
We’re not platinum artists. There were bands around at the time that were phenomena, especially for me and Tracii. Tracii comes from Guns N’ Roses, who were phenomenal. Phil went on to Def Leppard, another phenomenon. We’ve never been a phenomenon. We’re just a great band, and I’m fine with that.
I would never have wanted Girl to blow up like Def Leppard. That would have been torture for me because that was never the plan. Bands like Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, and Guns N’ Roses, if they were a novel, they’d be a series of books. They’d be a miniseries. For Girl, it was just a one-page poem, and it was never designed to be anything more than that. If Girl had gotten as big as Def Leppard, I would have missed out on so much.
There have been so many adventures, highs and lows. I’m okay now. Things are good. I accept that there are highs and lows, and I’m fine with it. It’s been a great odyssey. It’s been a great journey, and that’s really what I signed up for. The adventure, and to get good. To go into the studio, record a song, come out and go, “Hey, check this out.” That was always a big thrill. It’s something I aspired to do, and I’ve reached that level. And I’m really happy about it.
It’s really great to hear you talk about feeling so centered at this point in your life and career. That kind of perspective has to be a powerful thing to bring into this next chapter.
Oh, yeah. No, it’s great. I’ve never been happier!
Before I let you go, I really wanted to pass along a kind word to your Mrs., who has really knocked it out of the park when it comes to the band’s cover art over the past decade.
Thank you! Yes, that’s my wife, Kahla. You can find a link to her work on my Facebook and Instagram. She’s doing an exhibition right now called “Get Your Own,” and the theme is animals eating human food.
Her work is incredible and the attention to detail is mind-blowing. For example, I saw an image on her Instagram this morning of the adorable little otter with an array of sushi laid out his belly!
Yeah, eating the sushi. Don’t you dare try and take any of that sushi from the otter because he’ll bite your finger off! [laughs] And it’s a whole series. She’s got a cobra poking its head above a cluster of onion rings. She’s so funny, but anatomically, the animals are absolutely perfect. It’s like they’ve come out of a textbook. She’s a professor. She’s literally a certified art professor, so yeah, she’s that good. Then she interjects her humor, and the dichotomy of the two is just brilliant. She does our albums and our artwork, and she’s really good at picking up on what we want and what we’re going for. Tracii loves her work and what she’s done for the image of this band. She’s a very integral part of the team.
I couldn’t agree with you more! She brings a lot to the table. Phil, thank you so much for your time today. It’s been a pleasure.
It was really nice talking to you, Jason. I appreciate it. Good questions, and thanks for the support!
L.A. Guns’ “Live From The Guild Theatre” arrives July 3 via Cleopatra Records, capturing a legendary band still loud, locked in, and firing on all cylinders. Most importantly, the band is currently out on their Lucky MF’r World Tour, delivering electrifying performances night after night. Their live show is well worth the ticket price, and you never know, you just might have the time of your life!
Jason Price founded the mighty Icon Vs. Icon more than a decade ago. Along the way, he’s assembled an amazing group of like-minded individuals to spread the word on some of the most unique people and projects on the pop culture landscape.
