Phil Lewis: New LA Guns material sounds amazing

LA Guns
(Image credit: Ron Lyon)

Phil Lewis says the new LA Guns material he’s working on with Tracii Guns “sounds amazing.”

The two founding members of the band reunited last year for a handful of live shows, ending years of dispute over the outfit’s name, which at one point saw Lewis perform with his version of LA Guns and Guns the other.

And since their reconciliation, the pair have been working on new material together – and Lewis can’t wait for people to hear it.

He tells Westword: “It’s going really good. Tracii and I are getting along really well now. We’re both really focused on the same goals. We’re working on new songs.

“It sounds amazing – I’m not exaggerating. It’s so slick, and every song is so well-crafted. Big choruses. It’s really interesting, and I think people are going to be knocked out by it.

“We’re gonna release it on CD and digital, of course, but we’re gonna put it put on vinyl. We have enough to put it out on double vinyl gatefold.”

They’ve been playing under the LA Guns’ Phil Lewis & Tracii Guns banner, but Lewis hopes that will be shortened in the near future.

He explains: “It’s just to let people absolutely know without a shadow of a doubt exactly what they’re getting. Hopefully, after six months to a year, we can just go back to calling it LA Guns.

“Right now, it’s a big deal. We haven’t played together in 15 years. Time does fly – I’m 60. When I was 30, I thought I was so fucking old. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Six months later, I joined LA Guns.

“I’m not gonna let numbers dictate. You’re supposed to act a certain way at a certain time. I’ve been lucky health-wise, so I keep doing it.”

Lewis and Guns are working with drummer Shane Fitzgibbon, bassist Johnny Martin and guitarist Michael Grant.

The band hope to release the new album this summer.

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Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.