The L.A. Guns have a new record out, released in April 2025, called Leopard Skin. I have been a fan of the band since its debut. Since that time there have been numerous lineup changes, and notably, a time period in which two versions of the band were both playing shows and releasing records at the same time. No matter, the core of the band reunited a few records ago, and they have been fairly prolific since then - that core being Tracii Guns on guitar and Phil Lewis on vocals. Since getting back together, Tracii and Phil have recorded The Missing Peace, Checkered Past, The Devil You Know, Black Diamonds and now Leopard Skin. And that’s just since 2017, which is pretty good for a band that’s been releasing records since 1988.
So, let’s get to the new record. I read prior to its release that the band was promising its “sleaziest record in years.” Initially, I thought that might mean that the band was going to tone down the harder rock of the previous records and return more to the heyday of the band in the late 1980’s. I was right, kind of. Here’s the deal. I find the new record more melodic and therefore, for me, better than the last several releases. The old 1980’s records were more melodic too, but this is not a lame attempt to recreate the past. The new songs are fresh, hard rock and roll and I like it. The first two tracks are called “Taste It” and “Lucky M**********r.” Those two tracks were the first two songs released as well. Both are catchy, and indeed sleazy. Track three is called “The Grinder” and I don’t love it. Track four, “Hit and Run,” is my favorite song on the record, which is shocking because it clocks in at over five minutes and I normally hate long songs.
Tracks five and six, “Don’t Gimme Away” and “I’m Your Candy Man” are both fine, but not awesome. Track seven, “Runaway Train,” is a throwaway for me. It’s totally out of character and unnecessary. Track eight is called “Follow the Money” and it is solidly there with track four as one of my favorites. Track nine is the ballad on the record. It’s called “The Masquerade.” It is a good tune, and if you were hoping to re-live your youth when “Ballad of Jane” was a smash hit, this is pretty close. It’s a really nice song. Finally, the record wraps up with its tenth track, called “If You Wanna” and it is another catchy rocker. In the end, I would say that tracks 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, and 10 are all really solid. Throw in 5 and 6 as decent and that only leaves 3 and 7 as misfires. Pretty damn good.
Based upon my love of the band, I also bought tickets to see them in Leesburg, VA on May 1st. Let’s move on to the live show.
My wife and I splurged on VIP tickets for this one, so we were relaxing in seats in the balcony of the club, called The Tally Ho Theater. We’ve been there many, many times. The VIP seats are upstairs. At the back of our area, there was a non-descript door with this sign taped to it:
I briefly considered knocking but decided that was bad idea. The opener was called Red Reign. They had a few decent songs, and I’ve definitely seen much worse, but I can’t say that I was at all impressed. About halfway through the set, I made my way to the merch booth. There were some $40 t-shirts, a $100 signed vinyl record (no unsigned copies available) and a $2,000 signature Tracii Guns guitar. I was disappointed, and sadly, it wouldn’t be my last disappointment for the evening. The headliners hit the stage around 9:15 p.m. I cheated and looked at Setlist FM so I knew the general set they would play and I could count on about 90 minutes of music. As I expected, they opened with “Cannonball,” a bombastic cut from their Checkered Past record. They followed with “Electric Gypsy” from their debut. Two songs in, the band was cranked up to eleven across the board, making for a muddled mess with vocals that were difficult to hear. I hate that. Song number three was “Over the Edge” from the highly underrated 1991 Hollywood Vampires record. Unfortunately, the sound was not improving, rendering a really good song to be average sounding at best.
Next up was “Sex Action” which is my favorite song from the debut record, and one that I have never heard them play live, at least not since the 1980’s. It sounded fairly good. Somewhat awkwardly, they brought out some poor girl dressed in lingerie to dance on stage during that song. She did fine I guess, but it seemed weird. I was going to take a brief video of that song, but I opted no to due to the dancing girl and the oddly queasy feeling I had. She only did that one song, which was for the best. My favorite song from the new record, as noted previously, is “Hit and Run.” They played that one next and it was decent as well. After three more somewhat forgettable songs, the band honed in on their most popular tunes from their biggest record by far, 1988’s Cocked & Loaded. We got “I Wanna Be Your Man,” Ballad of Jane,” “Rip and Tear” and the set-ender, “Never Enough.”
They also threw in “Lucky M**********r” from the new record in there somewhere. That run of the last five songs was good, but still not great. The sound was off and the boys didn’t have their best show at all. I will say that throughout the set, Tracii Guns had numerous solos and he would morph into riffs from well-known songs from bands including Black Sabbath, Ted Nugent, AC/DC, etc. He’s really an uber-talented guitarist, but all that soloing goes against my love of three-minute rock ‘n’ roll songs with minimal noodling. All-in-all it was my least favorite L.A. Guns show to date, out of about 7 or 8 times seeing them. Don’t get me wrong though, my wife and I had a blast, because we always do. It’s still a night of live rock ‘n’ roll, and that’s the best kind of night, isn’t it?
The L.A. Guns (Vocalist Phil Lewis is not in this shot)
There you have it. If you are a fan of L.A. Guns, buy the new record and maybe go catch them on tour. A little less than average show will not dampen my love of the band. For me, this band, along with Faster Pussycat, is amongst the best of the era. It defies logic to me that Guns ‘N Roses is playing stadiums while I catch L.A. Guns and Faster Pussycat in a club every few years. Sorry, but G’n R had two world class songs (“Welcome to the Jungle” and “Sweet Child O’Mine”) and a few more good ones and a slew of average ones. I have 57 L.A. Guns songs on my ‘best of’ playlist. Oh well, to each his own.
JCE, or John to his friends, was born 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. His wife of 34 years says he’ll never grow up, and she’s exactly right. He attributes that to his lifelong love affair with all things rock n roll.