L.A. Guns at the Rust Belt -- July 10.
Friday, July 10, 7 p.m.
The Rust Belt, 533 12th Avenue, East Moline IL
With their latest album Leopard Skin hailed by The Rockpit as "a hook-filled, melody-drenched delight" and "perfectly mixed and balanced from start to finish," the hard rockers and glam-metal musicians of L.A. Guns return to East Moline venue The Rust Belt on July 10, the latest recording in their career of four decades plus also lauded by CGCM Rock Radio as "a wild ride and quite possibly the most diverse album of their career."
With the group first formed in 1983 by lead guitarist Tracii Guns and drummer Rob Gardner, the discography of L.A. Guns is composed of 17 studio releases (15 original studio albums, two cover albums, and one re-recording album), nine live albums, 13 compilation albums, four EPs, 27 singles, six video albums, and 25 music videos. After some early lineup changes, the group – consisting of Guns, vocalist Phil Lewis, rhythm guitarist Mick Cripps, bassist Kelly Nickels, and drummer Nickey Alexander – signed with PolyGram and released its self-titled debut album in 1988. It reached number 50 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). After Alexander was replaced by Steve Riley, L.A. Guns' 1989 follow-up Cocked & Loaded reached number 38 on the Billboard 200, with the single "The Ballad of Jayne" giving the rockers their debut on the Hot 100, reaching number 33.
Released in 1991, Hollywood Vampires reached number 42 on the Billboard 200, with three of the album's four singles charting on the Mainstream Rock chart, and "It's Not Over Now" hitting number 62 on the Hot 100. Despite a number of lineup changes, the band continued to issue new albums with new musicians throughout the 1990s: 1996's American Hardcore featured vocalist Chris Van Dahl and bassist Johnny Crypt; the 1998 EP Wasted featured vocalist Ralph Saenz; and 1999's Shrinking Violet showcased vocalist Jizzy Pearl.
The classic lineup of Guns, Lewis, Cripps, Nickels and Riley reunited in 1999 to record Cocked & Re-Loaded, while 2002's Waking the Dead was recorded by the four-piece lineup of Lewis, Guns, Riley and Adam Hamilton, after which founding member Guns left the band. After three albums without the guitarist, Lewis and Guns reunited for the first time since 2002 in 2016, and the following year, L.A. Guns released The Missing Peace, which reached number 16 on the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart and number 12 on the Independent Albums chart. Since then, The Devil You Know was released as the album's follow-up in March of 2019, and the group's recent recordings include 2021's Checkered Past, 2023's Black Diamonds, and last year's Leopard Skin.
As stated in L.A. Gun's official biography: "'There’s the saying, ‘a leopard never changes its spots,’ founding guitarist Tracii Guns says. 'But even so, they have a million different spots. And they’re all unique. It’s the same with L.A. Guns. We can’t shed our leopard skin, but there’s a lot of different spots in this band.' Not only is Leopard Skin hot on the heels of 2023’s Black Diamonds album, but is also their fifth studio effort in seven years, since the core team of guitarist and band founder Tracii Guns and singer Phil Lewis reunited in 2017. Leopard Skin, like the last few L.A. Guns records, reconvenes the tight-knit lineup of Guns, Lewis, bassist Johnny Martin, guitarist Ace Von Johnson and studio drummer Adam Hamilton, but beyond that it is its own unique beast. True to form, it’s a hard-and-heavy, tough-as-nails L.A. Guns set. But the music also presents the band at their funkiest, rowdiest, most classic-rock-worshipping best. And it’s clear they’re having a helluva lot of fun playing it.
"Where does that position L.A. Guns in 2026? Tracii returns to Leopard Skin. 'The song title ‘Lucky Motherfucker’ kinda says it all,' he says. 'Because I don’t know how many other bands that have been around almost 40 years are still out there not just touring consistently, but putting out records consistently, and the thing just keeps getting bigger and bigger from year to year. So the work ethic is yielding what it’s supposed to, you know what I mean? The fans stay excited, we stay excited, and we keep making records. And as long as we have that opportunity and there’s a place for this music in the world, there’s no reason to ever stop.'"
L.A. Guns bring their "Lucky MF'R" tour to East Moline on July 10 with additional sets by Tommy's RockTrip and The Krank Daddies, admission to the 7 p.m. concert is $42.61, and more information and tickets are available by visiting TheRustBeltQC.com.
