Phil Lewis needs no introduction, as the iconic frontman of L.A. Guns he’s cemented his place in rock history as one of the great vocalists of the sunset strip. In the last six years since he reunited with guitarist Tracii Guns his band has released a string of great albums that rank among the best in the bands career, Go to one of their live shows to see that while some of their contemporaries have lost some steam L.A. Guns are still at the top of their game. We at The Rockpit caught up with Phil to talk about his band’s recent album Black Diamonds, his influences, and less addressed parts of his history in the industry.
Rob: Hi Phil! Thank you very much for talking with The Rockpit. You guys are in between tours right now, how has the current one been going for you so far?
Phil: We had a very busy summer touring and came off the road in September for a couple of months, December is always busy for a party band like us and next year is already stacked.
Rob: Yeah! I saw you’re touring with K.K’s Priest and Tom Kiefer, those are going to be great shows! I was at the second counts vamp’d show this month and you guys never cease to be amazing live.
Phil: Vamped shows were the first after the break, so we were full of piss ‘n’ vinegar for sure.
Rob: You guys have an extensive back catalogue with a LOT of great material, how do you go about choosing songs to play?
Phil: It’s definitely a challenge. We have to play the nuggets: “Sex Action” “Electric Gypsy” “The Ballad of Jayne” etc and we look for gaps to fill in with new songs but having so many we have to rotate them. “You Betray” “Diamonds” and “Like A Drug” are the 3 new ones in current rotation.
Rob: I think in a lot of cases with bands that have been around for a while the fans seem hung up on the older songs and while fans definitely want to hear the classics, I feel with you guys the new material is really embraced by the fans and it goes over well live. At least that’s my observation from the shows I’ve been to the last three years, your new material is strong.
Phil: Thanks! The new songs are strong, so we’re keen to play them live, sometimes for the first time as a band.
Rob: Black Diamonds is your fourth studio album in six years, add to that a Christmas EP and a live album, that’s more than most artists do in that amount of time. Do you guys do a lot of writing on the road or at rehearsals?
Phil: We recorded much of BD on the road, but it’s all written before and this band has never rehearsed since 1987.
Rob: The sound of this record is massive! It captures really well how you guys sound live, and every member of the band is bringing their A game on these songs. Was the band together in the studio recording this? Or were the parts recorded separately?
Phil: It’s was such a blessing to work as a band on this album, Checkered Past was recorded completely remote and nowhere near as much fun.
Rob: I actually want to ask you about that. Most artists I interview record remotely these days, what do you feel the pros and cons are of studio recording and recording remotely. And do you have any preference on analogue verses digital recording?
Phil: Personally, I prefer to record together as a band and focus on what I have to do to improve and could contribute to the song and I find it working remotely is the technical aspects are challenging, I tend to focus on things that aren’t important like file exchange and boring stuff like that. And as far as analogue and digital goes, digital has come so far since the old 16 bit recorders now it’s virtually impossible to tell the difference, but it is nice to watch the reels go round and round. But analogue is slow and if you’re working hard recording a whole bunch of songs specific parts then really the computer is the way to go.
Rob: How long did it take to record the album?
Phil: What’s the world record? Take about eight months from conception to completion, that’s most of our records.
Rob: I know that some artists archive recordings of song ideas that they think have potential but still need something and it clicks later on, Is that the case with any of these songs? And if so, what song has been around the longest?
Phil: Our work is 100% lean. We write 10-11 songs, We complete them all, there’s never anything left over and if there is it goes onto the next record.
Rob: How do songs usually come together for you guys? Are you and Tracii the primary song writers or does the whole band bring in ideas?
Phil: Tracii is the principal songwriter. Let’s face it, nobody wants to bring in a song that he’s gonna be bored playing, so it’s really up to him what he feels like playing for the next couple of years. The rest of the writing process is quite democratic. All the guys bring in songs, Johnny brought songs, Ace brought in songs, We collaborate with Mitch Davis. I record my vocals with Mitch in New York, it’s a team and it’s pretty much the same team with the exception of dramas since the beginning of the reunion, I enjoy working with this team and I’ve have never been disappointed with anything we focused on.
Rob: You guys are in my opinion putting out some of the best work of your career, the last few records have been phenomenal and Black Diamonds is no exception.
Phil: Thank you very much, I think we’re making up for lost time.
Rob: Your voice has stayed in great shape; you’ve honestly not lost any ability that I can tell. Do you do anything in particular to keep your vocal range intact?
Phil: You know, singing, or my kind of screaming is very physical and should be approached the same way as an athlete might approach a challenging run for routine. Especially if there are multiple dates involved and a recording schedule, it’s important to have some voice left the next day after you’ve been screaming in the studio. Especially at 300 bucks an hour, so over the course of time you learn what’s good for it and what’s not. It’s sometimes a little boring but ultimately, my job is to deliver and if I don’t then I feel terrible, and it’s been a while since I had that feeling and I do my very best to make sure it’s not often hopefully ever.
Rob: You’ve honestly been fantastic at the shows I’ve been to; I’ve seen a lot of the bands from the 80’s and most of the singers I’ve seen don’t quite have the range they used to. So the first time I saw you guys live in 2021 I was blown away by how great you all sound.
Phil: Next one on me buddy.
Rob: I’ll take you up on that.
Rob: There’s a strong 60’s and 70’s rock influence on a lot of this album, I know Tracii is a huge Led Zeppelin fan and that comes across on this album. Were they a big influence on you? What bands really inspire you as an artist?
Phil: Me and Tracii are very influenced by the 70s. Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Beatles. that’s why it’s important for us to release something on vinyl, just the tangibility of the medium is what we think is what we hope ultimately our creation will end up sounding best on.
Rob: Vinyl is definitely the best format. I’ve got albums I listen to on digital and when I listen to the vinyl of the same album, I hear things I don’t hear in the digital version, it’s a more pure sound.
Phil: indeed.
Rob: The musical chemistry you and Tracii have isn’t common in my opinion, when you have that lightning in a bottle combination of a singer and a guitarist who match each other perfectly. What comes to mind for me is Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, or Mick Jaggar and Keith Richards. What’s it like to have that sort of connection with someone in a band?
Phil: Yeah, as you say there are these iconic combinations that are cornerstones of this music like Mick Jaggar and Keith Richards and Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend. I do feel Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns are certainly a formidable combo and that really just comes down to our upbringing. He won’t agree, but we’re approximately the same age and we grew up listening to the same music, we’re fans/children of the double album gatefold. We think in terms of albums, we don’t think in terms of songs. We do think of songs of course, But we don’t think “Oh, we’re just going to work on this song” it’s always in the context of an album and he’s always been like that and so have I.
Now, I’m not for a second saying that it’s harmonious all the time, No. Quite the opposite, Far from it, Because we both have really strong ideas, there are times we go off on these wild tangents that are really kinda hard to explain. Like, He had this thing for punk rock for awhile, I guess it was in the 90’s and it was all punkabilly, and rockabilly and he cut his hair like a teddy boy, it was just a really weird phase musically that he was going through and of course I couldn’t stand it. And then you know, there are times when I get into my quirky tangent and I don’t know.. maybe new age, you know something that involves sequencing. Something a little less meat and potatoes that L.A. Guns is but you know i think that is an integral part of the difference between us and also a very bonding factor that he has that, that we have that.
At the moment we’re both on the same page, we like the same stuff. I really love the stuff he’s bringing in and I’m proud as hell of the stuff that we’ve done since the reunion. So, yeah I’ve played with hundreds of guitar players, different musicians over the years, but he puts the flame up it. I work harder with him than I do with any other guitar player or musician because I know his standards are so high and it’s expected of me to be the same and he’s pretty amazing.
I introduce him on stage as a national treasure, which he is! Perhaps a little underrated. But it’s just such a joy watching him work every night, so focused and that’s all he does. He plays that guitar all day and then he shines with it at night. So, yeah it’s nice that you noticed that we have a combo feature between the two of us, that’s a good question.
Rob: I remember during the 90s there was a time you stepped away from the music business, after touring the world and all you had done up to that point what was it like adjusting to life outside of the music industry and what was it like getting back into it?
Phil: Yeah, in 1992 for all intents and purposes I retired from the music business. I always thought it was going to be a hobby, that it was something that I loved. But in terms of being a professional musician I was done.
The Bubble had burst. The big 80’s bubble had burst and our name was shit, If anything had to do with Hollywood, if it had anything to do with rock n roll then we were immediate pariahs. And so ok I was fine with that, I accepted it and I focused on something I could incorporate my skills as a musician. So I got into recording, I got into post production recording and I didn’t hate it, I was good at it.
I had some really cool guys I was working with; many Ex-Musicians were in the post game and you know Greg Steele from Faster Pussycat, I’d run into him all the time in various post production houses, good guy. And you know, the money is good when you do that. Back then I was making a hundred grand a year, which was good money for the 90’s.
But oh my god it was the monotony, The insufferable monotony! Like 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, it was just really hard to deal with. But then again, I was on dad duty, I had just had a baby daughter. So my priorities changed.
I had to get her to school, I had to make sandwiches, So it just didn’t really make sense for me to be in music.
There was no music to be in, It was a really quiet time. I honestly with my true heart thought that was going to be it, that I was done. That was something I did from the 80’s to the 90’s and it was great. When, in 2000 I get a call from Mick Cripps, The guitar player in L.A. Guns, saying a label had shown some interest and and they were putting up some money and would I be interested in coming back with the original line up and doing an album? I had really not much else going on, I had nothing to lose.
It wasn’t like I was that busy, as I said I was bored out of my mind doing post production. So, we did! We got together, it was great getting together. We recorded an album, it was called Black Beauties I think? It’s a terrible record but it proved to me there was still a spark.
There’s this saying “You don’t give up the road, The road gives up you” So, I came back to music in 2000 and it was like when I first moved to Los Angeles. Is this it? Am I going to be here for two weeks? Two months? Two years? And now that was twenty four years ago. So I can’t complain.
But yeah, for awhile there I was doing a daily grind, wearing my dockers and my button up shirt. Said yes sir! No Sir! It was as far as straight gigs go, it was a good one and as I said the money was awesome.
But no, you know.. you get to Friday afternoon and oh it’s the weekend! But no it’s not, it’s just two days before Monday and that didn’t appeal to my bohemian sensibilities.
Rob: If you could be there to witness the recording of any album ever released which one would it be and why?
Phil: You know as far as recording goes there are so many amazing records that I would have loved to have been in on the session. Hendrix comes to mind, Zeppelin comes to mind. The thing is.. The engineers, the producers of both Hendrix and Zeppelin: Eddie Kramer and Andy Johns, I worked closely with both of them. Especially Andy Johns, I did like five records with him. So, it was by osmosis really. I felt that we were, that I was witnessing somebody working that had worked with the greats and he had a very specific style. He always mic’d the drums the same way he did with John Bonham, three Microphones and just the same tricks he’d been using in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s.
So it was very much like if I do a vocal take and ask “How was that Andy?” And he goes “Phil, It was excellent” or “Phil, You could do better”…Now, This is the guy that recorded the vocals to “Stairway To Heaven” so you gotta take his opinion very seriously and I did and I learned a lot working with him and I miss him. But that one album that I wish… I don’t know, just as I said working with those iconic, Legendary producers that were responsible for that sound was pretty much close enough for me.
Want read more about L.A Guns? Head to their latest album review – HERE