Interview by Paul Salfen
Written and recorded over the course of 2022, ‘Black Diamonds’ sees Tracii Guns, Phil Lewis and company continuing on the same successful and inspiring sonic journey that they’ve been taking on their most recent albums, ‘Checkered Past’, ‘The Devil You Know’, and ‘The Missing Peace’.
The band doesn’t shy away from flexing their hard rock influences as they always have, but also incorporate more introspective acoustic tracks reflective of their classic rock influences from the ’70s. This makes for a potent and highly listenable cocktail of an album in ‘Black Diamonds’.
Since their self-titled debut in 1988 to their widely praised recent suite of “comeback” albums, L.A. GUNS, led by Tracii Guns and Phil Lewis, have always delivered solid rock ‘n roll to their fans. Since core members Tracii and Phil reunited under the banner of L.A. Guns in 2017, a rekindling of the band’s creative energy has been continuing unabated over the course of, now, four studio albums. ‘Black Diamonds’ shows no signs of this renaissance slowing down…
L.A. Guns never looked like the pretty poster boys that so many of their peers did, but more the band that you would be terrified to bump into in an alley as they would likely be carrying switchblades and ready for a fight. But despite having many songs to back up that image, the band could also write powerful ballads (see the smash hit, “The Ballad Of Jayne” for Exhibit A of this argument) that showed there were some serious songwriting chops in the band.
The story of how we got from the band’s powerful early years to a fourth new studio album in the relatively short time that Guns and Lewis have reunited has already been well documented, so no need to rehash it.
What’s important to know and understand is that the driving force of all those classic L.A. Guns songs was Tracii and Phil. Feeling inspired and excited like they did when they first started out, but with many years of wisdom and experience under their belts, and most importantly, a renewed and stronger creative and personal relationship, Guns, Lewis, and L.A. Guns as a whole are at a creative peak.
