Drummer Steve Riley (L.A. Guns) talked to with Waste Some Time With Jason Green, about the relationship between Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns.
Here’s what he said:
“The real effort from Tracii to stop me came when Phil just blew on me that he was gonna get back with Tracii. And that in itself is amazing because… I’ve told it before, and me and [former L.A. Guns bassist] Kelly Nickels talk about it, how can those two guys be together right now ’cause they do not like each other. I don’t care what anybody says; I know what I know. I was the only one constant factor in L.A. Guns through all the changes. I know how they talked about each other. I know how they got along when they were together, and they do not like each other.
”So when Phil came to me saying, ‘I’m gonna go and start doing some shows with Tracii,’ I was, like, ‘Woah! Really?’ We were out on the road doing a bunch of dates, and that just came out of nowhere. And I was, like, ‘Wow. If that’s what you wanna do.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, it’s just gonna be a few dates ’cause he’s out of his mind, Steve.
”I don’t know how long it’s gonna last.’ And I was, like, why even do them? But anyways, he ended up doing them. Then he came back and said, ‘I’m going to be leaving and doing Tracii full-time.’ And that was midway through 2016 — it was midway through that summer tour. So I had to go for six months knowing he was a lame duck; he was gonna be splitting.”