In a recent chat with KNAC.COM, Steve Riley was asked his Riley’s L.A. Guns has to coordinate its touring and release schedule around the activities of the Phil Lewis-fronted L.A. Guns, which also features guitarist Tracii Guns.
About this, Riley said:
“No, not really, because we’re doing our own thing. Those guys, I believe, are doing what I had done, which is 250 shows a year, plus filling all the weekdays up with small clubs all over the country and trying to connect the dots so they’re out there for long periods of time. I had done that for so long, and it’s a grueling experience; it’s not an easy schedule. Kelly [Nickels, Riley’s L.A. Guns bassist and a member of L.A. Guns‘ ‘classic’ incarnation] and I, we don’t wanna do that anymore.
”We wanna do nice venues and a lot of casinos and a lot of theaters and festivals. If you do those type of shows, you know you’re playing on a nice stage, you’re playing with good equipment, a nice P.A. and you can hang a backdrop and [get] a nice hotel. So if we can do 20 to 40 shows a year, we’re happy. But not to compete and do 250 shows a year. So we have absolutely two different ways of approaching this.”
Riley continued about Guns and Lewis:
“We don’t really step on each other’s feet. And one thing me and Kelly haven’t done is badmouth those guys. We still love those guys, and we’ve done so much great stuff with them that we’re just not gonna get into a war of words with those guys. It is what it is, and we’re doing what we’re doing. And we wish them luck with what they’re doing too; we really do.”