L.A. Guns is an American rock band whose music is frequently associated with the L.A. glam metal scene which grew up around the Sunset Strip in the 1980s, in particular the sleaze rock subgenre. Guns N' Roses, which once featured three of the original L.A. Guns members, was the most prominent exponent of this subgenre, generally preferring an anti-social image to elaborate make-up and costumes. Today two bands share and tour using the L.A. Guns name: One is headed by Tracii Guns, the founder of the original band, and the other is headed by Phil Lewis and Steve Riley, the singer and drummer of the most successful incarnation of the band.

During September 2002, founding guitarist Tracii Guns became very involved in Brides of Destruction, a new project with Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx. Guns saw the project as an opportunity to recapture the fan and street-credibility he had held in the late 1980s and signed on as lead guitarist for Brides of Destruction. In 2004, the new band embarked on a World Tour, and the future of L.A. Guns was in doubt until both Steve Riley and Phil Lewis told the Hairball John Radio Show that the band would continue despite Tracii Guns' involvement in Brides of Destruction.

They had gone through several guitarists since Tracii Guns departed in October 2002. With a new guitarist named Stacey Blades, L.A. Guns released the covers album Rips the Covers Off. The band recorded and released Tales from the Strip in August 2005. It is the only U.S> released L.A. Guns album not to feature Tracii Guns (there was also a Japan-only live album released in 1992)[1].

[edit] A second L.A. Guns forms (2005)

In 2005 a remastered set of demos, which were recorded around the time L.A. Guns wrote their first album (before Phil Lewis joined) was released, featuring Paul Black on vocals. The album was called Black List. The album featured much of the same material as the band's first two studio albums, which Paul Black had a considerable role in writing before being dismissed from the band. This was surprising to many L.A. Guns fans since Black was denied credit on the first two albums and the information was never made public until the Black List release. Soon after this, as the Brides of Destruction's second album did not maintain the success of the first, Tracii Guns put together a "solo" band and focused his attention on that.

The Tracii Guns Band featured former L.A. Guns members Paul Black, Nickey "Beat" Alexander and Tracii Guns, as well as Jeremy Carson, and Jason Saenz. The band soon began using the L.A. Guns name because it contained three founding members of the band.

In an odd twist on October 10, 2006, Phil Lewis joined Paul Black and Tracii Guns onstage at the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Cathouse, a Hollywood club run by Riki Rachtman and Taime Downe. The two frontmen dueted on the band's song "Rip and Tear".

Current line-up I (Phil Lewis band)

* Phil Lewis - vocals (1987-1995, 1999-present)
* Stacey Blades - guitar (2004-present)
* Scott Griffin - bass (2007-present)
* Steve Riley - drums (1988-1992, 1994-present)

[edit] Current line-up II (Tracii Guns band)

* Marty Casey - vocals (2008-present)
* Tracii Guns - guitar (1983-2002, 2006-present)
* Alec Bauer - guitar (2008-present)
* Jeremy Guns - bass (2006-present)
* Chad Stewart - drums (2007-present)