A Conversation with Tracii Guns – HuffPost 10.21.11

Michael Ragogna: Hi Tracii, you’ve got a new L.A. Guns album, Acoustic Gypsy Live.

Tracii Guns: Yeah, it’s the first L.A. Guns song in six or seven years.

MR: Six or seven years. Great. So? What do you have to say about that?

TG: Well, it’s about time, and it’s been a long road, the last ten years, for L.A. Guns and myself, and trying to put out new material. When people turn into adults, they tend to move all over the world. It’s not like being in a band and you’re in rehearsal every day and continually rehearsing and writing. So, it’s hard to squeeze even one song out sometimes, but we managed to for the acoustic record.

MR: So. Tracii. What else should we talk about. The weather?

TG: The sun is so beautiful out today, it’s 75 degrees, the sun is beating on my face and I don’t think I could be any happier right now.

MR: It’s pouring out here. Thanks for that.

TG: Well, I like that too.

MR: (laughs) Maybe I’m lying. It looks like we have a theme for this show.

TG: “Liars and Thieves”…let’s not talk about liars and thieves, that gets irritating. (laughs) Yeah, it’s funny that I know you put the Millennium L.A. Guns edition together, which is also, in a way, a greatest hits package and kind of the original idea of Acoustic Gypsy Livecoming from the label’s point of view, to do an acoustic greatest hits record. At first I thought, “Why?” Then they said I could hire as many musicians as I wanted to really have a vision for the record and the recordings being that they have to live on forever past when I’m long gone and my kids are long gone. I was able to pick the set list I wanted, and obviously, it has the new tune and a couple of covers. I worked with some musicians I really respect who really brought a lot of magic to these songs. Being acoustic, it’s so naked and, normally, those songs would be played at such high volumes and distortion. I had to make sure that it was full and made sense, and wasn’t just a throwaway record. I really don’t like doing things just for the sake of doing them, but at the end of the day, it’s something I’m proud of.

MR: Your song “The Ballad Of Jayne” is referred to as a rock classic. What are your thoughts looking at it these days?

TG: It was such a struggle when we were putting that song together. It was originally called, “She’s So Cold.” I didn’t really like the song very much and everybody was insistent that it was popping at radio at the time and, “Hey, you guys have to have that ballad if you want to have commercial success.” Me being that guy, I was saying, “I don’t really care about commercial success,” and being the typical 23 year old being, not really stupid, but being focused on what I wanted to do. I always liked the idea of if L.A. Guns was a rock band, I like AC/DC’s formula of just hitting hard and focusing in. But, of course, we ended up doing “The Ballad Of Jayne” and Kelly and Phil rewrote the lyrics like that. Now it kind of sounded more like a Stones thing to me than the original version. At least I really loved the song, but you had to twist my arm to get it on the record. It got on the record and, of course, it was a hit, so it’s kind of like a tattoo for me, it’s something I have to show every time I play guitar. Things could be worse. I love the song and I’m still playing it today, and it’s enabled things for me in the future.

MR: And don’t forget, you’re “a legendary hero on the sunset strip.” And I’m not lying here, it’s in print.

TG: That’s scary. There are a lot of people that have that status that I really admire and look up to, and never thought that I would be in that league. It’s certainly a compliment that I don’t take for granted and try to live up to the expectation as best I can. Also, “The Ballad Of Jayne” is not about Jayne Mansfield.

MR: Tracii, are you sure it’s not about Jayne Mansfield? Perhaps a lie, back to our original theme? (laughs)

TG: I’m positive it’s not about Jayne Mansfield, but that’s the rumor that stuck when it came out and we kind of went along with it in the press for a little bit. The truth behind the story is that there’s a restaurant out here called the Formosa Café and the walls are loaded with what people would consider Jayne Does and John Does at this point in time–just 8x10s of people you’ve never heard of. That’s where Kelly and Phil went to finish the lyrics. They came up with a “Jayne” Doe song, so it’s just about what happened to these people that came to Hollywood and at one point got their picture up on the Firmosa Cafe wall of fame, but nobody knows who they are or what happened to these people. That’s really what the song is about.

MR: Sure, you had some hits and a ton of videos, but let’s not forget, L.A. Guns did a cover of Queen’s “Tie Your Mother Down.”

TG: I actually wasn’t involved with that, that’s when I was doing The Brides. Phil has a guitar player named Stacey Blades, and they did the “Tie Your Mother Down” thing, it’s probably the coolest thing they’ve done.

MR: What else were you doing during that period?

TG: I was doing The Brides of Destruction with Nikki Sixx, we had a different band. We did a couple of records and a couple of tours, and then I obviously didn’t want to put Phil in the poor house, so I said, “While I’m doing this, you go do that. So, they did when I took off. I think it was a covers record actually.

MR: It’s that time we talk about movies, TV, and all that. Ready?

TG: This is what’s been coming up for me. I had a kid almost three years ago, so I’ve been home about 25 percent more than normal and being home has enabled me to interact with friends I haven’t seen in a long time, and getting involved in what they’re doing. I got a couple of movie soundtrack scores that I’ve got coming up here real quick. One is a Freaky Deaky movie which is an Elmore Leonard book, Charlie Matthau, who is Walter Matthau’s son, wrote the screen play and directed the movie. So, I got that one to do, and at the beginning of the year, it’s the next Chuck Palahniuk movie called Snuff–he’s the guy that wrote Fight Club as well. That one is going to be real fun for me because the whole movie is just guitar. I’m doing more things like that and get to spend more time at home with the kid and focusing my touring on little three week runs as opposed to leaving home for 18 months at a time.

MR: Okay, that L.A. Guns and Guns N’ Roses connection. Let’s do it.

TG: There’s definitely people that still don’t know that, especially the kids these days. Guns N’ Roses got so big that they have a huge spillover following with the kids now. The connection is that there were two bands–Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns. Axl joined L.A. Guns, then our manager fired Axel from L.A. Guns. So, Axl and I started a new band called Guns N’ Roses. We got Izzy from Hollywood Rose to join, then Duff and Steven Adler. Then we were Guns N’ Roses and I went back to do L.A. Guns and they continued on, and they really solidified our brand of rock ‘n’ roll in history. Such a great story and such a great time.

MR: Was there any other crossbreeding of the bands, like going on tour together?

TG: We did some shows together in L.A. we did a place called Perkins Palace. I think that really is the only time we played together was that one show, and then they cancelled seven shows of an Iron Maiden tour, and then Slash suggested that we fill in. So, they helped us out quite a bit at different times in our career.

MR: Was Acoustic Gypsy Live recorded at different venues?

TG: It was two nights at the same venue, it’s a place here called Hotel Café. A lot of hard rock bands and punk bands have done acoustic records at this particular venue. It’s suited just perfectly for the style of recording, because it’s a real dead room. It holds only about a hundred people, and you get a real clear recording, even using ambient mic-ing; it doesn’t have glass or concrete, it’s really warm sounding in there. So, what we did, we rehearsed our butts off for about a week and made sure what we were doing. We knew that one night wasn’t going to be enough, and what if somebody got the first night jitters and was making a mess of the recording. Both nights turned out pretty much identical; we played a few more songs on the second night. I think we were all a little more comfortable on the second night; we ended up using that night, the complete show, no overdubs, no added reverb, no nothing. What you’re hearing is exactly what happened that night. Pretty good for a bunch of aging rockers.

MR: Should more people be revisiting their old hits in a new setting like this?

TG: I have a couple of theories about that. One, in a lot of ways, as far as rock ‘n’ roll songs, every great rock ‘n’ roll song has been written. It’s been so long since I’ve heard new, original rock ‘n’ roll. It’s for people’s benefits to go back, look at their catalog, think about their audience, think about the age of their audience, and what is their audience listening to, what’s appropriate for them, and what is appropriate for you as an artist at your age or at a certain point in your career. The ability to do it is one thing, but taking it a step further like we did is very important. You don’t want to go in and just say that we can play our songs acoustically and the band is so tight that we don’t need to rehearse, we’ll just throw some acoustic guitars on it and do it. That’s a completely different thing than what we did–it’s important to really care about your music, even if you’re sick to death of playing it for twenty or thirty years. If you don’t care about it, then you shouldn’t do it. I think for your fan base to put a lot of love and care into reproducing something that you did that they were in love with twenty-five years ago is a real gift for them. It would be for me if Jimi Hendrix were still around, him doing really creative acoustic versions of “Foxy Lady” and “Purple Haze.” I would love to have a record like that. I think it is important, and me being a rock fan as well, I’m not really interested in new Aerosmith songs. It’s cool that they make records and maybe they get new fans when they do that–guys my age that really grew up on Aerosmith and grew up on Zeppelin–all of the songs were written. There is no real use other than trying to reach a new fan base. With L.A. Guns, I’m not really trying to reach a new fan base other then the children of the original fans. That’s what gives us a real sense of longevity, and our fans own the band kind of mentality. We were never a huge band, which almost benefits the longevity, and the numbers eventually even out to a band that had one album that sold 10 million records, let’s say. So the recreation of music and presenting your old music in different ways that aren’t going to bore your audience or that they’ve seen a hundred times already, I think it’s important.

MR: It gives the audience your upgrade along with the music.

TG: That’s the deal. You don’t want to underestimate your fans, especially in the rock genre, and say, “Oh well, they are just a bunch of rockers, they don’t pay attention to the music. That’s complete bologna. They bought a lot of other records than yours in the last 20 or 25 years. A lot of those people bought everything from Eric Johnson records to Reggae records to Elton John’s Greatest Hits. They love music and I want to provide them with new music, I don’t want to provide them with the same thing every year and a half.

MR: What advice do you have for new artists?

TG: Well when you’re a young new guy with a drum kit or a guitar or a singer, it’s really important to focus in on who your hero is of that year. That’s what really gets a developing musician a sense of center. A lot of times, these rock bands, like lets say during the Korn era–you’ve got a lot of bands doing the Korn thing. But then a year later or two years later, they’ve really spurred off and are doing this differently focused thing. It’s really important to believe in your influences, not necessarily copy them, but there have been a lot of blueprints laid in the last 40 or 50 years for rock music, whether it’s Morbid Angel or Chuck Berry, whoever your influences, keep them with you. Even though you’re going to change as an artist and you’re going to change as a musician, you’ll always have that music in your brain dictionary and encyclopedia that you listen to between the ages of seven and 22 years old. Those are going to be the values that stick with you for the rest of your music career. The great thing that happens, and of course, we’re talking about artistically, but as you grow in age, you start finding you’re interested in other types of music and then those styles become a part of your style. Number one thing is to be really happy with what you’re playing because ultimately, you have to make yourself happy. On the business side of things, the more you plan, the less likely what you hope to happen will happen. The best thing you can do is believe in yourself, believe in your music and get it out there. We’re in a day and age where you can really drive your own career as a musician, you have to use the social networking sites and YouTube and if you stick out above the crowd and people are going to notice you. That’s going to lead to you having a career and paying your bills as a musician. The days of thinking, “Hey, I’m going to go headline at a local bar and the next step is a major record deal and groupies and tour buses,” it’s not a very realistic goal. It was never a realistic goal. Some people were lucky–I was lucky–but nowadays, it’s nearly impossible. Katy Perry is one in 40 billion that’s going to be able to do that these days, and it’s very unfortunate. You still can have a career playing original music and having a very strong fan base and a following.

MR: I think that’s the most complete answer I’ve ever gotten to that question.

TG: (laughs)

MR: You took us from the cradle to the grave.

TG: That’s it, these things are important, and I’ve been around long enough to really pay attention to the music business. There’s no blame; things evolve, things change, if you embrace change and you take the opportunity that’s available to you, good stuff happens. But relying on old ideals is old, that’s why they are called “old.” If you live in the past, then you die in the past, it’s a simple cliché but it makes sense.

MR: What’s coming down the pike for you?

TG: We have 50 shows before Christmas starting this month on the 21st in San Antonio and it’s leading us all over the US. We’ve got a new singer named Dilana Robichaux from theRockstar Supernova TV show–she’s a badass. We’re going to go do this, have a great time, and make some noise. Between there, I’ve got to do Freaky Deaky, and in January, I’ve got to do Snuff, and L.A. Guns is off to Europe in March, and that’s what’s going on.

MR: Tracii, you’re a busy man, but please let’s do this again soon, I appreciate your spending time with us.

TG: Anytime, I’m hear for you man.

Transcribed by Theo Shier