L.A. GUNS Guitarist TRACII GUNS: 'A Lot Of Herpes Got Spread Because Of Us'

Jacky BamBam of Philadelphia's 93.3 WMMR radio station recently conducted an interview with L.A. GUNS guitarist Tracii Guns. You can now listen to the chat at using the audio player below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On whether he still keeps in touch with AC/DC after first touring with Angus Young and Co. nearly thirty years ago:

Tracii: "No, no, no. Not at all. They liked us enough to take us on tour twice. We did… I think it was 'Fly On The Wall', or whatever that album was. That was the first one, in '88. Then we did the 'Thunderstruck' tour, and we hung out with them all the time. But it's like that — when you tour with other bands, you get really close to them on the road, and then, when it's over, it's kind of like summer camp, you know what I mean? Everybody goes back to what they're doing on their own, and you don't really stay in touch. But they were definitely the nicest band I've ever toured with. I've toured wito so many bands, but they were the nicest, the most accommodating, the most supportive — just really good guys. Kind of a family-run business, too; that was what was really cool about it too. There wasn't a bunch of agents around and bodyguards and stuff like that; they were just really, really down-to-earth guys."

On whether Axl Rose was difficult to work with in the early days of GUNS N' ROSES:

Tracii: "No. I loved it. There came a point in time where I don't know exactly what was going on with him. I mean, I probably do, but it's not important. It became really less about the music toward the end of when I was in the band and more about this kind of statement, this lifestyle, this kind of shoutout mentality — negative and positive. And I mean, that was cool, and he really found his calling; GUNS N' ROSES became really Axl's voice, and we've seen that through the years. He can be really reclusive, but with GUNS N' ROSES, being on stage and writing songs, he's really able to express himself and really connect with millions and millions of people. And I've always been really supportive since I left, and I'm still supportive to this day. One of the happiest things I've ever seen in my life is seeing Axl singing for AC/DC. It's just, like, 'Wow, dude! You're singing for AC/DC.' It's, like, 'Wow!' I mean, we started some great shit. I'm very proud of everything I've done, the people I've worked with and the ability to affect a whole culture of music. And a lot of herpes got spread because of us. [Laughs]"

On what happened to his BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION project with Nikki Sixx of MÖTLEY CRÜE:

Tracii: "Well, really, MÖTLEY CRÜE got back together, and I think that that was the right move, obviously, for Nikki. We thought that we were gonna be able to squeeze two records out, and it just didn't happened. [He left] a year sooner than we thought, and kind of left me holding the bag there for a year. So I made another BRIDES record, we went out and toured, and then I had to figure out what the hell I was gonna do with my life after that. [But working with Nikki] was an amazing experience too, especially then. I was the biggest MÖTLEY CRÜE fan; I loved 'Too Fast For Love' and 'Shout At The Devil' — they were really influential records in my life. When the BRIDES played live, we would do a few songs from each of those records at the end. We'd do the BRIDES album, 'cause it was only eight songs, so that set was thirty minutes, and then we'd do a mini L.A. GUNS set and a mini MÖTLEY CRÜE set. When we played [U.K.'s] Donington, playing [MÖTLEY CRÜE's] 'Live Wire' in front of ten, fifteen thousand people — or way more than that; whatever it was — it was the biggest adrenaline rush I've ever had in my life. It was wild, man — so cool."

As previously reported, Guns and L.A. GUNS singer Phil Lewis have inked a deal with Frontiers Music Srl for the release of a new L.A. GUNS album, tentatively due in June 2017.

After a nearly 15-year break, Lewis and Guns are back together for another chapter in their partnership that began in 1986, four years after Tracii formed L.A. GUNS in 1982.

Guns and Lewis began working on new music together again after playing periodic dates together — billed as "L.A. GUNS' Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns" — around the tour schedule of the other long-running incarnation of L.A. GUNS, which Lewis continues to front.

Interview (audio):