L.A. GUNS' PHIL LEWIS Is 'Not Necessarily Sure' That MÖTLEY CRÜE Coming Out Of Retirement Was 'A Good Thing'

In a new interview with Dawn Osborne of TotalRock, L.A. GUNS frontman Phil Lewis was asked if he and his bandmates are working on fresh music as a follow-up to the "Leopard Skin" album, which came out in April 2025 via Cleopatra. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "No. No, I don't wanna do a new album. Tracii's [Guns, L.A. GUNS guitarist] always writing. He's always coming up with new ideas. But I really feel that five albums in such a short length of time is quite enough. And I think the live album [2026's 'Live From The Guild Theatre'] as the sixth release caps it off nicely. I think if we record and release another album, I think it's gonna be overload. 'Cause the first one was [2017's 'The Missing Peace', followed by 2019's] 'The Devil You Know', and you're just releasing one after another. So, I sympathize with the fans trying to keep up with it, because there's so much material. We've recorded and released more music in the last 10 years than the 25 years prior to that combined. So I think for us to write and release another [album] would kind of be an exercise in futility, to be honest."

Lewis clarified that he is not yet thinking about hanging it up. "No, I wouldn't go there either," he explained. "There's only one stop after retirement, and I'm not ready to do that. I love doing what I do. It keeps me young. It keeps me fresh. It keeps me sharp. I enjoy the adventure."

After Osborne brought up legendary hard rockers DEEP PURPLE as an example of a band which announced what was supposed to be their farewell tour, only to return to recording and touring, as they had always done, Phil said: "Yeah. And that's very noble. But I've recently heard some stuff that [DEEP PURPLE is] doing live. And it's disappointing. I think that it's very much a young man's game, and I absolutely worship [DEEP PURPLE's] Ian Gillan as a vocalist. And [LED ZEPPELIN's] Robert Plant, to a degree. Not to a degree — absolutely.

"Robert Plant got the right idea," Lewis continued. "He toned it down, and he's not trying to do the screaming 'Whole Lotta Love' bit, all the sort of fake orgasm stuff. And that's most unbecoming for a gentleman at that stage in his life. And I really feel that Ian could take a lesson from that, honestly. I saw him struggling, 'cause [DEEP PURPLE] opened the set [on their recent tour] with 'Highway Star', and that's a motherfucker to sing that song, those high parts. It's legendary. And it breaks my heart a little bit to see him struggling through that, to do that. And I'm not suggesting they should bust out mandolins and banjos and turn it into a folk song or anything. But at some point, you gotta say… And [that's] very much the case with MÖTLEY CRÜE. They retired and they came out of retirement, and I'm not necessarily sure that that was a good thing.

"I know I've got kind of a reputation for slagging off bands. I don't slag 'em off," Phil clarified. "All I'm doing is saying it how I see it. And I'm never gonna tour with MÖTLEY CRÜE or DEEP PURPLE, so I don't care what they think about it. I'm just [saying it] from a punter's perspective more than anything. I don't see them as peers. They're so, so way above me in the stratosphere. But just as a fan, I'm a bit disappointed to see that, to be honest."

After Osborne noted that Lewis is still managing to hit all the notes on L.A. GUNS' "Live From The Guild Theatre" album, Phil said: "I'm lucky that way. I'm fit though. I'm fucking fit as a motherfucker. I got good genes. I'm really lucky. I got a rowing machine out on the road with me, and I'm on that bastard 50 minutes every day. I eat well. I take care of my voice. I do all the things that I'm supposed to do at this age, I'm doing, and it's paying dividends."

Back in April 2023, Lewis told Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of Rock Interview Series that MÖTLEY CRÜE is "a fucking atrocious band; they always have been. And the only good player, the only good one in the band, has been very unceremoniously dismissed," referring to guitarist Mick Mars.

"I never liked them. I never did. I never bought one of their records. I loathed 'Girls, Girls, Girls'; I hated all of it. Occasionally I caught the attention of Nikki [Sixx, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist], and he doesn't like me. I'm a sad little pumpkin as to what he thinks about me. I just find him to be a big fraud.

Wondering loudly if MÖTLEY CRÜE deserves all the criticism it has gotten in the wake of Mick's 2023 lawsuit, Phil said: "I don't know. They make a lot of people happy. A lot of people couldn't care less. They just wanna go there, have a good time, drink beer and be with their buddies. We're just not that kind of a band."

Asked if would join MÖTLEY CRÜE if he was offered $50 million to step in for Vince Neil, Lewis said: "I would never get that offer. But they really fucked up when they went with John 5 [as Mick's replacement] and not [L.A. GUNS guitarist] Tracii Guns. And I'm glad they did, obviously. [John 5] is not the right fucking fit at all. And Tracii would just be so perfect. He's, like, Hollywood; he's a brat like them. He's just like the next generation down, and it would have been such an incredibly good fit. But Tracii's not trendy. It's gotta be fucking Rob Zombie's guy or it's gotta be Lenny Kravitz's wife or ex-girlfriend. It's gotta be trendy. It's gotta be somebody incredibly important. It gives them a sense of importance. And, as I said, I'm glad they fucked up and they didn't [hire Tracii]. They should have got Tracii.

"And would I take it? Hell yeah. I'd take it," Phil admitted. "I'd do it in a heartbeat. [Laughs] All I've gotta do is get on stage and mime and wiggle my ass and wear whatever I want. Yeah. 50 mil? C'mon. Let's go."

In October 2022, Guns, who played with Sixx in a band called BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION more than two decades ago, said that John 5 was "a great choice" to replace Mars in MÖTLEY CRÜE.

Back in 2016, Tracii told Philadelphia's 93.3 WMMR radio station that BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION fell apart after MÖTLEY CRÜE "got back together." But he went on to say that working with Nikki was "an amazing experience." He added: "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."