L.A. GUNS Singer Explains Latest Guitarist Change

July 4, 2018

L.A. GUNS frontman Phil Lewis has confirmed to The Pure Rock Shop in a new interview that guitarist Johnny Monaco has left the band and has been replaced by Adam Hamilton. "It happened about two weeks ago," Phil said. "We played a show in L.A. Jack Russell was supposed to play a venue down at the beach, and he got sick and he couldn't make it, so they asked us to stand in for him last minute, which we did. And we flew Johnny in from Chicago, 'cause that's where he lives. And he just went back and he just said he couldn't do it anymore. He said he hated the travel and just wanted to focus on his own stuff. And that's it. So, yeah, he was in the band a total of, like, two weeks maybe."

Lewis added: "It wasn't personal with Monaco — we still love him and he's definitely a lifer… But, yeah, it kind of threw me for a bit of a curve."

Hamilton, who previously played bass on L.A. GUNS' 2002 album "Waking The Dead", is now handling rhythm guitar duties in the band while Johnny Martin will continue to be the group's bass player.

"Things are different now," Phil explained. "People are, like, 'Oh, how come you guys can't keep a lineup together?' It was different in the old days, because we had record companies, and record companies would invest lots of money into career development. So if you got a record deal, chances are you had a pretty good chance that you were gonna have a career in music. It doesn't work that way now. There are none of those umbrella record deals that we had years ago [with] artists and development; that doesn't happen anymore. We're kind of on our own, and we just have to… It's 'kill or be killed' sometimes, and you've just gotta be cut and dried about it and not get too sentimental, not get too attached. 'Cause people have different priorities."

Monaco joined L.A. GUNS in March as the replacement for Michael Grant, who was fired from the band earlier that month.

L.A. GUNS released a statement on March 7 saying that Grant was leaving the group "to pursue other interests, including his solo project, MICHAEL GRANT & THE ASSASSINS."

During an appearance on Eddie Trunk's SiriusXM show on March 19, Grant said that the stated reason for his L.A. GUNS exit in the press release was "not true at all. I was actually fired out of nowhere and given absolutely no reason."

Lewis and guitarist Tracii Guns reunited in 2016 under the L.A. GUNS banner and released arguably the most critically praised album of their catalog, "The Missing Peace". A new CD, DVD and Blu-ray, "Made In Milan", arrived this past March.

Find more on L.a. guns
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).