PHIL LEWIS Says 'Attendance Has Been Up' For L.A. GUNS Reunion Shows With TRACII GUNS

Crash and Taylor of Sioux Falls' KBAD 94.5 FM's "The Morning Crash" radio show recently conducted an interview with L.A. GUNS frontman Phil Lewis. You can listen to the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On his 2013 onstage reunion with L.A. GUNS co-founder Tracii Guns:

Phil: "It was magical, I'll admit. We hadn't seen each other in a long time. We were doing a charity gig around Christmas time. The plan was to raise money for Toys For Tots and we only did two or three songs. It was his gig and I was invited along. It was in Vegas; it was something that Jason Green, the manager of SIN CITY SINNERS, does every year. We've both done it individually, but he gave us the opportunity to do it together. And yeah, there is definitely a magic that comes along with the two of us working together. We picked it up right where we left off 15 years later."

On whether the "bad blood" between the two men disappeared upon their reunion:

Phil: "You know, it's funny. I hadn't seen him in a long time. I was a little nervous about hanging and playing and I was wondering what he was going to be like. He ended up being really nice. He changed a lot; I guess I changed a lot, too. He felt the same thing as I did. It was just a really good vibe. Of course, it sounded great. He makes me work hard and I like that. I like that about us as a duo. We push each other a lot."

On the fan reception to the reunited L.A. GUNS:

Phil: "All across the board, it's been great. Critics and fans. The attendance has been up. Now, with social media, you're pretty much judged almost instantly while you're playing, certainly that night or within the next 12 hours of playing and it's all been incredibly positive."

On how social media has changed his approach to shows and releasing new music:

Phil: "You've got to be careful. There's no more coasting, there's no more mailing it in, not that we do, and not that we did. Like, if you drop the ball, people are going to know about it within minutes, hours, certainly days."

On what led Guns and Lewis to start writing new music together:

Phil: "Tracii had already been working on new music. He mentioned it and he said, 'Do you want to hear some of the stuff and some of my new ideas?' I said 'Yeah, I'd love to.' Initially, I was going to help out, I was just going to do a couple of songs. I think the idea of a full-blown reunion and making a new album from scratch, that came a little bit later. That came about four or five months, six months later. Once I heard his stuff, I was, like, 'Yeah, this is it.' When you hear it, you'll be like me; 'This sounds like the first record and 'Cocked And Loaded'. The album is very interesting. We have a section of short, three-minute, balls-to-the-wall songs. There's a beautiful musical odyssey at the end of the record that lasts nine minutes and 59 seconds long, which is pretty epic."

On the importance of him writing and recording new music:

Phil: "You'll hear a lot of people say 'There's no point in making records.' We get that. We know we're not going to sell the type of units that we did back in the day. I just feel as a musician, as an artist, it's essential to express yourself and try to improve from the record you did prior. The last thing I was doing [Lewis's own version of L.A. GUNS], it was coming up to over five years since we released 'Hollywood Vampires'. I must admit, I was getting very frustrated by not putting anything new out. This has more than made up for it."

L.A. GUNS' upcoming album, "The Missing Peace", will be released on October 13 via the Italian record label Frontiers Music Srl. The disc's cover artwork was created by the Las Vegas portrait painter Kahla and can be seen below.