BLABBERMOUTH.NET
Steve Riley's version of
L.A. GUNS has set
"Renegades" as the title of its debut album, due later in the year via
Golden Robot Records. The disc's first single,
"Crawl", will arrive on April 20.
This version of
L.A. GUNS made its live debut last May at the
M3 Rock Festival. The drummer is joined in the group by Orlando, Florida-based guitarist/vocalist
Kurt Frohlich, bassist
Kelly Nickels (a member of
L.A. GUNS' "classic" incarnation) and guitarist
Scott Griffin (who played bass for the band from 2007 until 2009, and then again from 2011 to 2014).
In a new interview with
Talking Metal,
Nickels stated about
"Crawl" (hear audio below): "It's a cool tune, man… It was done pretty quickly but really methodically, and I feel like it has a really good energy about it. So that's what I'm digging."
Regarding how the rest of
"Renegades" sounds,
Kelly said: "It's definitely upbeat. There are two slow songs on it, and the rest are pretty much all rockers. So that's one thing we wanted to make sure that we did was rock. It rocks from the beginning, and it just keeps rocking… I feel like it's the old energy but with a fresh coat of paint on it."
This past January,
Riley was sued by
L.A. GUNS guitarist
Tracii Guns and vocalist
Phil Lewis in California District Court. Joining
Riley as defendants in the case are the three musicians who perform in his recently launched rival version of
L.A. GUNS; that group's manager, booking agent and merchandiser; and
Golden Robot Records.
The complaint, which requests a trial by jury, alleges that
Riley's version of
L.A. GUNS (referred to in the case docket as "the infringing
L.A. GUNS") is creating "unfair competition" through its unauthorized usage of the
L.A. GUNS trademark. In addition,
Guns and
Lewis are seeking relief from and/or against false advertising, breach of contract and unauthorized usage of their likenesses.
Asked by
Talking Metal if there is anything legally stopping
Riley from using the
L.A. GUNS name for his new band,
Nickels said: "They're trying, but there's nothing. 'Cause there's nothing that we can do to stop them, so there's nothing they can do to stop us.
"
Steve legally owns half the name," he continued. "It was
Phil and
Steve [who were there at the end of the previous version of
L.A. GUNS], and
Tracii was out. It was
L.A. GUNS, and then
Phil left and he took the name with him. But he left. The name stays with the last guy in the band, man. That was the deal in the contract. Last guy using the name.
Steve's the only guy who never quit. He just feels like he's earned it, man, and he has. He's the one that's run the whole show for the last 30 years — playing every night, doing all the business every night. They never helped him at all. So he's put a lot of work into it. I asked him if he wanted to change the name. And [he said], 'No, man. [I put] too much work into it.'"
Kelly went on to say that he is "doing everything" he can to "differentiate" the
Riley version of
L.A. GUNS from
Guns and
Lewis's latest collaboration. "First thing we did is we designed the badge logo,"
Nickels explained. "Everything has our names on it, trying to make it as crystal clear for people to get it. This is just the way it is. It's a rock and roll soap opera. It's a drag."
At its core,
Guns and
Lewis's complaint calls into question
Riley's claim of partial ownership of the
L.A. GUNS name and logo and alleges that his usage of both has been unauthorized. In addition,
Guns and
Lewis claim — as
Guns has done publicly in the past — that
Riley has embezzled much of the group's publishing proceeds over the past two decades.
Despite leaving the band soon after the release of 2002's
"Waking The Dead" to focus on
BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION (his short-lived supergroup with
MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist
Nikki Sixx),
Guns "is the owner of common law trademark righs" for the
L.A. GUNS name and logo, the complaint claims. It notes that
Guns founded the band in 1983, four years before
Riley joined, and that
Riley did not perform on the group's 1984 debut EP and contributed to just a single track on their 1987 self-titled full-length debut.
According to the complaint,
Guns "has been injured by Defendants' unfair competition," while he and
Lewis have "suffered harm including damages and and irreparable injury to their goodwill." It also claims that
Riley's
L.A. GUNS was formed "with the intent of tricking and confusing consumers into believing that the infringing
L.A. GUNS band is the original [
Tracii]
Guns version" of the group.
In addition to actual and punitive damages,
Guns and
Lewis are seeking a "permanent injunction" that restrains all of the named defendants from using the
L.A. GUNS name, logo and likeness, as well as "a declaration that
Guns is the sole owner of the common law trademark rights" for the
L.A. GUNS moniker "and any related design marks."
For much of the 21st Century, there have been two competing versions of
L.A. GUNS — one featuring
Riley (which, until 2016, also included
Lewis), and another featuring
Guns. After
Guns and
Lewis reunited in 2016,
Riley's version of the group disbanded, but the former
W.A.S.P. drummer relaunched his version last year with
Nickels,
Griffin and
Frohlich.
Are you ready...? We are so thrilled to announce that our first single "Crawl" will commence pre-save/order on Friday, March 27 and drops on April 20th 2020...?☠????@goldenrobotrecords / #GoldenRobotRecords
Posted by L.A. Guns on Wednesday, March 18, 2020