“We can’t shed our leopard skin, but there’s a lot of different spots in this band.”
— Tracii Guns / L.A. Guns
Metal Sludge — Everyone’s second favorite Guns band has dropped their 1st single “Taste It” from their forthcoming record “Leopard Skin” that is slated for an early spring release on Cleopatra Records.
L.A. Guns and their lineup has oddly enough remained in-tact for a longer period than usual with classic era members Tracii Guns (Lead Guitarist & Founder) and Phil Lewis (Lead Vocals) leading the way.
The Guns and Lewis duo repaired their endless feud back in 2016 after a 15 year spat subsequently releasing their first collective effort back together with “The Missing Peace” on Frontiers Sr1 in 2017.
L.A. Guns then released “The Devil You Know” in 2019, “Checkered Past” in 2021 and “Black Diamonds” in 2023 all via Frontiers Sr1.
Now the band has returned to Cleopatra Records, whom they had previously released their “Hollywood Forever” record with in 2012.
The new record “Leopard Skin” will hit the streets on April 4th 2025 and the first video single is for the track “Taste It” which we have shared below.
Blabbermouth shared the following this week: “There’s the saying, ‘a leopard never changes its spots,'” L.A. GUNS‘ founding guitarist Tracii Guns says. “But even so, they have a million different spots. And they’re all unique. It’s the same with L.A. GUNS. We can’t shed our leopard skin, but there’s a lot of different spots in this band.”
Explains Tracii: “When we started doing records again in 2017, I wanted to be really aggressive. We hadn’t put out anything new in a lot of years, and we needed to be focused to have an impact. This one was a different approach. Musically, it was more about James Brown and soul music, with some ’70s sensibilities — things like Joe Walsh and THE ROLLING STONES and the NEW YORK DOLLS. And the process was more organic. It was, ‘Here’s a riff, go for it. Let’s see how many riffs we can build after this riff, and then going into the next riff.'”
“Leopard Skin” track listing:
01. Taste It
02. Lucky Motherfucker
03. The Grinder
04. Hit And Run
05. Don’t Gimme Away
06. I’m Your Candy Man
07. Runaway Train
08. Following the Money
09. The Masquerade
10. If You Wanna
Guns continues: “So the work ethic is yielding what it’s supposed to, you know what I mean? The fans stay excited, we stay excited, and we keep making records. And as long as we have that opportunity and there’s a place for this music in the world, there’s no reason to ever stop.”
L.A. Guns also features Johnny Martin on bass (since 2016) who was an original Sunset Strip solider who played with countless local bands and projects dating back to the early mid 80’s.
Martin is joined stage right by the ever popular Ace Von Bubbles (Lead Chewing Gum) and behind the kit is Shawn Duncan from Hollywood legends ODIN.
Look for L.A. Guns to tour extensively throughout 2025.
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