L.A. Guns frontman Phil Lewis discussed his band opening for Iron Maiden after Guns N’ Roses bailed on their tour, and he criticized GNR for not releasing new music during their reunion in a new MA Entertainment Global interview (transcribed by Blabbermouth).
“I’m proud of [LA Guns for] putting out not only just recently a new record, but already getting back in and doing another one. Can you name any band, especially a band from our genre… As much as I love Guns N’ Roses’ reunion, and I’m happy it makes a lot of people happy, where’s the new music? It’s, like, ‘Appetite For Destruction’ is a great record, but it was a long time ago.
That was 30-something years ago… I knew from a very early age that rock n’ roll would be my salvation. People are like, ‘Oh, you’ll go down dark roads,’ and I have been, there’s no doubt about it. It’s the hand that you’re dealt, and right now, I’m feeling so positive. There’s nothing to feel dark and introspective, or want to hide the things like drugs and booze and stuff make you want to do. I want to work. I want to get shit done.
There’s nothing more gratifying than playing a sold-out show and opening with songs that aren’t from the last century. I have a great sense of accomplishment because of that.”
He also discussed Guns N’ Roses leaving their tour with Iron Maiden.
“At that stage, Guns N’ Roses were simply too big to open for Maiden. I don’t know what excuse they came up with, but they weren’t doing it, so we got asked.
It always an honor to open for Steve [Harris] and the guys. It was a challenge, because we did Irvine and we did Santa Fe, New Mexico, and weren’t quite as well received [there].
They just announced it right before we went on stage — ‘Guns N’ Roses can’t make it, but we’ve got L.A. Guns.’ It was like, [groans]. We definitely had our work cut out for us.”
