The war is over, but L.A. Guns are still firing

May 28, 2014 at 12:05a.m.

Nowadays the idea of popular bands with splintered members touring simultaneously in different groups is commonplace. Most recently this included Queensyrche, but over the years we’ve seen it with Ratt and Skid Row.

But what if the oddball phenomenon included a band just starting out? What if that group’s name alone put it in the shadow of a rock ’n’ roll zeitgeist?

In a nutshell, that’s the story of rock act L.A. Guns, which arrived in the late ’80s as a Sunset Strip band with hair metal credentials. However, years before the band scored Headbanger’s ball hits “Ballad of Jayne,” “Never Enough” and “Sex Action,” its lineup included Axl Rose, as well as other members who went on to form Guns N’ Roses.

“We can always look at it like we were up against tough competition, us against Guns N’ Roses.” said L.A. Guns drummer Steve Riley, calling from Los Angeles. “We love those guys, but with their astronomical success, we’re up against that, too. So we could have a platinum album, which we did, and still look dwarfed by their success. You can look at it a bunch of different ways and then comparisons of who is selling more records.”

Naturally, Guns N’ Roses wins that battle, which explains in some way why L.A. Guns is often an afterthought of the era despite the fact its catalog suggests otherwise. In 1987, the band was signed to Polygram Records with its self-titled album selling more than 750,000 copies. This led to numerous world tours with Def Leppard, Iron Maiden and AC/DC.

Up next for the band was “Cocked and Loaded,” which eclipsed platinum level based on the hit power ballad “Ballad of Jayne.”

While hair metal was on borrowed time by the time the ’90s began, L.A. Guns’ follow-up release, 1991’s “Hollywood Vampires,” did well by selling more than 700,000 records. However, the genre was getting tired and watered down with the Trixters and Slaughters of the world.

Just as it’s a fair argument to say that Tesla was one of the more talented bands of the era that for some reason remained largely under the radar, L.A. Guns also fits that bill.

“During the tour of ‘Hollywood Vampires’ the band started to splinter because we had been with each other for the past six years,” Riley said. “We didn’t really get a chance to support that album on tour. We felt like it could have been even bigger.”

Today, L.A. Guns finds itself as a heritage act playing to basically a niche audience. You can see the group Thursday at Los Gallos in Boardman. As far as recording, that’s a catch-22. Riley said the band feels it has great material but smaller labels are only interested in the bottom line and making a small profit.

“Right now, we’re not in a rush to do an album,” Riley said. “With a band that’s over 25 years old, we are a classic rock band now whether we like it or not. As far as our success, you know, we can look at it two ways — we could have been bigger had we caught a better break or we can look at glass half full and say we’re one of those bands that became a working band and can still do this as for a living. That’s how we’re looking at right now.”