GUNNING FOR GLORY
Time to get the cloves of garlic and start sharpening those wooden stakes because LA GUNS have returned, baring their teeth. Are these boys lost? Mark Crampton gets the lowdown from their bassist, Kelly Nichols.
What's the initial vibe behind the recording of your new album, Hollywood Vampires?
"I think that this album sounds like a cry for help, man. The first record we did was made up of all songs we did in clubs. The second was made up of songs we wrote on the road. And this album, we didn't have anything ready for. So we went into a studio for five months to write the songs. It was really trying our patience and shit. We had a good time doing it, though, but it just seemed that it took longer than we wanted to."As the album title suggests, are LA Guns rock n' roll's equivalent of The Lost Boys?
"Well, that was it, you know...we slept all day and hung out at night. We don't have jobs or anything, so it's not like we have to get up and go to work or anything. Actually, that's always been the name of our fan club since the very beginning. We wanted to kind of tie everything in together, you know, with Hollywood Vampires. We're into, like, focusing into an image where you know what the band is. There's definitely nobody else out there that could have that title, man, even if anybody would want it! We wanted to kind of lock everything in with the third album and, like, bring it all out."I understand that the band have landed the support slot with AC/DC in the States. How do you feel about that?
"They're fucking pros, man. They know what they're doing. It's fun to watch 'em too, man, it's amazing to see everybody just go nuts. We toured with 'em on the firs trecord and we got along really well with them and it's really good for us to be touring with them again. We're doing, like, two months with them and then we're going to tour with CONTRABAND, which will be really fucking boring. I'm not too crazy about that but that's only for, like, a couple of months, and then we're going to try and come to Europe."Any chance of a UK visit?
"Yeah, maybe September. We haven't been, and it's like, why haven't we gone? Last year, we were supposed to end the tour in Europe, and, like, Amsterdam was going to be the last date. We're definitely going to be touring this year, man. It's not like we never wanted to go. It's like something's always happened. We were supposed to start this tour off in Europe until we got the AC/DC show."
The new album seems to pursue some unexpected musical themes. Do you feel it's important to have a bit of light and shade in there to complement the overall mood?
"It's nice to be able to put on a record which takes you through different moods. You've got to have some light and shade. Maybe we try too hard to get out of the metal category, but we like to do things in different tempos and different moods. We want to stay with that and keep it that way and not get stuck into any kind of groove, you know. We've got to be happy with what we do. Everybody in the band is so different. Everybody has different musical influences. It can't come out too stale. It's got to come out pretty fresh, you know."The album seems to have an epic ZEPPELIN-esque quality. Is this your Physical Graffiti, the definitive LA Guns album?
"I hope so. I don't think we sound like anybody else. We've become better songwriters. Phil [Lewis] really sang on this record. He didn't just talk his way through it. He really worked hard on it."You worked with famed KISS producer Michael James Jackson on the new album. What was his attitude towards the way you wanted to sound?
"He had kind of stopped doing rock albums and had got burnt out from doing movie soundtracks like Lethal Weapon. So he kind of wanted to get back into doing a rock album. He just called our management. So we met him and we talked with him. I didn't like him at first, man. He looked like a school teacher and seemed a little too straight. But he's got a nasty side, which we brought out in him. We liked the way he recorded with us. We just wanted to have a real sound. He really liked the band and everything, and he was real excited about it, and we had a lot of input on things too. We like to have some say on how things should sound. If some parts sound fucking wimpy or something, we'll say we don't like them. It worked out great, I think, and it sounds really good."What are your influences musically as a bass player?
"I don't really have any influences. I kind of stumbled into it. I tend to like bass players like Sid Vicious from the SEX PISTOLS. Playing bass is more like a feeling. More feeling than talent. I think someone like John Entwistle would bore the shit out of me, man. I like falling down and fucking being drunk."What sort of shit made the songs happen?
"We kind of wrote them about ourselves, girlfriends, or any kind of shit, you know. Like 'Snake Eyes' was kind of written for Tyla from the DOGS D'AMOUR, who's like a really good friend. He went to Vegas and, like, won all this money and shit, you know. So we wrote this kind of, like, gambling song about him. There's like all these different things that come up and stuff. There were some weird songs that didn't make it on this record that were really cool. I wish they'd made it. There's like a reggae mosh, which was a really cool song, and there was like a jazz tune. You'd never hear shit like that, and I really wish that they'd made the record. You can't put them all on, you know."
Do you think you're going to give your LA contemporaries a good run for their money?
"There really hasn't been anything that's come out of LA in a while that's been exciting. Somebody needs to start something for sure. I'm not really into hanging out with musicians or fucking going to shows to talk about music and shit. Musicians are fucking boring, man. When we're out, we never talk about music. You know, we always talk about other things."What are your main hopes with this album?
"There's always pressure. The debut album, you know, it's kind of got to rock. The follow up album, you know, it's got to really fucking rock. And the third album is when people want to see if you've got something else to offer. If you're stalling out, repeating the same shit, then you're dead. I think our song-writing has just got better, and it seems that we're getting more open. There's a lot of other things out there that affect your life. We get bummed out like everybody else and have been down like everybody else."
Mark Crampton
Riff Raff
August 1991
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