L.A. Guns: Cocked & Loaded Keeps The Censors Busy

Originally published in Rave-Up No. 18 (1990)
By Devorah Ostrov

L.A. Guns - promo poster for Cocked & Loaded

"We better watch this one with a magnifying glass!"

L.A. Guns vocalist Phil Lewis laughs while he imitates the fear and loathing with which MTV inspects the group's videos.

Calling from Texas, where the band is kicking off a US tour in support of its second album, Cocked & Loaded, he continues: "To give you an example, when we did 'Sex Action'... Kelly [Nickels, bassist] has a tattoo on his arm of a girl with big boobs. A guy came down from the record company and was actually serious about drawing in a bra."

Cocked & Loaded

Vertigo Records (1989)

"Rip and Tear," the first single and video from the new LP, has garnered its own share of scrutiny, but not because of tattooed boobs or even the comic violence of the notorious "One More Reason" video. This time it's due to the background scenery!

In the video, the guys play live in front of a set based on a "red-light district," with painted signs depicting tattoo parlors and porno theatres advertising "Live Nude Girls."

When I spoke to Kelly Nickels, he was completely fed up with MTV's time-consuming paranoia.

"Every time we took 'Rip and Tear' to them, they would make us re-edit it," he complained. "They were freeze-framing every shot and making us take out every scene where you can see what's written on the backdrop. Cher can have half her fucking ass hanging out, but we can't show the letter X in sex! But hey, what are you gonna do?"

However, with Cocked & Loaded the censors have a bit more to worry about than just the videos. The album cover — which features a nearly nude female cartoon caricature happily straddling a gun — has also raised some eyebrows.

Phil Lewis - Oakland Coliseum 1991
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

"I've seen ads in certain magazines which don't show the cover," remarks Kelly. "They just put the top of the bullet where it says Cocked & Loaded."

"We've had a few reviews which say it's a sexist cover," adds Phil. "But it really isn't. The fact is, she's [the cartoon lady] having a great time! It's not like she's being put under any strain or being abused."

Two factors saved the cover from obliteration: the artwork itself was designed by a woman (Maxine Miller), and the figure, which was initially nude, is now kind of clothed.

"Certain chain stores wouldn't want to carry the album if she were naked," observes Kelly, explaining the last-minute addition of the patriotically patterned bra and chaps. "K-Mart won't carry it, and you sell a lot of records through them."

Cocked & Loaded is the first LP that all five current band members have contributed to, as drummer Steve Riley was still a member of W.A.S.P. when L.A. Guns recorded their eponymous debut.

Originally formed by guitarist Tracii Guns in 1983, by '85 the group's lineup included vocalist Paul Black, bassist Mick Cripps, and former Weirdos drummer Nickey "Beat" Alexander.

L.A. Guns - promo poster

But by the time they began recording their first LP, Phil Lewis (ex-vocalist for British glam/pop outfit Girl) had replaced Paul Black, and Kelly Nickels (onetime member of Faster Pussycat) had joined on bass. Steve Riley took over from Nickey Alexander shortly after the album was finished.

"Steve joined the day before we took the picture for the back cover," notes Kelly, "and most of the first album had already been written by Tracii, Mick, and the old singer. Phil came in and rewrote all the lyrics, but there wasn't really an emphasis on writing new songs."

Kelly Nickels - RIP Teaser photo

Perhaps it's because the group was finally able to collaborate on the material for Cocked & Loaded (as well as the top-notch production team of Tom Werman, Duane Baron, and John Purdell) that makes it one of the strongest releases of the year.

Recording the new LP took "a massive amount of work," points out Phil. "The first album was put together very loosely, without that much attention to detail. Cocked & Loaded is much more structured and thought out."

"I think the album came out great," offers Kelly. "It kicks ass!"

Phil agrees. "I'm really, really happy with every song on it," he states. "But what I like most is the way it starts with 'Letting Go,' then it goes into this musical hyperspace, then into 'Slap in the Face,' and then into 'Rip and Tear' — which is so confident. I just love it! It gives me chills!"

L.A. Guns have spent the better part of the last two years on the road, headlining clubs and opening shows for the likes of Cheap Trick (Robin Zander provides back-up vocals on some Cocked & Loaded tracks), Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, AC/DC, and Ted Nugent — who, Phil mysteriously tells me, "supervised the recording sessions in his own special way."

Phil Lewis
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Kelly clearly remembers the group's last club date, the night before they hooked up with AC/DC.

"It was at the Nick in [Birmingham] Alabama," he says. "I can't forget this because there were like 200 people and the floor was covered with sawdust. The next night we played to 14,000 people in Portland, Maine!"

This year, L.A. Guns is once again headlining smaller venues, but they insist it's not the backwards move it seems.

"We'd probably get seen by a lot more people if we went out with a band who has a Number One album," admits Phil. "But we don't want to be the eternal support band. We don't want to go off on someone else's success; we've got to earn it."

* In an earlier interview, I talked to Phil Lewis about Girl and how he came to join L.A. Guns. Here's a link:  devorahostrov.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-story-of-la-gun

The Story Of An L.A. Gun And A Hollywood Tease

Originally published in Rave-Up #15 (1988)

Interview by Devorah Ostrov

L.A. Guns circa 1988 

Cover of The Best of L.A. Guns - The Millennium Collection

A young man living in London writes a song called "Hollywood Tease" for his band, Girl. Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, another young man living in a Hollywood dumpster listens to the song on a cassette player incessantly. 

Years later, the two meet and become band buddies. Was it fate, or just a really bizarre coincidence? You be the judge.

Three rings and Phil Lewis' answering machine picks up.

RAVE-UP: Hi Phil. This is Devorah from Rave-Up. I'm calling to do the interview. It's 10pm. Since you're not home, give me a call later at (415) 864...

PHIL (grabbing the phone): Ah... uhmm... hello. To be honest with you, I was just about to go to bed.

RAVE-UP: I don't want to keep you up or anything. Do you want to talk tomorrow?

PHIL: No, no, no. I won't have a chance to do it tomorrow. It's alright. I was just in the kitchen.

RAVE-UP: OK. So, how long have you been over here, and why did you leave London?

PHIL: I've been here a little over a year, and I got sent a tape of the Guns. I liked L.A. Guns, and I got their manager to send me tapes. On a couple of occasions, he mentioned that if I was interested in singing that there could be a possibility. But at that time, I had another project in England that I was working on — a band called Tormé. We had a new album out, it was their second album, and their first album had done really well. But the album didn't really turn out the way I would've liked. One thing led to another and...

My autographed Girl 45 ❤

RAVE-UP: You left?

PHIL: Yeah. So, I met with Alan [L.A. Guns' manager] and told him what was going on. In fact, at that time, I didn't even want to continue in music. I wanted to join the Red Cross in the Middle East and take photographs.

RAVE-UP: Wow! That's quite a departure. How far did you pursue that idea?

PHIL: I was in the process of sorting it all out. Of course, everyone told me I was totally mad!

RAVE-UP: Yes, well...

PHIL: I know... But the thing about it is, in London anyway, when you tell somebody you're in a band, they say, "So's my cousin." I wasn't so much disillusioned with the music, as I was disillusioned with the people that were doing it. It was bad enough with the record company people being the jerks that they are, but when the bands started pandering to it... Good rock 'n' rollers selling out. You've got to see what's happening in England. It kills me! That's when I decided I wanted to do something real. Something that wasn't a sell-out. Now, I think this is very real. I think being in Hollywood and being in a band with guys that I love very much is... When I say real, I mean I'm not wasting my time. It's something I feel good about doing.

RAVE-UP: I know that at one point Axl, from Guns N' Roses, was the singer for L.A. Guns. The singer you replaced must have been after him...

PHIL: Yeah, a guy called Paul Black. I think his name is Paul Black.

RAVE-UP: The tapes that you'd heard prior to joining, were they with Axl or Paul?

PHIL: Paul. I never heard the band with Axl. In fact, the first thing I did when I joined the group was to rewrite all the lyrics. Paul was a little bit doomy, a little bit on the morose side. I thought the whole thing needed cheering up a bit!

RAVE-UP: Was it your idea to do Girl's "Hollywood Tease" with L.A. Guns?

"Sex Action" b/w "Hollywood Tease"

Vertigo/Polygram - Japanese picture sleeve 45 (1988)

PHIL: No! I wasn't even that pleased when they suggested doing it. What happened was... Tracii just loves the song! He told me a story of when he was a kid; he literally lived in a trash can for two weeks — one of those big dumpsters. And all he had was a candle, a sleeping bag, and a cassette player with one tape — Girl! He used to play "Hollywood Tease" the whole time. He could really relate to it. At first, I did the song as a favor to Tracii. I said, "Well, you know, if you like it so much, we can do it." But they played it so fucking well, I would be crazy not to do it!

RAVE-UP: Were you surprised to find that kids over here knew you from Girl?

PHIL: I was totally, utterly blown away by it! It was a lovely surprise because, you know, I didn't expect to be remembered. It didn't even occur to me that people would have heard of Girl in the first place. We never played over here, and as far as I know, we never had anything released over here. Everything that people know about Girl was on import.

RAVE-UP: Were you in any bands before Girl?

PHIL: No, Girl was my apprenticeship. Girl was great! The wonderful thing about Girl was we couldn't play, you know?

RAVE-UP: What? I thought Girl was one of the best bands of the early '80s!

PHIL: Thank you so much! But we really didn't ever consider ourselves to be musicians or anything. Originally, Gerry [Laffy] and I were both guitar players in Girl, and we were looking for a singer. We couldn't find one, so in the end, we flipped a coin. I lost and ended up being the singer.

Phil Lewis stands front and center in this

Girl publicity photo.

RAVE-UP: The winner got to be the guitar player!

PHIL: Yeah! Neither of us wanted to be the singer. I lost and thought, "fair enough." I honored it, and I've been singing ever since. Actually, after Girl split up, I went back to playing guitar in some local, underground rock bands in England. I did a French tour with the London Cowboys, and after the shows, journalists would come backstage — but they wouldn't want to talk to me. They wanted to talk to the singer! It was really weird coming from a band where I had so much attention, and then all of a sudden, I was just the guitarist. It was like, "Oh... right... sorry." What can you say? That's when I thought, "Hmmm... well, maybe this singing business is better!"

RAVE-UP: Kind of a blow to your ego?

PHIL (laughing): Just a bit. Well, you know, I never realized it when I was in Girl. I thought everyone was getting the same amount of attention.

RAVE-UP: L.A. Guns seems like quite a departure from Girl. I've always pictured Girl as this sort of sweet, cute pop band. Whereas L.A. Guns are a lot heavier and er... sleazier. Was that a gradual change for you or did you always tend towards a heavier style?

PHIL: No, not really. It was just the way that Girl was marketed. In fact, any member of Girl could fit into L.A. Guns. Phil Collen [now with Def Leppard] could easily play guitar for L.A. Guns, Gerry could easily play guitar... I think if you'd been in England, you would have probably been exposed to the more mature side of Girl.

Phil Lewis - from the cover of Rave-Up #15
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

RAVE-UP: Did Polygram Records give you guys any hassle about the band's image? Did they try to clean you up at all?

PHIL: Yeah, a tiny bit. It's really weird because the things that particularly appealed to them about us were what they were a bit scared of.

RAVE-UP: Like what?

PHIL: Well, you know, all the publicity shots covered in guns and bullets, things like that. We got our record deal because of a video we did for MTV. The deal was that we would play in the background for an Exposé video — they stuck us in suits and slicked back our hair. I don't even know what the song was, right? But in exchange, MTV would do our video. We knew there was no point in us making a video for MTV because we weren't at that stage yet, so we thought we'd make the most outrageous, daring, disgusting, sexist, violent video ever made. In the best possible taste! We took it to Polygram to show them, and they absolutely loved it! "Great video, guys!" Of course, MTV banned it in the first four seconds.

RAVE-UP: What's in the video?

PHIL: Oh, just things like guys getting pushed off skyscrapers and throats getting slit in swimming pools.

RAVE-UP: I'm really happy to find that you haven't lost your enthusiasm for rock 'n' roll!

PHIL: Thank you. I do love it! I do live for it! When I was a kid listening to records, I knew exactly what I wanted to be. I never doubted it. Well, I did. It just about took me. But fortunately, these guys came at just the right time — just as I was starting to get cynical.

RAVE-UP: I'm really happy for you. I wish you guys all the best! Thanks for your time.

PHIL: Thank you. Thanks for ringing!

* In Rave-Up #18, I interviewed Phil Lewis and Kelly Nickels about L.A. Guns' 1989 release Cocked & Loaded. Here's a link: devorahostrov.blogspot.com/2019/01/cocked-loaded