Former-LA Guns Members
Click HERE for more on the current LA Guns members:
Phil Lewis, Steve Riley, Adam Hamilton, & Stacey Blades.
Tracii Guns, Paul Black, Nickey Alexander,
the super old-school version of LA Guns.
Keri
Kelli (guitar/vocals) 2002-2003
Keri “mau mau” Kelli had
played in MANY bands before joining the LA Guns in late 2002. He started out in the Big Bang Babies (early
90’s), who had released a few albums with Keri on guitar (and later on guitar
and vocals). In the late 90’s, he joined
Pretty Boy Floyd (with former LA Guns-guitarist Keff Ratcliffe on bass) and a
band called Dad’s Porno Mag (with former LA Guns-bass player Stefan
Adika). Keri joined RATT in 1999 and
toured with the band that year, but left when Stephen Pearcy did in early 2000
so he could join Slash’s Snakepit featuring Slash of Guns N’ Roses. Keri also played in Warrant for a short time
in early 2000. Snakepit disbanded in
late 2000, and Keri went on to join Love/Hate (with former LA Guns-singer Jizzy
Pearl). Keri joined LA Guns November of
2002 to replace the departed Tracii Guns.
He remained in the band throughout 2003, and fit in well with LA Guns
when I saw them. I hear he also sings a
mean version of Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak”, but I guess I’ll never know. Keri also played in Bulletboys for a few
shows in late 2003. He was slated as
only a temporary replacement for Tracii, which was proven in December of 2003
when he parted with the band. LA Guns
blamed Keri’s “drunken behavior” for the split, and Keri cited booking
conflicts with his other band, Adler’s Appetite. Adler’s Appetite (who also toured as Suki
Jones) also features Brent Muscat and Jizzy Pearl, along with former Guns N
Roses drummer Steven Adler. Keri
remained in that band until late 2005.
Keri has most recently joined former Motley Crue singer Vince Neil’s
band. He toured with Vince until Vince
reunited with Motley Crue in early 2005.
Keri currently plays in Skid Row (filling in for Snake Sabo) and still
plays with Jizzy in Love/Hate from time to time (2006). He is also working with
Brent
Muscat (guitars) 2000, 2002-2004
Brent Muscat is the original
and current guitar player for Faster Pussycat; he helped form the band in the
mid 1980’s and is featured on all of their original albums (“Faster Pussycat”,
“Wake Me When it’s Over”, “Whipped”).
Faster Pussycat were successful, toured a lot, and eventually broke up
around 1993, and Brent went on to get a “real” job. Later in the 1990’s, he joined the band
Bubble, with whom he recorded an album.
In 1998, Brent joined Phil Lewis’ band, which went on to be called The
Liberators, and Brent is featured on their album “Access Denied”. Brent helped to form the band that would
become the Beautiful Creatures in late 1999 with former LA Guns bass player
Chuck Garric and singer Joe Leste. Brent
and Chuck left the band in 2000. Brent
joined LA Guns for a short time in the spring and summer of 2000 to tour in
place of Mick Cripps, but declined to go with the band and record “Man in the
Moon”. In 2001, he reunited with some of
his Faster Pussycat bandmates. Brent has
toured with Faster Pussycat throughout 2001, 2002, and 2003. He re-joined the LA `Guns in November of 2002
to tour playing co-lead guitar with Keri Kelli.
He left the LA Guns in summer 2003 to focus more time on Faster
Pussycat’s tour and future album. He has
also been playing (with Keri Kelli and Jizzy Pearl) in Adler’s Appetite (AKA
Suki Jones) with former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler. He did not stay with Adler for long. When Keri departed the LA Guns in December
2003, Brent filled in for a few shows but left again in early 2004. In 2005,
Brent was diagnosed with throat cancer; although he has had it removed and
supposedly has fully recovered. Also in
2005, Brent formed a cover band called the Sin-City All-Stars with Jizzy
Pearl. Brent has not toured with Faster
Pussycat in the last few years although he is still a member of the band. Brent’s birthday is April 23. Brent is featured on the LA Guns album “Rips
the Covers Off” and the live DVD “Hellraisers Ball”
Mark Dutton AKA Muddy or Muddy
Stardust came from a band called Burning Tree.
Burning Tree released an album in 1990 through Sony, on which Muddy
played. BT also recorded music for a
second album, which was never released.
After BT broke up, he joined Izzy Stradlin’s band, The Ju Ju Hounds, but
had left before Izzy’s debut was recorded.
Then he fell off the face of the earth.
Just kidding. Muddy was recruited
into LA Guns in mid-2000 to replace the departed Kelly Nickels for their summer
tour. He also co-wrote and played on the
“Man in the Moon” album, and toured with LA Guns throughout 2001 to support
it. Muddy quit LA Guns in the fall of
2001 and recommended Adam Hamilton to the band.
He had left because he had joined Gilby Clarke’s band, Col. Parker (also
featuring Slim Jim Phantom and Teddy “Zigzag” Andreadis), who released one
album called “Rock & Roll Music”.
Muddy played bass on the album and wrote & sang half of the
songs. He has since played on both of
Jizzy Pearl’s solo album and formed a project called Upthedose, who have also
released an album called “Sects”.
Upthedose is basically a Muddy solo album. Muddy was featured on the LA Guns album “Man
in the Moon”, and some of those tunes were featured on the album “Fully
Loaded”.
Jizzy Pearl (lead vocals) 1998-1999
Jizzy Pearl (born Jim
Wilkinson) started off long long ago in a band called LA Rocks. He left LA Rocks in the mid 1980’s and joined
the band DataClan, who basically became Love/Hate. Jizzy and Love/Hate suffered through the late
80’s and were signed to Columbia Records in 1989, releasing two albums on the
label (“Blackout in the Red Room” and “Wasted in
Johnny
Crypt (bass/guitar/vocals) 1995-1999
Johnny started out as
“Johnny Crystal” in a few strip bands before joining the band Boneyard with (LA
Guns singer) Chris Van Dahl. There is a
Boneyard album that is in existence, but I do not know if it features Johnny or
not. He was recruited into the “new” LA
Guns with Chris to record “American Hardcore” as the second guitar player
(replacing Mick), but had switched to bass when Kelly left, and stayed there
until February of 1999 when he quit the band due to the “Greatest Hits &
Black Beauties” album (reunion of original lineup). Some people may think he jumped the gun a
little early as the reunion didn’t actually happen until months after the
“Black Beauties” album was recorded and released, but Johnny doesn’t seem to
regretting in his decision to jump ship.
He has since recorded an EP under the moniker “Plazmaholix” called
“Virus” where he performed all instruments.
He was also in Love/Hate for a while with (former LA Guns members) Jizzy
Pearl and Chris Van Dahl, but this incarnation of the band was axed in 2000 as
Jizzy had joined RATT. Johnny was asked
to re-join LA Guns in 2000 when Kelly Nickels left the band, but Johnny had
declined the offer. He has since
recorded more songs for Plazmaholix, which have not yet been released. Johnny was also in a band called Jetset, but
I don’t know when or where. Johnny is
featured on three LA Guns albums, “American Hardcore”,
“Wasted”, and
“Shrinking Violet”
Ralph
Saenz (lead vocals/acoustic guitar) 1997-1998
In the mid 1990’s,
“David Lee Ralph” Saenz formed THE Van Halen tribute band, The Atomic
Punks. Previous to this, he had been in
a band called 7% Solution. Although he
has also been a member of other bands over the years, he still plays with The
Atomic Punks. The AP’s have featured
(over the years) guitarists Bart Walsh and Russ Parish. Ralph joined LA Guns in the summer of 1997,
when LA Guns had fired Chris Van Dahl in hopes of reuniting with Phil Lewis. Phil declined, and Ralph (who had been a
friend of Tracii’s) signed on, and toured throughout 1997 and into 1998. Ralph sang on the “Wasted” EP, and left LA
Guns in the summer of 1998 to start a solo career (which never happened). There was a live album rumored to be
released, featuring Ralph in the LA Guns, which obviously never happened. You can find some live bonus tracks of Ralph
singing for LA Guns on the re-issue of Tracii Guns’ “Killing Machine” CD. Ralph was received very well by most LA Guns
fans (after the Chris Van Dahl “fiasco”), and the band’s morale and outlook for
the future seemed to be at an all time high when Ralph was in the band. After LA Guns, Ralph continued to work with
The Atomic Punks and also formed Metal Skool (who were originally named Metal
Shop and were also known as Danger Kitty).
They were the fake 80’s glam metal cover/spoof band that played on the
Discover Card commercials in 2000. When
they were still called Metal Shop, they released an EP called “Hole Patrol” and
a home video to companion the CD. Metal
Skool continues to play as a metal cover/spoof band. Ralph’s birthday is May 17. Ralph is featured on the LA Guns EP “Wasted”
Roxy Dahl was the singer for
Tom Mathers’ band,
Michael
“Bones” Gershima (drums) 1992-1994
Mr. Bones AKA MC Bones
AKA “Bones” AKA Michael Gershima played in a band called Gypsy Rose in Seattle
before joining LA Guns, replaced Steve Riley during the “Hollywood Vampires”
tour over the 1991-1992 holiday season (I have a December 23 bootleg featuring
Steve and a January 29 bootleg featuring Bones), and recorded tracks on “Cuts”
and “Vicious Circle” before Steve returned to the fold. Bones was no longer a member of the band by
the time “Vicious Circle” was released, and I don’t know why he parted ways
with LA Guns. Bones also worked with
Phil in Filthy Lucre, a band which was formed in 1992-93, and released an album
called “Popsmear” in 1996-97 after Phil left LA Guns. He also played a few tunes on Phil’s solo
album. Tracii Guns said that Bones was
“funny as hell”. Bones is featured on
the following LA Guns releases: “Cuts”, “Vicious Circle”, and some of the songs
on “Hollywood-A-Go-Go”.
Robert
Stoddard (guitar/vocals) 1985-1987
Robert Stoddard
started out as a solo artist in the early 80’s in
Myron
Grombacher (drums) 1994
Myron was a session
player on the “Vicious Circle” album, where he played on four of the songs, but
was never “in the band” though. He also
has played with (and appears on albums by): Pat Benatar, Lita Ford, Rick
Derringer, Jack Russell (of Great White), and Robert Tepper (whoever he is). He started out playing with Rick Derringer,
but is best known for working with Pat Benatar.
Myron is featured on the “Vicious Circle” album.
Former
LA Guns members who are not featured on any LA Guns release:
Keff
Ratcliffe (guitar) 2002
Keff Ratcliffe had
played the bass in Pretty Boy Floyd in the late 90’s, and is featured on their
album “Porn Stars”. I don’t know why he
left PBF, but he doesn’t seem like he likes those guys too much anymore. Keff played guitar with LA Guns on their
summer 2002 Metal Edge Rockfest tour in support of “Waking the Dead” (but did
not play on the album). Keff has said
that he is very influenced by Tracii Guns, and he quit the LA Guns a little
while after Tracii left in October of 2002 (Keff left in November). Keff had also been named the guitarist for
Bret Michaels (of Poison) on his 2004 solo tour, but this was put on ice when
Poison (as a band) announced that they were to tour with KISS that summer. He went on to tour with pop singer Jessica
Simpson. Keff has made guest appearances
with LA Guns a few times since his departure, and has remained friendly with
the band.
Chuck
Garric (bass) 1999
Chuck Garric had
played bass for Dio in the 90’s and had also been a member of the band The
Turds. When Johnny Crypt left LA Guns in
early 1999, he was replaced for a short time by Stefan Adkia. For some reason Stefan didn’t stick around
and Chuck was hired to play the bass on LA Guns’ summer tour with Poison and
RATT that same year. Chuck was let go
from the band in the fall of ’99 as LA Guns had reunited its original
lineup. For a short time he played in a
band called Kilowatt with Tracii Guns, and he also played in the first
incarnation of the Beautiful Creatures with Joe Leste and Brent Muscat. Chuck has since returned to Dio for a short
time and also played in George Lynch’s Lynch Mob sometime between 2000 and
2002. In 2002/2003, he joined Alice
Cooper’s band, and is featured on Cooper’s latest two or three albums. Chuck still tours with
Stefan
Adika (bass) 1999
Stefan Adika had
played bass in Gilby Clarke’s band throughout the late 90’s and was also a
member of the band Dad’s Porno Mag (also featuring former-LAG-guitarist Keri
Kelli). Stefan replaced Johnny Crypt for
a short time in the spring of 1999.
Although he was friends with Tracii, for some reason he was only in the
band for about a month. Stefan was
replaced by Chuck Garric. He has also
played in another one of Gilby Clarke’s bands, The Starfuckers (which also
featured Tracii Guns) and recently in Dee Dee Ramone’s band (before Dee Dee
died). He has since played in the band
Glamnation, as well as continuously working with The Starfuckers.
Chris
Holmes (guitar) 2002
Chris Holmes played
lead and co-lead guitar in WASP from 1984 until 1990-91 and recorded WASP’s
first five albums (“WASP”, “The Last Command”, “Inside the Electric Circus”,
“Live in the Raw”, “The Headless Children”).
Steve Riley was also in WASP with him for a few years and tours. Chris had left WASP from 1991 until 1997,
when he reunited with Blackie Lawless and recorded five more albums (“KFD”,
“Live Assassins”, “Helldorado”, “The Sting”, “Unholy Terror”). Chris and Blackie had a final falling out in
2001, which led to Chris leaving WASP in the past. Chris has displayed some heavy dislike for
Blackie since his departure. He has
since reunited with former WASP co-lead-guitarist Randy Piper in the band
Animal, with whom he has recorded an album and toured with. Chris also reunited with Steve Riley (and of
course, LA Guns) in the fall of 2002 to fill in for the abruptly departed
Tracii Guns for a few west coast and Alaskan tour dates. Chris was a temporary fill in player, and was
not asked or had declined to join the LA Guns as Tracii’s replacement. Chris has since parted ways with Animal as well,
although for different reasons than his WASP departure.
Joe
LeSte’ (vocals) 1998
Joe Leste had been the singer
for Bang Tango in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
Bang Tango released 5 albums (“Live Injection”, “Psycho Café”, “Dancin
on Coals”, “Ain’t No Jive Live”, “Love after Death”) and then called it a day
around 1994. Joe was originally slated
to be Ralph Saenz’s replacement in LA Guns in the summer of 1998, but had blown
off a few rehearsals and the band decided he wasn’t the right guy. So he WAS in the band for a few days, long
enough to take a promo photo! Joe
reformed Bang Tango later in 1998 and released two more albums (“Bang Tango
Live” & “Greatest Tricks”) before breaking up again in 2000. Joe formed the Beautiful Creatures in late
1999 (with Chuck Garric and Brent Muscat), who released an album in 2001. Joe and some of his BC band mates have also
formed a Bang Tango revival in the last few years, and have released an album
in 2004 called “Ready to Go”. Beautiful
Creatures released their sophomore album in 2005, titled “Deuce”. Bang Tango released yet another new album in
2006 and continues to tour.
Rod
Arias (drums)
Rod Arias was listed
by Phil Lewis as being a former LA Guns member in his “rewind” interview with
the Metal Sludge Website. I don’t know
when Rod was in the band but I would assume it was during the short time that
Steve Riley was out of the band in the mid 1990’s. Rod was the drummer for Phil’s band, The
Liberators, in their first lineup in 1998 and early 1999, when he was replaced
by Dave Moreno. Rod also played on the
“More Purple than Black” album.
Leo
(guitars) 2003
Leo is a mystery;
apparently he played in some band with Keri Kelli. When Brent was doing the Faster Pussycat
summer 2003 Metal Sludge “Extravaganza” Tour, apparently LA Guns wanted a
second guitar player for their ill-fated summer tour with XYZ and Great
White. Leo was unofficially named the
guy by Adam Hamilton (I assume he did some rehearsals with the band), but
somehow never came to be. If you are Leo
or have any information on Leo please e-mail me at motley_scrue@hotmail.com
LA Guns biographical
information written by Trevor Johnsen, 2001-present.
If you have any
information on these band members that I have left out, or want to use any of
this information for any reason, please e-mail me at motley_scrue@hotmail.com
For
more information on LA Guns please visit www.laguns.net