Guesting on the the Shout It Out Loudcast, L.A. Guns guitarist Tracii Guns discusses KISS, Ted Nugent, Led Zeppelin, social media in today's age, Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin and Guns N' Rose, and much more.
On the rise of Axl Rose and Guns N' Roses
Tracii: "It's interesting being able to watch Axl from afar all these years. It's been over 30 years since we were in a band together, and he just keeps getting better than me. I mean, everybody has weird performances sometimes, but he's amazing. Man, he's amazing. He's not 25 years old."
"When I look at Guns N' Roses post-me, they're just a great classic rock band. That's always been my opinion. The songs, and then there's Axl, right? You kind of have the Aerosmith setup, and then you have Axl. The singer's always going to sell the band. You could have the best band in the world, but without the guy up front, the currency isn't very high. And so, the way Axl thinks, he doesn't care so much about what he's singing too, because he's going to bring it. If he's singing electronic music, rock 'n' roll, or if he's singing in church, he's going to bring it."
Tracii Guns was a founding member of Guns N' Roses, but left only two months after the band was formed. He was replaced by Slash.
Sunbomb, the musical alliance between two steadfast warriors of the US hard rock/metal scene: Tracii Guns and Michael Sweet, have released their sophomore album, Light Up The Sky, via Frontiers Records Srl.
Developed as a tribute to the classic heavy metal of the 80s, Sunbomb melds influences of classic metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Dio, and Judas Priest.
To celebrate the release, the band shares the track "Light Up the Skies" and a visualizer to go along with it.
About the track, Michael Sweet had this to share: "'Light Up The Skies' is a raw track that takes you back to a time when music was driven by guitars, with powerful grooves that woke you up immediately. Me and Tracii could not be happier with the results. In a time where computers rule, we’re trying to keep the human side of hard rock alive."
Tracii played all guitars and bass on Light Up The Sky with drums handled by Tracii's old L.A. Guns bandmate, Adam Hamilton. Light Up The Sky is a project created, overseen, and directed by Serafino Perugino, President and A&R director of Frontiers Records Srl.
Like its 2021 predecessor, Evil And Divine, the music here is once again very heavy and firmly planted in the 'metal' category, with a wink to a traditional approach to the genre. While Tracii wrote the music for the album, the fact that Michael Sweet has been writing in an increasingly heavier style on latter-era Stryper albums made him a perfect vocalist for the album.
Tracii first leaked the news of the Sunbomb project in a March 2019 tweet, where he described the band's approaching debut LP as "the metal record I would have made when I was 17 years old.” then, in May 2020, he mentioned on Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk that: "(Evil and Divine) is really kind of like [L.A. Guns' 2019 album] The Devil You Know times three. It's more on the heavy side of The Devil You Know album. And Michael Sweet, he's a really fantastic metal singer."
About Light Up The Sky, Michael had this to say: "I’m always humbled to be a part of a project like this. This album takes the Sunbomb vision to another level with killer songs and amazing energy. Tracii really delivered on the riffs and it made it very easy for me to come up with melodies that were fitting for each song. It’s different yet familiar at the same time in the best of ways. We’re very fortunate to be working with a label that still believes in the best music in the world - rock!"
Light Up the Sky tracklisting:
"Unbreakable"
"Steel Hearts"
"In Grace We'll Find Our Name"
"Light Up The Skies"
"Rewind"
"Scream Out Loud"
"Winds Of Fate"
"Beyond The Odds"
"Reclaim The Light"
"Where We Belong"
"Setting The Sail"
"Where We Belong" (acoustic version) bonus track Japan
"Steel Hearts" lyric video:
"Unbreakable" lyric video:
Sunbomb are:
Tracii Guns - Guitars
Michael Sweet - Vocals
Adam Hamilton - Drums
Mitch Davis - Bass
