What can be said about Philip Francis Lewis that hasn’t already been said? What can we learn that hasn’t been covered in other interviews? Yes, much to my chagrin, I find myself starting an introduction to my interview with a very un-cliche person with a cliche. Shame on me. But really, as I was preparing and reading through most of the interviews he’s given in the past decade or so, I started to feel like that mountain climber in the Cliff Hangers game on the “The Price is Right (you know, the one who yodels and is wearing lederhosen;  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHv5jgXz9I8) – the higher I ascended towards the summit of all Phil Lewis / L.A. Guns related knowledge and trivia, the closer I got to brain overload (i.e. crashing over the apex).

I am a consummate people pleaser though (my least “rock n’ roll” trait), so here goes my attempt at an original opener… Those of you who have read past posts on my blog will know that I am a fan of zoomorphisms, or the attribution of animal personas to rock stars (e.g. Izzy Stradlin’s the Sasquatch and Axl Rose is Punxsutawney Phil (all credit to Eric Weisbard on the latter), so to carry on with the climbing metaphor I started above, I can’t help but envision Phil Lewis as a sort of blue-eyed, black leather jacket-wearing mountain goat.

 

But wait – before any fan clubs out there get needlessly offended, let me explain. What do mountain goats do? They reach great heights and see amazing vistas. They calmly hang out on dangerously narrow crags, strategically planning their next moves up an escarpment. As they munch on grass, they ruminate (physically, but I imagine also mentally) on life’s philosophies. They hang out with other males except during mating season. Oh, and they have horns, so I guess we can say they are “horny”.

Now let’s think about Phil Lewis. Great heights? Not only has he enjoyed a lot of success in L.A. Guns, but he started doing so as a young man in the late 1970s and early 1980s as part of the British band Girl. He’s also a pilot. Amazing vistas? He’s a world traveller. Danger? Watch the music video for “One More Reason” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnOCuAePLzQ). Strategy… He’s too entrepreneurial not to be. Rumination? Well, this one is a bit of a stretch because I know Phil Lewis is an omnivore, but in terms of mental processes, he’s definitely a thinker about life’s mysteries and contradictions. As part of a touring rock group, he does spend a lot of time with his band of brothers. And finally, on the subject of having horns (or whatever), I will just refer you to the imagery and lyrics of “Sex Action” and “Rip and Tear”– thank you. I suppose the only thing that doesn’t quite match is that mountain goats have white beards, but there is always time for that in his future, such as when he decides to mix it up next Halloween by dressing up as Bacchus, the god of wine, rather than in his typical Alex DeLarge /A Clockwork Orange suspenders and codpiece.

But back to the interview. Due to our respective schedules, we had to conduct it via email over the span of a few weeks in January. I would have loved to follow up on a lot of things, but sadly, I simply ran out of time now that I am working three jobs and a 60+ hour week. I thought it would be interesting to get his views on some broader aspects of the 1980s music scene, but I also tried my best to get some up-to-date information about what L.A. Guns and Phil Lewis are going to be up to in 2016. Read on!

Intellectual Groupie: How are you? What are you up to these days?

Phil Lewis: Doing great thanks, firing on all eight. I’m up to about a fifth to answer your question.

IG: L.A. Guns played to a sold out crowd on New Year’s at the Whisky along with Faster Pussycat. How was it?

 PL: It was actually January 1st, the Friday night after, so there was none of that countdown BS that I can’t stand. I’m a musician, I love to tell stories on stage but I hate having to play MC. Our good mates Taime and the Faster Pussycat posse are always great fun. Our paths have crossed several times in the last year and I hope they continue to do so in the future. It’s a great double bill. There is no rivalry between the two bands whatsoever and a great night out.

It’s always great to come home to the Whisky, where it began for us and so many other iconic bands, and of course it’s such an honor to be invited to play on such an important date, with it being sold out in a day with tickets going for $300 a piece from the opening band. As Muhammad Ali said, “It ain’t bragging if it’s true.”

It was a truly magical night, but with the very sad news of our friend Lemmy’s passing, it gave me a sense of my own mortality. He was a wonderful man and we were friends since the 70s in London. He once dropped off a beautiful Swiss girl who didn’t speak a lick of English at my place in Bayswater for 3 days! With absolutely no explanation at all. Generous to a fault. We’ve lost a treasure.

IG: I hear that you guys have plans to play some rock festivals in Norway, Sweden and Russia this summer, although I read that at one point you felt that L.A. Guns had not been embraced in Sweden. What do you think are the factors behind that?

PL: Yes, so I’m told. Very exciting news. It will be our first time in Russia or any communist [sic] country. I’m fascinated and very relived it’s not in January and frozen solid. We’ve played a bunch of times in Scandinavia and I love it more each time. It’s been a while but I’m so looking forward to going over with this current line up.

I think the word’s out that LAG never fails to deliver the goods. I see the demise of Mötley Crüe with mixed feelings. I love the early records and undeniably they shaped the early Sunset scene and were a huge influence on us, but I feel in later days it became just a circus with very loud music and maybe it’s time for a change of the guard.

IG: What has motivated you to go back?

It’s always a great opportunity to visit and play abroad, and to be invited to play Sweden’s biggest festival is a great compliment. Last time we were there we opened for Alice Cooper and he was impressed enough to invite us to play his annual Christmas party, which was a dream come true for me as the Coops’ biggest disciple. So maybe we’ll get lucky again.

 IG: Has your relative popularity in other European countries primarily grown from your live performances / touring, or has it been helped along more by the availability of music online?

PL: I think the word’s out what a kick ass band we are live. This, combined with our strong back catalog of songs, consistent release of new material, and our background makes us a very credible band. Maybe it’s me but I’m seeing way more LAG shirts than any other band in our genre at large events. It’s like a Ramones logo – it’s cool, tough and sexy.

IG: So, what is the nature of the event you’ll be playing in Russia? Are you familiar with any other groups that will be there, Russian or otherwise?

 PL: Sorry, at this stage I don’t have much information on the nature of our show over there.

IG: Intrepid traveler that you are, I imagine you are looking forward to going to a new place, but do you have any hesitations?

 PL: Yes, I am an extremely intrepid traveler and very proud of it. I’ve toured many countries with the band and often solo…. Even more intrepidly, I’ve played with local house bands, hoping they’ve learned the songs because the only practice we have prior to the show is a late sound check. Guess I just like to live dangerously. Russia will be a new adventure. The fans are very loyal and I’m looking forward to making new friends and seeing new places. The roads are a little scary. They’re known for being some of the worst drivers in the world, and along with the antique infrastructure, this will most likely have me checking the road while trying to read a book on the history of where we’re heading.

IG: It seems that most repressive actions against musicians in Russia are taken against venue owners that are not under the immediate discretion of state-run media or against artists that are critical of the government in their lyrics, but are you concerned about performing live given the documented nature of censorship in recent years?

PL: I don’t think any of our lyrics are subversive to the Russian people – we’re about sex, booze and tattoos. We’re not warped or political. I would consider it an honor to play there and I fully intend to behave like a gentleman and respect the rules and customs to the land.

IG: L.A. Guns is not playing at the 2016 M3. I saw that you personally let fans know on a M3 Facebook page that you’ve opted out this year, and a lot of people were disappointed. Why did you decide to forego the festival this time around?

 PL: Yeah, it’s a little sad but honestly we’ve played every one so far and feel it’s time to give another band a chance. It’s a wonderful event. The time we played the second stage to a complete sold out set and nobody left even through a rainstorm… It was magic and one of my favorite gigs ever. I doubt we could ever top that so maybe a break will rekindle the allure.

IG: The Monsters of Rock Cruise has become an extremely popular event for rock fans, especially those who are partial to bands that played on the Strip in the 1980s or were associated with the LA rock scene. What do you think accounts for this marked growth in interest, particularly in recent years?

PL: Frankly the Strip scene of the 80s was a great deal of fun with an unforgettable soundtrack. There was nothing to follow it and there may never be that kind of excitement again. I feel people who were there want to relive it and the cruise is a perfect immersion, but there are also many people who weren’t even born and it’s a bit like time travel for them. I always have a good time and it’s fun to hang with the people, who through their support, have made our extremely charmed life possible.

 IG: I know how important it is for you to maintain a good relationship with your fans. From your perspective, how has the presence of L.A. Guns on social media influenced that dynamic?

 PL: Many of our fans have become friends due to social media. It’s a great leveling tool. I grew up in the 70s and started attending concerts at an early age, and apart from fan clubs there was very little contact between fans and artists. With Facebook and Twitter that is a thing of the past, and apart from losing a sense of mystery, I feel it’s a positive development.

IG: What are the biggest differences between your following then (late 80s – early 90s) and now?

 PL: Haircuts and technology. And for the most part they have much more money now.

IG: Have you spoken much with concert attendees who have either recently discovered L.A. Guns or are part of a younger demographic (e.g. teens, 20-somethings)?

 PL: Yep, lots of our old fans are bringing their offspring who are like younger versions of themselves. I find it utterly charming and truly a compliment.

IG: How do they describe their relationship to / interest in your music?

PL: They seem to love it for exactly the same as their parents do.

IG: Las Vegas has obviously become a huge location for rock concerts. In an interview last year, you remarked that playing on the Sunset Strip is quite unlike being on Sahara, and that although the Whisky will always be “home” to you (both to L.A. Guns and to you personally), Las Vegas’s Vamp’d also feels like a home gig to you now. For you, what are the main differences between performing in the two cities?

PL: I have to state nothing compares to a good night at the Whisky and the last show was certainly no exception. It’s also a comfort that I’ve been welcomed with open arms to the Vegas music scene; Vamp’d is the Whisky of Vegas, but of course there are also lots of casino gigs, the Hard Rock, and all the Palace stations scattered around the city. There are lots of places to play and the punters have a much better attitude. Vegas is America’s playground. People want to have a good time and are happy to pay for it. I think that explains the easterly migration of the L.A. based musicians, plus you get much more for your money in terms of accommodation.

IG: You’ve stated that you can’t imagine writing or recording an upcoming album in Las Vegas, and that it needs to be done in L.A. Could you elaborate on this?

 PL: I think I could write outside of LA. I don’t have the luxury of taking that kind of time off there, but once the songs are written, I hope we can do pre-production and start the main recording process in our beloved City of Angels. However the next one just might have just a splash of Sin.

IG: Of all the rock groups that you’ve cited as being influential to you musically or as being enjoyable to you, I’ve never heard you mention The Doors. They are quintessentially L.A. in a lot of people’s minds. Do you agree?

PL: I fucking love The Doors, and it is clearly my idol Alice Cooper’s favorite band. I loved working on lyrics on the same beach in Venice as Jim Morrison did a lifetime before me, and boy did his words describe the city with accurate precision and with a great sense of humor too. No One Here Gets Out Alive was my bible when I first moved to Hollywood from London, and I would spend endless hours looking up addresses and landmarks mentioned in the book. I think they, like the White Stripes, would have sounded better with a real bass player but their excellent musicianship covered that up for most people. I was invited up to sing “Roadhouse Blues” with the surviving members at the Troubadour a few years ago and it was a tremendous honor singing the song I used to belt out while listening to my old mono record player at boarding school back in Spotty Bottom, when I could only dream about the lives of my heroes and idols in that far off mystical land of enchantment.

 IG: Back in 2005, you did a really funny interview with Metal Sludge (http://metalsludge.tv/classic/?p=27915) . One thing that stood out to me in particular was that when you were asked what you remember most about writing and recording “Never Enough,” you replied that you were commenting on the excess of the 80s. Did it seem excessive at the time / as you were living it? Or had your past involvement with Girl prepared you for it?

PL: “Never Enough” was one of those songs we had been working on for months and couldn’t come up with a real catchy chorus, so our manager at the time brought in some outside writers to get it done before we had to start mixing. The verses I wrote months prior to recording and the chorus that was written on the fly were about 6 month apart, so to be honest I don’t really know what the song’s about other than some dude who had been given the run around by a girlfriend, presumably a quite young one. To intellectualize it with social observations is to give the song and me way too much credit.

IG: In media representations of the 1980s Sunset Strip – for example, VH1 retrospectives and so forth – female rock fans tend to be discussed in terms of their willing participation in a “misogynistic” music scene. Do you think this is an accurate or fair assessment?

PL: It was an incredibly misogynistic scene, very different from the London scene where women – at least the ones in bands – were considered equals. When I first moved to LA I was encouraged to have my wicked way with as many girls as possible. It was the way things were done. Nobody had “girlfriends,” and the closest thing to that was getting shacked up with a stripper or a woman with an income, and to sponge off her not only for yourself but for all the other members in one’s band. It was a hell of a culture shock. I was fine with the quantity thing, but I’ve never been comfortable taking money or charity from anyone.

IG: In your opinion, what is a “groupie”?

 PL: A groupie is a girl or woman who tries to get in the orbit of her favorite star, be it musician, athlete or even a politician… a girl looking for a good time with no expectations, a girl that is expected to pick things up right where they were left off, be it yesterday or last year.

IG: In the course of doing research for this interview, I discovered that you were included in a book of groupie narratives, edited by one of the most famous groupies in rock history, Pamela Des Barres. My initial feeling was that it must have felt like a tremendous violation of your private life to see this in print. Were you angry?

 PL: No, it wasn’t an intrusion and I wasn’t angry because most of it was fiction. My guitar player friend and I invited a girl to hang with us on a day off between gigs. She had a car and we needed to do laundry. It was all very platonic and quite fun. Tina King was more like a cousin than a conquest, so it came as a huge surprise when I read the piece and she went into detail describing acts of “drunkenness and cruelty.” Sorry, I couldn’t resist a Kinks’ lyric from “Sunny Afternoon,” but yeah, there was no threesome that night, and I do remember that the only hard thing that night was the rain.

IG: Although you have large numbers of male fans, doing a quick scan of your fan pages, it seems to me that the majority of the creators and followers are women. Why do you think that is?

 PL: LAG has been fortunate in the fact that we have an equal number of male and female fans; I love that. I wouldn’t want to be Bret Michaels, where 99 percent of his fans are female, but it would be worse be in a band like Slayer, with a 99 percent male audience.

IG: Do you think there are fundamental differences in how men and women engage with / listen to your music?

PL: No not really. Some music is feminine like T. Rex and brings out the girl in all of us while Skynyrd makes us all feel like dirty hippies.

IG: You, Stacey Blades and Scott Griffin appeared in a 2012 episode of the Ex-Wives of Rock TV series. In it, Athena Bass of Femme Fatale plays drums for you at a gig. How did that opportunity come about?

PL: That was Stacey’s and Scott’s project. Both those guys are very driven to be on TV. Perhaps because I have had so much exposure in that department, I’m not so inclined nowadays. To be honest, I don’t like hearing or seeing myself on TV or in interviews. I’ve always been more about the music than the hype. I can talk for hours about writing, recording or touring, but I clam right up when I’m outside of that comfort zone.

IG: Life on the road comes naturally to you. This is one of the major cultural ideas that people link to “the gypsy”. Is your personal inclination towards travel the reason it has become a theme in L.A. Guns lyrics and in your other entrepreneurial ventures (e.g. your fragrance)?

PL: I’ve been touring now for over 40 years, so I guess I must like it. I grew up in boarding school so I was never a mommy’s boy. I ran away to Paris when I was 13 to find a girl I met on a school skiing trip to Austria a few weeks prior. I came back to London and decided I wanted to see her again so I took an advance on my inheritance, emptied my dad’s secret money stashes and boarded a train bound for France. In a way, I never really came back. I am a gypsy in the romantic sense. I love to travel, enjoy new cultures and people. A gypsy fortune teller on Portobello Road told me I was heading for a lifetime of travel and adventure, and he was right. Roughly 10 thousand miles a month for 40 years comes out to way more than a million miles. And yes my fragrance – not perfume and not cologne – is called Gypsy (http://www.gypsyfragrance.com/). It was originally called Gypsy Soul but I think a single word is much more effective. Gypsy is a special blend of fragrance not essential oils that I’ve been combining since my early 20s. I loved the women’s perfume Opium but felt it was too sweet, so I made my own version and gave it a splash of citrus. I’d been wearing it for years and received many compliments, so I started making a few bottles for my friends. My band hates it, funnily enough. I bought 50 small vintage vials at a swap meet several years ago and made up enough to fill them. I took them on the road just to see if there might be a market, and to my delight they sold out in just a few days. I’ve been running with it ever since. Now I make candles, bath salts and incense, and business is booming. I never thought of myself as a Calvin Klein, and honestly I loath most men’s aftershave and women’s perfumes. The wonderful thing about my Gypsy is it works equally well on both sexes. Gypsy is a good theme for me – Electric Gypsy.

***

So there you have it! Many thanks to Phil Lewis for granting me this interview.

And for those of you who will be in Scandinavia in June, stay posted for details about L.A. Guns’ upcoming performance dates there!