Adam Burley and I are friends on Facebook. Let’s remember though that in 2018, Facebook is a good way to reconnect. Unfortunately as years have passed, Adam Burley and I have lost touch in many respects. The three of us were pretty well attached at the hip for that entire school year. I made two really good friends that year - Adam Burley and Allan Lutchmun. I attribute this to really not giving a shit and discovering my real passion in life - hard rock music.Īs much as I was against changing schools at the time, as the year went on, I realized what a great move it was. The obvious conclusion from my teachers always was that “He’s smart, but does not apply himself.” I was a constant distraction to other students, cracking jokes and just being a major pain in the butt to my teachers. My school years were filled with fights that led too many suspensions. I have to be honest I was not every parents’ dream child. In early 1987, my parents had thought it was a good idea for me to switch schools, although we did not move, due to my distractions within my previous place of education, my parents thought it seemed logical that I move elsewhere to continue my education. Where that occurred is a story for another time. In the fall of 1988, I would be starting high school.
Grade 8 would be the only year I would spend at this school. At the time of release, I was 13 years old, in grade 8 at Southwood Park Public School in Ajax, Ontario, Canada. As I was popping the CD into my player, I started to recollect the release of the album and how I went about obtaining its contents. Please note, due to ongoing lengthy vinyl manufacturing wait time, the LP version will be released on August 4, 2023.It had been quite some time since I had last listened to L.A.
Feeling inspired and excited like they did when they first started out, but with many years of wisdom and experience under their belts, and most importantly, a renewed and stronger creative and personal relationship, Guns, Lewis, and L.A. What’s important to know and understand is that the driving force of all those classic L.A. The story of how we got from the band’s powerful early years to a fourth new studio album in the relatively short time that Guns and Lewis have reunited has already been well documented, so no need to rehash it. But despite having many songs to back up that image, the band could also write powerful ballads (see the smash hit, “ The Ballad Of Jayne” for Exhibit A of this argument) that showed there were some serious songwriting chops in the band. Guns never looked like the pretty poster boys that so many of their peers did, but more the band that you would be terrified to bump into in an alley as they would likely be carrying switchblades and ready for a fight. ‘Black Diamonds’ shows no signs of this renaissance slowing down… Guns in 2017, a rekindling of the band’s creative energy has been continuing unabated over the course of, now, four studio albums. Since core members Tracii and Phil reunited under the banner of L.A. GUNS, led by Tracii Guns and Phil Lewis, have always delivered solid rock ‘n roll to their fans. Since their self-titled debut in 1988 to their widely praised recent suite of “comeback” albums, L.A.
This makes for a potent and highly listenable cocktail of an album in ‘ Black Diamonds’.
The band doesn’t shy away from flexing their hard rock influences as they always have, but also incorporate more introspective acoustic tracks reflective of their classic rock influences from the ’70s. Written and recorded over the course of 2022, ‘Black Diamonds‘ sees Tracii Guns, Phil Lewis and company continuing on the same successful and inspiring sonic journey that they’ve been taking on their most recent albums, ‘Checkered Past‘, ‘The Devil You Know’, and ‘The Missing Peace‘.
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