What Happened to Tracii Guns After Guns N’ Roses?

After leaving Guns N’ Roses in its very earliest days, Tracii Guns went on to build a decades-long career as the founder and guitarist of L.A. Guns, a band that became a cornerstone of Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip rock scene.

While he missed out on the global superstardom that Guns N’ Roses achieved, Tracii carved out his respected path in hard rock.

He released more than a dozen albums with L.A. Guns, formed supergroups like Brides of Destruction with Nikki Sixx, dabbled in experimental side projects, and maintained a reputation as a reliable, inventive guitarist.

Today, Tracii continues to tour and record with L.A. Guns, proving that while he wasn’t in Guns N’ Roses when fame struck, he built a legacy that stands firmly on its own.

From Guns N’ Roses to L.A. Guns: A Fork in the Road

Tracii Guns’ link to Guns N’ Roses is rooted in history. In 1985, two LA-based bands, Hollywood Rose (featuring Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin) and L.A. Guns (founded by Tracii), merged to form Guns N’ Roses. Tracii was the original lead guitarist, giving the band half its name.

But his time was short. Accounts differ; some say Axl and Tracii clashed, while others suggest Tracii wasn’t interested in the grueling early touring schedule.

Either way, he left the band before they signed their record deal. Slash soon replaced him, and the rest is history: Guns N’ Roses went on to sell over 100 million albums.

For many musicians, leaving a soon-to-be-iconic band could have been a career-killer. But Tracii took a different path: he doubled down on his group, L.A. Guns, which became his lifelong project.

Building the L.A. Guns Legacy

L.A. Guns officially re-formed in 1986, with Tracii at the helm. They quickly became fixtures on the Sunset Strip, playing the same clubs as Mötley Crüe, Poison, and Ratt. By 1988, they had a record deal with PolyGram and released their debut album, L.A. Guns.

Their follow-up, Cocked & Loaded (1989), contained their biggest hit, “The Ballad of Jayne”, which reached the Billboard Top 40. MTV gave the band steady airplay, and L.A. Guns seemed poised for big things.

Key L.A. Guns Early Albums

But timing worked against them. As grunge exploded in the early 1990s, glam and sleaze metal fell out of mainstream favor. While GNR still thrived on the back of Use Your Illusion, bands like L.A. Guns found themselves pushed to the sidelines.

Reinvention and Side Projects

Instead of fading away, Tracii explored other creative outlets. He formed and joined multiple side projects, each reflecting a different aspect of his musicianship.

Each venture gave Tracii space to experiment outside the L.A. Guns framework, but he always returned to his main band.

The L.A. Guns Soap Opera

One of the most complicated aspects of Tracii’s career is the internal drama within L.A. Guns. Over the years, the band went through multiple lineups, sometimes with two separate versions of L.A. Guns touring at the same time, one led by Tracii and another by vocalist Phil Lewis.

For fans, this was confusing, but it also spoke to how passionate Tracii was about keeping the band alive. By the late 2010s, he reconciled with Lewis, and the “classic” spirit of L.A.

Guns was restored. Their reunion produced fresh albums like The Missing Peace (2017) and The Devil You Know (2019), which critics praised for recapturing the energy of their early years.

Personal Challenges and Resilience

Like many rock musicians of his generation, Tracii faced personal challenges. The constant lineup changes, industry setbacks, and the shadow of what Guns N’ Roses became could have weighed heavily. But Tracii remained resilient, focused on writing, recording, and performing.

Unlike some of his peers, he avoided the full collapse into excess that claimed other glam-era musicians. He stayed committed to his craft, becoming known not just for his riffs but for his dedication to keeping live rock alive, even when it wasn’t commercially fashionable.

Where Tracii Guns Is Today

As of the mid-2020s, Tracii is still active with L.A. Guns, recording new albums and touring globally. He and Phil Lewis remain at the core of the band, proving that even decades later, there’s still an audience for Sunset Strip rock.

Recent Albums of Note

Today, Tracii Guns is respected as a survivor of the 1980s rock scene – someone who may have lost his shot at GN’R superstardom, but who built a lasting career on his terms.

Conclusion

Instead, he anchored L.A. Guns as one of glam metal’s most enduring acts, explored side projects with some of rock’s biggest names, and continued to create music for over three decades.

While Guns N’ Roses became a household name, Tracii Guns’ story is about persistence – the choice to keep playing, writing, and leading a band long after the spotlight shifted elsewhere. And in doing so, he carved out a legacy that is uniquely his own.