LA Guns is a band that I have seen a great many times in numerous incarnations and Riley was behind the kit for a lot of them. In recent years he was recording and touring with Riley’s LA Guns, and I wasn’t able to see that lineup live. The band famously split into two entities over the years since its glory days with Riley ending up in the current version under the name Riley’s LA Guns.

Steve Riley played live with his version of LA Guns at the M3 festival in 2019 and released the album Renegades in 2020. A new record, The Dark Horse, is schedule for a 2024 release.

The split between members of LA guns is a long and ugly story, with Riley being sued and forced to put his name on his version and change the logo from the classic shield. The bitter history of acrimony between the members of LA Guns was funny for a while but the longer it went, the worse it looked and felt.

If you follow along with Steve Riley in various interviews, you get a look at a guy who kept it positive and rocked until the day he died. Riley did a wonderful thing for the fans, he never asked them to choose sides, even in the face of viscous attacks from the other side. On his band’s official website, the media section has several interviews over the years with Riley always showing enthusiasm for the music he was making and saying he wasn’t going to sling mud at the other guys.

This was a guy who was a true rocker and he did it through all of the ups and downs, right to the end. Renegades is a solid hard rock record that has numerous catchy songs in the true LA Guns tradition. The videos on the website of the making of “Crawl” and other songs show the band enjoying the experience of recording, playing and meeting the fans. That’s the lasting memory of Steve Riley. Rest In Peace, Steve.

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