Steve Wildsmith of The Daily Times recently conducted an interview with singer Jizzy Pearl (L.A. GUNS, LOVE/HATE). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On the current L.A. GUNS tour:

"It's what we do for a living. I mean, how do those guys on 'The Deadliest Catch' do what they do? They dig deep. They've got soul. That's what we have, and that's 10 times better than anything else. We're all blue collar now. There are no more mansions or Learjets, so I think the fans that come to our shows these days appreciate that we're working twice as hard.

"Playing-wise, there's really no adjustment; I've just got to get used to the long days and the drinking. Everything changes, and we're not 20 years old anymore. We do a very blue-collar gig. There's a lot of driving, and it's harder in some ways — but in other ways, it's more fun because you don't have this oppressive record label whipping you every 10 minutes and stealing all of your money."

On the fact that there are two versions of L.A. GUNS — one led by guitarist Tracii Guns and the other fronted by singer Phil Lewis:

"It's just a made-up controversy — to me, Tracii is the original guitar player. We're just doing what we do, and the songs sound great, and we're having fun."

On the creative spark that keeps the Tracii Guns version of L.A. GUNS going:

"You have to keep the joy of playing music alive. A lot of these guys in other bands don't like each other — they're tired, and they've lost that magic and joy of playing. You have to be friends with the people you're in a band with, and that's what keeps us going. We all like each other.

"To me, everything we do sounds like the classic band; there's just the twist of me bringing my own identity to the songs. They're the same, but they're not the same, if that makes any sense — and that's what makes it cool to me. For anybody who doubts it, go to YouTube and check out the videos that were put up just in the last couple of days.

"I think they speak for themselves. In this day and age, you're not allowed to suck anymore, and anybody who watches them is going to want to come out, I think."

Read more from The Daily Times.

Fan-filmed video footage of L.A. GUNS performing on June 28, 2009 at the Emerald Theatre in Mount Clemens, Michigan can be viewed below (shot and edited by Rick Arnett).