L.A. Guns
“Hit and Run”
Leopard Skin
(Cleopatra Records)
Release Date: April 4, 2025
by Scott Deckman
I was gonna write off L.A. Guns’ new record, Leopard Skin, after the first number. I mean, it’s L.A. Guns, regurgitated hair metal for Christ’s sake, but then, as I accidentally let the Spotify player run, I heard “Hit and Run” over some film about an Indian tiger reserve I was watching. The fourth track on the LP, “Hit and Run” is melodic, tuneful (whatever that means, yeah, yeah), and adheres to the power-poppy side of glam. It’s also moody. Sounding more like Enuff Z’nuff than dirtball Mötley Crüe or nasty, Appetite for Destruction-era Guns N’ Roses, it works. It even has a Replacements feel. Tracii Guns, or maybe Ace Von Johnson, provides nuanced whammy bar work during the verses, and the chorus, cliched lyrics and all, shows some hard rock taste.
