Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns fame has unveiled a new band: Blackbird Angels. The group’s debut album, Solsorte, arrives September 8th, and the lead single “Shut Up (You Know I Love You)” can be heard now.
Guns formed the band alongside Todd Kerns, who is best known for his work with Slash and Myles Kennedy. Given the musical lineage of Guns and Kerns, “Shut Up (You Know I Love You)” hits the expected sweet spot of melodic hard rock with a hint of ’80s glam metal. For fans of L.A. Guns, it’s required listening.
“Todd and I have wanted to make a record for about 10 years now and we finally did it and it’s everything I hoped for,” Guns said via a press announcement. “With the addition of [drummer] Adam Hamilton, it’s pure magic. For live performances, Johnny Martin will play bass and Sam Bam Koltun will play guitar.”
Although Guns’ legacy is forever linked to the ’80s via his formative years alongside Axl Rose (becoming the “Guns” in Guns N’ Roses) and success with L.A. Guns, Blackbird Angels is more of a homage to Tracii’s core influences, which lie in the decades prior to his come up (i.e. Led Zeppelin, Peter Frampton, and Bad Company, per the band’s press release). Kerns was all-in on the project.
“I’ve always been a great admirer of Tracii’s,” he said. “When he approached me about this project, we were still in the throes of the pandemic and I really felt this deep need to make as much music as possible while we were all facing such an uncertain future. The record turned out to not only be a cathartic experience, it became some of my favorite music I’ve ever been a part of. It’s raw, it’s real and it rocks. I’m super excited for people to hear it.”
You can pre-order Solsorte via this location. Below you can see the album art, tracklist, and stream “Shut Up (You Know I Love You).”
Solsorte Artwork:
Solsorte Tracklist:
01. Shut Up (You Know I Love You)
02. Mine (All Mine)
03. Worth the Wait
04. Coming In Hot
05. On and On/Over and Over
06. Only Everything
07. Broken In Two
08. Better Than This
09. Unbroken
10. The Last Song
11. Scream Bloody Murder
