Get your mind out of the gutter! We’re not talking about law enforcement orgasms here. Rather the fact that uniforms were dispatched to the comfortably isolated Patagonia Studios in Southern California, which is situated on a five-acre ranch - the occasion? Poison drummer Rikki Rockett, L.A. Guns guitarist Tracii Guns, Cinderella bassist Eric Brittingham (who has since been replaced by Rudy Sarzo of Quiet Riot), and The Gibbs Brothers vocalist Brandon Gibbs giving birth to their new band, Devil City Angels.  “That was a great spot actually, it really was,” remembers Rikki. “The police came twice though, that’s a true story. We were just that loud, honestly. We’re in a freaking studio, and we’re still that loud. I’m not making this up. It sounds so standard, one of those typical rock things to say, but it’s so true. We really were laughing – we got the cops called on us cause we’re too loud.”
 
Given the resumes of the musicians involved with Devil City Angels, it would be fairly reasonable to expect the new material to sound like an offshoot of their previous work; not so. In fact, the most appealing aspect of Devil City Angels’ self-titled debut album is that it does not sound like any of the bands the members are known for. “That’s exactly what we were trying to avoid,” says Rikki. “And it’s exactly why we got a singer from a band that was fairly unknown. We could have got Sebastian Bach for example, not that he was in consideration, but it would have ended up sounding like a Skid Row record; or people would at least interpret it that way. It’s really weird how your mind will interpret things; the voice is so important.”
 
Granted, but the music is equally important. Devil City Angels exemplify rock, blues, soul, and even a little bit of swing. Their “modern vintage” sound is so far removed from the stereotypical Sunset Strip hair metal scene that L.A. Guns and Poison would normally be associated with. “Totally, we were not going for that. We were going for a more soulful, straight-ahead ‘70s classic rock kind of sound. That’s why we thought Brandon was a really good choice for this band. That’s the stuff that all of us grew up with; so it was a perfect fit in that way.”
 

 
As Rikki mentioned, Brandon is somewhat unknown, but die-hard fans are aware of his Cinderella connection with Cheap Thrill, which was a side-project featuring Eric Brittingham and Jeff LaBar. “Tracii and I have known each other a long time. I ran into him at The Bonzo Bash (in 2014); he was getting ready to do this Led Zeppelin tribute. By the time we got around to doing The Who Tribute – for some reason we get called into do these tributes; I don’t really do much outside of Poison, so it’s something I always look forward to. He said, ‘By the way, I’m not working this summer,’ which was last year. Guess what? Neither am I. So we got together, and we actually did have bass players in mind, but the key thing is – what will separate you from everybody else, is what’s going on vocally. So that was the first consideration. We went through a myriad of ideas, but once I came up with the idea of Brandon, and let Tracii hear him and speak with him, we didn’t consider anybody else after that.”
 
So Devil City Angels writes the songs, records the songs, and then launches a PledgeMusic campaign. “We did, sort of. We had a company that was interested in signing us, and they pretty much sung the praises of the world to us – what they were going to do for us, and they wanted to do this thing with Pledge. I didn’t know anything about Pledge, but I said ok, fine. I just don’t think it was for us; it just didn’t work really. It was a lot of disarray once that company stepped out, away from us. I don’t want to bad mouth that company or the people who worked for it, but they gave us a big, long song and dance – how much money we were going to make, this and that – just really nothing was working out. So we finally walked away. When we did, the Pledge thing kind of got all screwed up too. Everybody got their money back. Let’s just release the record the old school way that we understand. There’s nothing wrong with Pledge, I just think it was a mess because of this management firm we had.”
 
Then Devil City Angels ends up signing with Century Media; a label that’s home to much heavier bands including Arch Enemy, Napalm Death, and The Haunted. “Yeah, it is a little bit weird,” admits Rikki. “And I was taken aback by that. But our manager, Larry Mazur, has a good relationship with these people. They have new people in their radio department, and they’re expanding what they’re doing; they want more mainstream rock. So we’ll see how it goes. The same thing happened with Poison and Enigma Records. Enigma was pretty much a punk rock label, for all intents and purposes; they had The Smithereens. So, when we came along, at first they didn’t know what the hell to do with us – and Capital didn’t either. This was home to Iron Maiden and Duran Duran!”
 

 
Everything’s rolling along nicely, and original bassist Eric Brittingham unexpectedly decides to leave the band, what happened? “You know what… there’s been a very long lull, a very long stalling during this process. When we got together we put a song out on YouTube, we hit the road. We literally got on a tour bus – very brave move for a new band. We were booking stuff as we were out there; we were just fearless. Then along came a record label and management company, and it didn’t work out. We lost five months in that time frame. At this age and place in your life, when you have children, a house payment – all these things. At one point you just have to say, I believe in the American Dream but I’ve got to go to work. It was getting a little frustrating for Eric I think. And there were some other small problems too. He took some things wrong I think that I said. But he just wanted to move on… and I feel bad about it cause I’ve always felt Eric was a brother. But I am very excited to have Rudy (Sarzo) on board. I really, really like Rudy as well. Eric did a great job on this record! He was very instrumental in writing. I wish him the best! I hope that we’re not enemies. But Rudy was like a pinch hitter, ‘okay, I’m in’.”
 
Delving into the songs that comprise the self-titled Devil City Angels debut, “Ride With Me” has such incredible crossover potential with country music! Check out these lyrics: ‘I punched in late so they sent me home, I broke my key and dropped my phone.’ “Right, well there’s actually a Poison song that has a feel to it like that. I helped Brandon and his brother with that song 11 years ago,” admits Rikki. “We actually demoed that song, but it’s almost swampy at times. It does have some country crossover, you’re right about that. It’s probably the least Devil City sounding song on the Devil City record.”
 
Another connection exists between Rikki and Brandon, that being The Special Guests – which is essentially Poison with Brandon in place of vocalist Bret Michaels. The question beckons, are The Special Guests and Devil City Angels competing, or are they touring concurrently? “There’s been this long kind of stall with Devil City. We wanted to get the record out, and then go back at this. During that time, of course it was the summertime, and there was a lot of talk about Poison touring. Once I realized we weren’t going to do a full-fledged tour, there were some shows that were offered; some of them Bret was interested in, some of them he wasn’t. So we just thought, Brandon’s been doing a really great job, why don’t we take a couple of those shows and have him sing? We can’t tell everybody we’re Poison, but we’ll do the Poison catalogue. And we did! It’s actually going over really, really well. I don’t know what Bret’s doing? Honestly! I’m being 100% honest. I have not talked to him in months; I don’t know what’s in his head or what he’s considering doing in the future? But at some point in time we’ve got to look at what we’re doing; and that’s a big consideration right there. This is the third year that Poison hasn’t toured… it’s a little frustrating. Poison’s become a touring act. Musically, it has become stagnant because we haven’t done anything new. We haven’t written any songs. There hasn’t been anything to create a whole lot more interest, or more of a legacy. So maybe having Brandon involved really is a pretty cool thing, cause I do know that we would write songs, and we probably would put out a record. I’m not ready to retire and give this up. I don’t feel old. Of course I’m older than I was, but this whole notion of ‘only young bands can be vital or have anything to contribute,’ is ridiculous! Some wisdom in rock is essential too. I have more stories to tell than a 21-year old. I don’t want to just put them in a book; the songs are what really brings it to life and gives it different meaning.”
 

 
“Bad Decisions” is the final track on Devil City Angels, what’s the worst decision you’ve ever made Rikki? “Huh…” followed by much laughter. “Smoking… deciding to smoke cigarettes was a bad decision. There’s not much else that I regret. All the drugs I’ve done, all those things I’ve done when I was younger – whatever. You’ll try things, but that was one that got a hold of me pretty good.”
 
Curious about the origin of the name Devil City Angels? “I kind of came up with it. The original name was Angel City Devils; Angel City being Los Angeles. It’s something I had for a long time that I liked, I actually registered the name. And then (L.A. Guns bassist) Kenny Kweens said to me, ‘Dude, I have this fantasy hockey league I came up with called The Angel City Devils.’ I was like, ah shit, really? Then Tracii goes, ‘how about Devil City Angels? Make us the good guys.’ Done, that’s perfect! It was that simple. Then of course somebody goes, ‘what about the Sin City Sinners?’ The Beatles, The Monkees – whatever, it’s a name. At the end of the day, it’s four guys making music.”
 
In closing, what are the tour plans for Devil City Angels? “We don’t have any plans right at this moment. The idea is… we’ve laid a lot of ground work. We went out last year and played; people know we can do this. It’ll just be a matter of letting offers come in that will be worth pursuing; I hate to say it like that, but it’s got to make sense. We really cut down to the bone to go out last year. Yeah we had a tour bus, an old tour bus. Sometimes we stayed in hotels, sometimes we stayed in the bus; and they were shitty hotels when we did stay in them. That’s going from Poison, where I have my own bus, to sharing a bus with a crew and a band. Still, it’s a tour bus. It’s nice, it was fine. We hacked it out and showed everybody that we’re hungry enough to go do it. Now, do I want to go out there and make less money than my babysitter’s making? No, I don’t want to do that. I do have children and I do have other responsibilities; it has to make sense. If I’m just doing it for fun, there’s plenty of things to go do for fun musically. And I do have Poison. It’s not like that’s in the rear-view mirror; it’s been kind of all over the place lately, that’s all. That will change, I know it will. Poison is not done.”