Brides of Destruction

Brides of Destruction are a hard rock supergroup containing Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe and Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns amongst others. Its debut album Here Come the Brides reached the top 100 of the US album charts and launched a headlining tour of the US in April 2004. Sixx left the band to rejoin Mötley Crüe in January 2005 for a reunion tour supporting a greatest hits compilation.

History

Formation

Brides of Destruction was formed by Nikki Sixx and Tracii Guns in Los Angeles 2002 initially with the name Cockstar after Mötley Crüe went on hiatus and Tracii left L.A. Guns. Rumours were that Slash formerly of Guns N' Roses and Josh Todd of Buckcherry were to be involved in the project:

The lineup was rounded off with singer London LeGrand who prior to joining was working on demos with George Lynch of Dokken and Lynch Mob fame, keyboardist Adam Hamilton and Kris Kohls of Adema on drums. They were advised by radio programmers that the name Cockstar wouldn't be announced on air. They briefly adopted the moniker Motordog before settling on Brides of Destruction after it was suggested to Sixx by a friend.^[2][3]

Hamilton left shortly after and was replaced by John Corabi, also formerly of Mötley Crüe, who became the band's second guitarist. They entered the studio with producer Stevo Bruno to begin recording what would become Here Come the Brides. However, by early 2003, both Kohls^[4] and Corabi had left the Brides with Corabi citing some tension with Tracii, little writing input and to pursue a solo carreer as his reasons:

Scot Coogan formerly of Ednaswap and Annetenna replaced the departed Kohls on drums and the Brides played their first show opening for Mudvayne and Taproot on December 14, 2002 at the Ventura Theatre in California.^[7]

Here Come the Brides

The debut album, titled Here Come the Brides, was recorded with producer Stevo Bruno. The album was mixed by Grammy Award winning producer and mixer Steve Thompson. Future Sixx:A.M. member James Michael co-wrote three of the albums tracks. Justin Nichols and Grammy nominated songwriter Kevin Kadish are also given writing credits on the song "Life" which sees drummer Scot Coogan performing lead vocals. Prior to leaving, both Kohls and Corabi managed to contribute to the album with Kohls having drummed on four of the nine tracks and Corabi playing guitar on the whole album and co-writing the track "I Got a Gun". Despite finishing recording the album, it looked likely that the band would split up having only found a label, Universal Records, for a Japanese release.^[8] They eventually signed with Sanctuary Records for an American/European release.^[9][10]. The band recorded a video, with director Paul Brown, for their first single "Shut The Fuck Up"^[11]. which was chosen as a protest against politicians discussing the war against terror. Despite the fact that the track was edited for radio, the song did not receive as much airplay as the band would have liked and the track failed to chart. Here Come the Brides was released on March 9, 2004 and despite fairly positive reviews only charted at number 92 on the Billboard 200. A tour of the US, Europe and Australia followed.

Nikki Sixx departs

On October 25, 2004 it was announced via Blabbermouth that the Brides were to go on hiatus while Sixx reunited with Mötley Crüe for a reunion tour.^[12] Initially Tracii was to form a new band with the remaining Brides members and also offered his services to Axl Rose in a bid to join Guns N' Roses.^[13] Eventually he continued with the Brides and Scott Sorry formerly of Amen was chosen as Sixx's replacement. Ginger of The Wildhearts was added as the band's second guitarist. The band then started writing for what would become Runaway Brides but soon after, Ginger departed the Brides stating he couldn't focus on the band:

Runaway Brides

Initially titled as 13 Acres, the follow up to Here Come the Brides, Runaway Brides, was produced by Andy Johns who had previously worked with Tracii on the L.A. Guns album Waking the Dead. Three of the songs of the album were cowrote by Nikki Sixx having being wrote during the Here Come the Bride sessions with former guitarist Ginger also contributing writing on 3 tracks prior to leaving. The album saw a change in a style with it leaning towards a Heavy Metal sound in contrast with the Hard Rock/Post-Grunge sound of the first album. "Dimes In Heaven" was written as a tribute to recently deceased Pantera and Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell.^[15] After signing a new deal with Shrapnel Records, the album was released in Europe on September 13th and on September 27th in the US.^[16][17] A video was shot for "White Trash" but both the album and the single failed to chart at all.

Hiatus, The Tracii Guns Band

The band toured Europe in support of Runaway Brides. It was during this time that Scott Sorry departed and was replaced by guitar/bass tech Jeremy Guns and Dazzle Rebel of Red Star Rebels for the shows. Despite assurances, it looked likely that the Brides were to split up, with Tracii joining Quiet Riot, a move that was to be short lived after he parted ways less than a month later.^[18][19]

Tracii announced he was to perform a 'Best Of" tour with former L.A. Guns members Paul Black on vocals, Nickey Alexander on drums and former Brides live member Jeremy Guns rounding up the lineup on bass. With The Tracii Guns Band touring, the Brides were put on indefinite hiatus in 2006. Eventually The Tracii Guns Bands would became the second L.A. Guns and go through various lineup changes.

On March 18 2007 a previously unreleased Brides of Destruction song featuring Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx has been made available for streaming via the band's MySpace page. "Entertain Us" which borrows the guitar riff from the Queen song Stone Cold Crazy was the last song recorded while Nikki was in the band and it features drummer Scot Coogan on lead vocals

After the Brides

Singer London LeGrand returned to working with George Lynch and formed another supergroup in 2008 named Souls of We releasing debut album Let The Truth Be Known. Bass player Johny Chow of Fireball Ministry and Systematic and drummer Ya'el of Tom Morello and Alex Skolnick rounded up the the lineup. He formed another band named Rockstars On Mars also. In an Interview on November 24, 2008, London admitted he would like to see a Brides of Destuction reunion, but with Nikki Sixx back in the band:

On November 10, 2009 it was announced that London made a guest appearance on the 69 eyes album Back in Blood released August 28, 2009.^[21]

Bass player Scott Sorry joined ex-Brides bandmate Ginger in new lineup of The Wildhearts in 2007. In 2008 he formed the eponymous Sorry and the Sinatras with former members of Trashlight Vision, a band who supported the Brides during their tour in Europe, and their debut album Highball Roller was released on May 11, 2009.

Drummer Scot Coogan played in numerous bands since the Brides went on hiatus. He played with Stephen Pearcy of Ratt fame in Rat Bastards and plays with The Beatles/Led Zeppelin cover band Six Foot Nurse. In 2007 he performed drums as part of Ace Frehley's touring band then in 2008 he toured Australia as the drummer for Lynch Mob.

Discography

Band members

Current lineup, band on hiatus (2002-present)

• London LeGrand - vocals (2002-present)
• Tracii Guns - lead & rhythm guitar (2002-present)
• Scot Coogan - drums (2002-present)

Former members

• Nikki Sixx - bass (2002-2004)
• Adam Hamilton - keyboards (2002)
• Kris Kohls - drums (2002-2003)
• John Corabi - rhythm guitar (2002-2003)
• Scott Sorry - bass (2005)
• Ginger - rhythm guitar (2005)

Live members

• Jeremy Guns - bass (2005)
• Dazzle Rebel - bass (2005)

References

External links

• Brides of Destruction Official Page
• Allmusic article on Brides of Destruction
• Brides of Destruction interview with VH1
• Metalhammer article from January 2005 outlining lineup changes
• London Legrand Interview on Maximum Threshold