Golden Robot CEO and president Mark Alexander-Erber has had this marked as one of the highlights of the year for his label’s release calendar, commenting: “All this bullshit that rock is dead, just have a listen to this killer new single from RILEY’S L.A. GUNS and it’s proof that it’s not only alive but it’s screaming and yelling the house down.”

RILEY’S L.A. GUNS drummer Steve Riley said: “We are so excited about this second album from the band, ‘The Dark Horse’, and we feel we really took it up a notch with the songwriting, performances, and production after our well-received first album ‘Renegades’. This first single, ‘Overdrive’, is a balls-out rocker and a great way to open this new album. We know you guys are going to love it, and we can’t wait to see you out on the road in 2023!”

In April 2021, an out-of-court resolution was reached in the legal dispute over the rights to the L.A. GUNS name. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, guitarist Tracii Guns and singer Phil Lewis are continuing to operate under the L.A. GUNS trademark, while Steve Riley and his bandmates from the other version of L.A. GUNS are now operating under the new name RILEY’S L.A. GUNS.

RILEY’S L.A. GUNS features Riley alongside Orlando, Florida-based guitarist/vocalist Kurt Frohlich, bassist Kelly Nickels (a member of L.A. GUNS‘ “classic” incarnation) and guitarist Scott Griffin, who played bass for L.A. GUNS from 2007 until 2009, and then again from 2011 to 2014.

In January 2020, Riley was sued by Lewis and Guns in California District Court. Joining Riley as defendants in the case were the three musicians who performed in his rival version of L.A. GUNS; that group’s manager, booking agent and merchandiser; and Golden Robot Records. The complaint, which requested a trial by jury, alleged that Riley‘s version of L.A. GUNS (referred to in the case docket as “the infringing L.A. GUNS“) was creating “unfair competition” through its unauthorized usage of the L.A. GUNS trademark. In addition, Guns and Lewis were seeking relief from and/or against false advertising, breach of contract and unauthorized usage of their likenesses.

In May 2021, Guns discussed the resolution in an interview with The SDR Show. He said: “We ended up settling in a way where, basically, Steve licenses the words L.A. GUNS for free; I’m not even asking for a percentage of when he plays. I’m just saying, ‘Hey, I could have taken your house. I could have taken anything you own. But I don’t want you to die in the street, and I don’t want you to be poor.’ And I really love his son, Cole. It just got to the point with all this litigation…

“I live in Denmark half the time, so when we did this thing called a mediation, that mediation started at 11 p.m. Denmark time, and it was nine hours,” he continued. “And I just had a baby. And my wife and my baby were in the bedroom, and I’m in the living room, and this is our first apartment there, which is, like, 72 square meters — it’s tiny. And I’m up, and I’m doing this mediation. And finally, it just got to the point where we were just going back and forth, and I’m, like, ‘How can I easily make it just make sense?’ ‘Cause in the end, they had no argument. ‘Well, I’m in L.A. GUNS.’ That was the argument. No, you’re not — you’re not in L.A. GUNS. You were hired by me. The bass player guy was hired by me. And it’s as simple as that. But if you wanna pretend that you came up with the name or you formed the band or it was your musical vision or that you even wrote one fucking song, you can go live in that fantasy, as long as it doesn’t infringe on my business.”

In a separate interview with Sonic Perspectives, Guns addressed the fact that Riley‘s version of L.A. GUNS played at the M3 Rock Festival in 2019 and released a full-length album under the L.A. GUNS name, 2020’s “Renegades”. He said: “Dude, when they did those couple of shows, we got so much angry e-mail from our fans. People were, like, ‘What the fuck? None of you guys were there!’ We would have to explain it’s a different band with the same name. When I say a lot, I’m talking over a thousand e-mails. Then they put out a record using the name L.A. GUNS, and the e-mails just escalated. That was the point where some from our family stepped who had unlimited funds, which we used to stop this. It was what we needed to do, and it is done. Can you imagine, now they have to make up their legal fees? In what reality is it worth it? For Steve Riley to spend $80,000, and they will never make that back with RILEY’S L.A. GUNS. There is no logic, and it’s so bizarre.”