Robert Gardner (born March 26, 1965) is an American musician best known as the drummer for the original lineups of

L.A. Guns L.A. Guns are an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1983. The lineup currently consists of Tracii Guns (lead guitar), Phil Lewis (musician), Phil Lewis (lead vocals), Ace Von Johnson (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Johnny Mar ...

and

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

, and was also the backup drummer for

Hollywood Rose Hollywood Rose was an American glam metal group formed in June 1983. They are best known as a precursor for what would eventually become Guns N' Roses. The group was founded by Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin and Chris Weber, while they were aided during ...

Early life

Gardner was born in Manhattan, New York. His parents divorced when he was young and both had remarried. His father would move to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1972, while his mother remained in New York. Gardner moved to live with his father and attended Fairfax High in 1979, where he met future

members

Mike Jagosz L.A. Guns are an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1983. The lineup currently consists of Tracii Guns (lead guitar), Phil Lewis (lead vocals), Ace Von Johnson (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Johnny Martin (bass, backing v ...

and Tracy Ulrich. He also met future

member

Chris Weber Christopher Garrison Weber (born October 16, 1966) is an American musician best known as the guitarist and founder of the groups U.P.O. and Hollywood Rose (which featured future Guns N' Roses members Axl Rose, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, and Steven Ad ...

as well as future

members Saul Hudson and

Steven Adler Steven Adler (born Michael Coletti; January 22, 1965) is an American musician. He was the drummer and co-songwriter of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s. Adler was fired from Guns N' R ...

around this time. Gardner and Ulrich decided to form a band, rehearsing in a garage at Gardner's father's house. Gardner suggested Jagosz as singer for the band. Originally in a band together called Pyrrhus alongside bassist

Dani Tull Daniel Joel Tull (born 1966) is a contemporary American painter, sculptor and musician who lives and works in Los Angeles. Early life Tull was born in San Bernardino, California and attended Fairfax High School. In high school he met Micha ...

, they would officially form L.A. Guns after the group hired Danish bassist

Ole Beich Ole Beich (January 1, 1955 – October 16, 1991) was a Danish musician best known as the bass guitarist for the original lineups of L.A. Guns and Guns N' Roses. Early life Born in the city of Esbjerg, Beich, in his youth, achieved a degree of f ...

to fill out the lineup. Gardner was 18 years old while, Jagosz and Ulrich were 17 years old at the formation of the band. He would also serve as the backup drummer for

. His drumming inspirations are

John Bonham John Henry Bonham (31 May 1948 – 25 September 1980) was an English musician who was the drummer of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Noted for his speed, power, fast single-footed kick drumming, distinctive sound, and feel for groove, John Bonh ...

Keith Moon Keith John Moon (23 August 1946 – 7 September 1978) was an English musician who was the drummer for the rock band the Who. Regarded as one of the greatest drummers in the history of rock music, he was noted for his unique style of playing and ...

Neil Peart Neil Ellwood Peart ( ; September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020) was a Canadian and American musician, known as the drummer, percussionist, and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush (band), Rush. He was known to fans by the nickname "the Profe ...

Ginger Baker Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and Music of Africa, Africa ...

Ian Paice Ian Anderson Paice (born 29 June 1948) is an English musician who is the drummer and last remaining original member of the rock band Deep Purple. He remains the only member of Deep Purple who has served in every line-up since the band's incep ...

, and

Mitch Mitchell John Graham "Mitch" Mitchell (9 July 194612 November 2008)In his book about the Experience, Mitchell states he celebrated his 21st birthday while on tour on 9 July 1967, which makes his birth year 1946.Mitchell's obituaries in ''Billboard (mag ...

L.A. Guns (1983–85)

L.A. Guns was first formed in 1983 by Gardner along with guitarist

Tracii Guns Tracy Irving Richard Ulrich (born January 20, 1966), known professionally as Tracii Guns, is an American guitarist best known as the co-founder of glam metal group L.A. Guns, as well as the Supergroup (music), supergroups Brides of Destruction ...

, bassist

, and vocalist Michael Jagosz. Jagosz was arrested and was briefly replaced by William Bailey. Michael Jagosz came back to with the group recording the only material by this original incarnation of L.A. Guns. The material would be released as a bonus disc, titled ''

Collector's Edition No. 1 ''Collector's Edition No. 1'', (also known as ''L.A. Guns''), is the debut extended play (EP) by American hard rock band L.A. Guns. Recorded in 1984 at Westwind Studios in Thousand Oaks, California, it was produced by Chuck Rosa and released in 19 ...

'' in 1985, with the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

Hollywood Raw in 2004. In 1985, Gardner was replaced by Nickey Alexander.

Hollywood Rose, Guns N' Roses (1985)

Hollywood Rose reunited for a New Year's Eve concert in 1985, joined by Gardner and Tracii Guns. L.A. Guns would merge with Hollywood Rose, combining their names to become

. The first lineup consisted of Gardner, Rose, Guns, Stradlin and Beich. Duff McKagan replaced Beich and booked shows taking place between

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, which was dubbed " The Hell Tour". During this time, Gardner quit the group and was replaced by

Discography

;with L.A. Guns * ''

'' (1985)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Rob Living people American rock drummers Guns N' Roses members L.A. Guns members Hollywood Rose members 1965 births