James guitarist Larry Gott was victim of an armed mugging in Los Angeles last week, just three hours after arriving in the States from Manchester.
Gott was held up at gunpoint outside the band’s hotel on Sunset Boulevard by two men who made off with his money and jacket. After giving a statement to police, Gott, distressed by the incident, took the first plane back to England – missing the group’s three-day US video shoot.
Gott told NME: “The robbery coupled with my subsequent experience at the hands of the Los Angeles police left me with an overwhelming sense of fear, paranoia and suspicion of everyone I came into contact with.”
The band went ahead with taping the video for the new single ‘Born of Frustration’ with their tour manager standing in for Gott.