Stephen Malkmus and L.A. Guns team up for single, appear to now be equally famous

Back in August, we reported on Stephen Malkmus almost branding this year's pretty good Mirror Traffic with a much more magnificent title, L.A. Guns. Then some damn meddling lawyers got in the way, deciding that the '80s sleaze-metal band L.A. Guns is more famous than Malkmus, which would've made a Malkmus album called L.A. Guns misleading for the world's dumbest L.A. Guns fans. Well, now it's about to get even more confusing/awesome, as Malkmus and L.A. Guns have teamed up to record covers of each others' songs for a split 7-inch single due next month. Malkmus and his band the Jicks will perform "Wheels Of Fire" (from 1989's Cocked & Loaded), and L.A. Guns will tackle "Gorgeous George" from Mirror Traffic. (FYI, this is the L.A. Guns featuring guitarist Tracii Guns, and not the other version of L.A. Guns with singer Phil Lewis and drummer Steve Riley.) The single comes out Jan. 17 as part of Matador's "Going Home Alone" 7-inch subscription series, which you can read more about here.