Quiet Riot’s Kelly Garni: I didn’t try to kill Randy Rhoads, but I did plan to kill Kevin DuBrow

Founding Quiet Riot member Kelly Garni wants to set the record straight in a new interview. The bassist insists he never tried to kill guitarist Randy Rhoads, but admits he did want to kill singer Kevin DuBrow during a drunken rage.

Garni, a member of the band from 1975 through 1978, recounts to The Metal Voice the story of an infamous gun-shooting incident involving Rhoads. “People say I tried to kill Randy Rhoads with a gun,” he began. “People call me out on that one all the time and I almost got into a fist fight with Ozzy [Osbourne] about it. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

He continued, “When it comes to Randy, everyone thinks he was so angelic. Well, we used to go out and shoot guns all the time. One time the S.W.A.T. team was called at my house because we were firing guns off in my backyard. What happened was I had robbed a bar the night before and stolen all their liquor and I was very drunk, that’s why Randy was at my house, because we were drinking and we were drinking for about six hours straight.”

Garni further explained, “Randy and I had an argument over whether we should kick out Kevin DuBrow from Quiet Riot. People say that during that fight I tried to shoot Randy Rhoads and that is not true. I fired a bullet through the ceiling.”

He added, “The bullet went nowhere near Randy Rhoads and in no way would I ever try to kill my best friend. And yes, a pretty good fist fight happened — a rather violent one. Randy left my house bleeding pretty badly and so did I. But that is what friends and brothers do is they roll around the ground, beat each other up and that’s all it was.”

The fight resulted in Garni’s ouster from the band. “I was kicked out of Quiet Riot because of this. I have no problems saying that. Once I started to pull a gun out the management said ‘he is out of control’, which I agree to that decision that they made and have no issues with. I deserved to get fired from Quiet Riot, totally deserved it.”

However, Garni does admit to wanting to kill singer Kevin Dubrow that very same night as the fight with Randy. “I was very drunk and after Randy left I said I am going to fix this deal and I am going to blow Kevin’s ass away. I got in my car and I tried to drive clear over to Hollywood which was 25-30 miles away and I was going to kill Kevin, that was my big drunken plan and as soon as I got in my car and started driving I realized I couldn’t drive.”

Garni was soon pulled over by a cop after making a questionable turn at an intersection, and was thrown in jail for DUI and felony possession for a concealed weapon.

Rhoads, of course, would go on to be a member of Ozzy Osbourne’s band, tragically dying in a plane crash in 1982. DuBrow would continue to be a member of Quiet Riot until his death of a cocaine overdose in 2007.

Garni wrote a book, Angels With Dirty Faces, detailing his time with Quiet Riot. Check out the full interview with Garni on The Metal Voice below: