Ex-W.A.S.P.’s Chris Holmes Explains Why Capitol Records Didn’t Give Him a Car
LISTEN TO THE STORY VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP BELOW. You can also access the video directly on our YouTube channel @ this location.
Tag: Chris Holmes
WASP the new book by Ross Halfin.
WASP by Ross Halfin starts at the very beginning in Hollywood CA where Ross shot the band for the first time at The Troubadour – the famous club on Santa Monica Blvd which launched the careers of many artists including Motley Crüe, Guns N Roses and Elton John to name just a few.
This book offers a unique insight into the classic period of WASP with an array of Ross’s fantastic dramatic live photos, coupled with candid offstage reportage capturing the humor and spirit of the characters behind the instruments, as well as studio sessions that would become iconic and defining for the band.
“It’s time to meet the group who the moral majority would most like to murder and the only group I can remember who’ve had a record banned by their own label… this is WASP!” Andy Kershaw.
Having sold over 12 million albums worldwide, WASP were one of the pre-eminent major label American heavy metal bands of the 1980s. Formed in 1982 in Los Angeles California, the band built a large and dedicated global following with their eponymous debut album and subsequent releases including The Last Command, Inside The Electric Circus, The Headless Children and more.
Managed by legendary Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood, the band played some of the seminal concerts of the era including multiple visits to the renowned Donington Monsters of Rock festival in England in 1987 and 1992 and also toured the globe with other seminal acts such as Kiss, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Dokken and many more.
In addition to the photography, former WASP guitarist and co-songwriter Chris Holmes provides anecdotes and memories throughout the book, sharing insights and stories for the very first time that provide a truly exceptional commentary that is an absolute must for all fans of the band.
There are also forewords from the band’s original manager Rod Smallwood and photographer Ross Halfin sharing their own perspectives and experiences with one of America’s most notorious and influential metal bands of that era.
This 300 page plus coffee table book features a 3D lenticular cover, is bound in red recycled leather and presented in a protective slipcase. Only 300 numbered copies are available worldwide and each copy is personally signed by guitarist and songwriter Chris Holmes.
Chris Holmes (Official):
MEAN MAN Chris Holmes is in the UK and ready to blast the ears of everyone on his 2022 UK and Ireland tour. Tour begins this Sunday.
TOUR DATES
Sunday 06 November: The Station, Cannock, England
Wednesday 09 November: Bannermans Live / Bannermans Bar, Edinburgh, Scotland
Friday 11 November: Jesters Bar, Westport, Ireland
Saturday 12 November: Diamond Rock Club, Ahoghill, N.Ireland
Sunday 13 November: Whelan’s, Dublin, Ireland
Thursday 17 November: Nightrain, Bradford, England
Saturday 19 November: The Black Heart, London, England
Sunday 20 November: The Cobblestones, Bridgewater, England
W.A.S.P. Nation: Blackie Lawless Remembers… 40th Anniversary of Our Troubadour Shows
You can read more W.A.S.P. history via our previous post @ this location.
September 21st and 28th Troubadour Shows…
Blackie Lawless:
After the first show W.A.S.P. did in August we were trying to move up to Hollywood. That was the place if an artist wanted to really get noticed was the only place to be. From as early as the 1960s, Los Angeles was the place to be if a record deal was an artist’s ultimate goal. Yes, it could be done elsewhere, but L. A. was the place that was the real seat of power in the music world.
But the day after our first show we had a major problem. There had been a serious disagreement between Chris Holmes and Don Costa the bassist. The next day Chris called me and said, “Either he goes, or I go. I won’t play with him anymore.” This was serious. I felt strongly we had the personal chemistry as a band with these people as players and performers. I spent 6 years in L.A. trying to find this combination of guys that had that special magic…that “chemistry.” Chris was the guy I was starting the band with but when he gave this ultimatum, I had little choice. I knew how hard it was to find people like Don, and this was no small problem.
I had known Randy Piper from a band we worked with before, so I gave him a call. The 4 of us rehearsed and it was seeming to work but we had another big problem…. 3 guitar players and no bass player. This combination of chemistry I keep referring to might work, so as opposed to trying to find this “unicorn” of a bass player, I decided to do it myself. First and foremost, I’m a guitar player, so switching to bass wasn’t hard, but playing bass and singing took a bit of time to get it feel of it.
Prior to our first show I had sent demo tapes of what ended up being mostly our first album to both Ace Frehley and Bill Aucoin (manager of KISS), and they were scheduled to come out to this first show at the Troubadour. So let’s see, all I need to do is find another guitar player with that magic, learn the songs on bass guitar and start putting a show together, all in just about 3 weeks. What could possibly go wrong? I felt like I was trying to build the pyramids in less than a month, and that’s not an overstatement. I’ve often said, ‘We never had any intention of ever playing live’ because we were concentrating on recording, but there’s also an old expression that says, ‘You only get one chance to make a first impression.’
I knew we weren’t ready to showcase ourselves as a band so I called both Ace and Bill and asked them if they could postpone coming out from New York for another week to September 28th. But now we have another problem. We had no track record as a band for selling tickets. To get into a venue like the Troubadour and have them book us in the first place was a huge deal. The Troubadour was world famous. The show on the 21st was at 8 PM on a Tuesday night. Considering the place is closed on Mondays, the 8 PM slot on Tuesdays was the worst spot in the week. The talent buyer at the Troubadour was Mike Glick, and he booked all the shows. He booked us for the first show on the 21st on the strength of our demo tape. So when I asked him if he would book us again the following week on the 28th, it meant he was putting his butt on the line. Usually that venue was booked months in advance, but fortunately he still needed a band for that slot, so he gave it to us. I cannot describe how unusual this series of events came into being and how everything needed to fall perfectly into place. Getting that second date, for an unproven band was an absolute miracle!
The first show on the 21st was OK. Fairly uneventful with no real Hollywood-type movie beginnings or ending. There was a whopping 63 people in the crowd that night. For the show on the 28th, both Ace and Bill were there. As a band we were better, but we had none of the big stunts or visuals the band would later be known for. But the one thing we did have, we had those songs. “Love Machine,” “Hellion,” and “I Wanna Be Somebody,” and our look and image were also starting to take shape.
After the show, they both came up to the dressing room and we talked late into the night. I remember getting the feeling from Bill that he felt we still needed work. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. As he put it, we were “still developing.” I distinctively remember him saying that, and the sick feeling I had in the pit of my stomach thinking, ‘Well, we had our shot and now we’ve blown it.’
But looking back Bill was absolutely correct. We needed time to “develop.” To develop the visuals that perfectly matched those songs. To get “tight” as a band, that only playing live gigs can do for a group. As disappointed as I was after that night, I really started to mentally dig in and stretch my imagination. The whole band did. Thinking back, that development happened very, very quickly. Over the next 2 to 3 months, we would come up with the “saw blades,” “drinking blood,” the “raw meat,” the naked girl on the “rack,” and a “sign that exploded into flames” and the show the world would be assaulted with, reviled over, banned and condemned by 18 short months later. From that second Troubadour show we grew at “light speed” and doubled and tripled the size of our crowds with every show we did. Both visually and musically we had become a dangerous band, and from that moment, with every gig we played, you could feel that “magic and tension” in the air, and every time we took the stage it was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Not bad for a band that “never had any intention of ever playing live”!
The excerpts below are taken from our full in bloom interviews with Randy Piper, Tony Richards, and Chris Holmes.
Randy Piper
full in bloom: Whose idea was it to drink blood and chop meat on stage?
Randy Piper:
That was Blackie’s gig. I didn’t want to drink blood.
full in bloom: Blackie would even put the raw meat in his mouth.
Randy:
Oh yeah, wherever we could find it. We’d send the roadies to the store for meat. They would come back with some pretty bad cuts, too. (laughs)
Tony Richards
On the early W.A.S.P. shows:
Tony Richards:
The first shows were just absolutely awesome. They were unbeatable. There was no one else in town that could touch us. We were madmen. It came across and it worked great. If you didn’t see those early W.A.S.P. shows in L.A., you missed out because it was never the same, and not just because I was out of the band. Mainly, once members were changed and they had to go to different venues, there were, of course, restrictions. It changed, but those early shows in Los Angeles were tops. If you didn’t see one of those shows, you don’t know what you were missing. We got away with murder in those early days. It was crazy and a very, very exciting time.
On Blackie chopping the meat and drinking the blood:
Tony:
A lot of Blackie’s ideas, a lot of good ideas coming from that man; movies, tv, and shit. He incorporated it into the stage, and boy, let me tell you, it worked. I can’t remember a show that we did, that the Fire Marshal’s weren’t out there inspecting before we started the show.
full in bloom: So W.A.S.P. was pretty much a sensation as soon as you guys start playing shows?
Tony:
I will tell you what, I’m not going to say any dates because I’m not really for sure. But the story is, we played around town, about a year, W.A.S.P. existed about a year, and we got signed. That was kind of unheard of. I think it was ’81 through ’82 we played and by the beginning of ’83 we were negotiating our contract. We got signed, by ’84 the album is out, and we were like BOOM, we were gone. We packed everywhere we played, us and the Crue.
Read more W.A.S.P. history via our previous post @ this location.
Chris Holmes Talks W.A.S.P. History, Blackie Lawless, Randy Piper, Don Costa, 1982-1983 Era
The Classic W.A.S.P. Lineup Looks Back on the Early Days 1982-1984
The first W.A.S.P. gig took place on August 28th, 1982.
The first W.A.S.P. album was released on August 17, 1984.
Blackie Lawless
40 Years ago today my life changed. To change in ways I had dreamed, but also to end up different than I had imagined. It’s impossible for anyone to foresee the totality of ways life will change when those dreams become reality. It was 40 years ago today W.A.S.P. played its first show, Aug. 28th, 1982, at a long-gone club called the “Woodstock”.
The lineup at that time was Tony Richards on drums, Chris Holmes on lead guitar, myself on guitar and vocals and Don Costa on bass. This was our humble (if you wanna call it that) beginning. Many of you have heard me say that when we first started, we never had any intention of ever playing live shows. In Los Angeles at the time, it was mostly impossible to get a record deal from only playing live. Ironically, our true intention was only to make records and we knew from having lived in L.A. for such a long time that the only real way to get a record deal was to make the best demo tape you could make. So that’s what we did. We made a demo of songs that would end up being mostly our first album, but we had sent those tapes out to labels a couple of months earlier and we got no response from any of them. So, in our impatience, we said, well we think these songs are pretty good, why don’t we take them out and play them live a see what happens. So again, that’s what we did! A month later we would move up into Hollywood at the Troubadour.
For us that were part of this historic night, the importance of this show cannot be overstated. We were a group of musicians that had no idea of what or how we would look in a live show. All that would come later over the course of the next few weeks. I would like to personally thank the band and all the crew that were involved that night for that first show. All of our destinies would change that night.
I’ll explain more next month in a segment that I’ll do to mark the first show we did at the Troubadour. For what most of the world knows that’s really where the band began, but this show too is significant because it was the real beginning of the band in its 4-decade long journey. This show would be the first night anyone would hear, “Love Machine, “On Your Knees”, “Hellion” and “School Daze”. I remember taking the stage that night and thinking, nobody knows who we are and nobody knows these songs. From this night, almost 2 years to the date of the release of our first album, all that would change!
Randy Piper
full in bloom: What was the recording budget for W.A.S.P.’s 1984 self-titled album?
Randy Piper:
(laughs) It was a lot. I know we spent a lot. It was about time. I mean, we probably got one of the biggest deals that any of those bands had gotten. Everybody had gotten signed in Los Angeles. We were the last ones with like Motley Crue, Ratt, Dokken, Black ‘n Blue, Great White, all of us got signed pretty much at the same time, and we got one of the biggest deals. Our deal was like a two (album), plus four option. So, it was two guaranteed and our deal was for three million dollars. It was a huge deal. Of course, they don’t do that anymore. It’s a lot tougher now. Kind of miss the old days. The digital revolution changed everything. I don’t think it will ever be the same again.
full in bloom: So, you guys got a nice, fat signing bonus?
Randy:
Oh, yeah, big time. I remember Tony and I got new cars, and we were driving down the freeway and we were just slamming beers, looking at each other with our feet hanging out the window. I mean, it couldn’t have gotten any better than that, you know what I mean?
full in bloom: What was it like working with Mike Varney?
Randy:
He’s an awesome guitar player. He finds all the good guitar players. Actually, a couple of years ago, I found an album by Leslie West that Mike Varney produced. Yeah, Leslie is talking about him, he goes, “Mike Varney, that fat bastard” (laughs). It’s called “Blues to Die For” and it’s Leslie West playing all blues. I’m a big Leslie West fan.
full in bloom: Once the band officially becomes W.A.S.P., how soon after did you guys sign your record contract?
Randy:
I don’t think it was that long. Things were really rolling at that time, but Blackie and I were together five years previous to that.
full in bloom: So, maybe a year after you guys named the band.
Randy:
I think less than that. We had already been recording. We just started going to better studios. We were in A&M and then in Capitol, we were all over the place. Baby-O, I think at the time. Then we were going to release the first single and Capitol said, “No.”
full in bloom: Which was F**k Like a Beast.
Randy:
Yeah, they said, “No, you can’t release that on Capitol Records,” so then they got us a deal with Restless Records overseas. They were going to print it in London, then the Queen’s Council got a hold of it and said you can’t do it here, either. I think they ended up pressing it in Belgium and importing it into England. Once it got into England, it was on the charts for like 110 weeks, which I think was a record at that time.
full in bloom: Any memories from that tour stand out?
Randy:
We went out and toured the first album. Then we’d come back two weeks, and then leave again for a couple of months. Then we’d come back for a couple of weeks, and then leave again for three months. It was pretty crazy then. When we did come back, we immediately went into rehearsals for the second album. Once the album was written, and we were halfway in the middle of recording it, we had to go out and support Maiden. So, we went out in the middle of recording “The Last Command” and had to put the first show back together. Even though the second show had already been put together, we’re out doing the first show again. We had to forget everything we had just learned and start playing the first show again. We did a bunch of festivals and shit like that and then we went back and finished the second album and then we were out on tour for that one.
Tony Richards
full in bloom: What was a typical day like for you during that time?
Tony Richards:
At first it was fun. Typical, you’d wake up, have some breakfast or whatever. I would make it down from Long Beach. Randy’s (rehearsal) studio was in between Blackie and I, so we would pretty much make it there at the same time. We would hang out there. Randy would block time out on other bands, so it would just be us. We would rehearse and write and spend hours in there. It was pretty fun. We would go get something to eat, or go shoot pool, or drive up to Hollywood to hang out. Pretty much, they were good times. When we were just getting to know each other and writing, it was kind of exciting. Then seeing the other up-and-coming bands in the clubs. It was a cool thing. Once the business end came into it, it was rush, rush, rush. Hurry here, hurry there, sign this, sign that, you have to be there yesterday. Things really started to roll fast after that.
full in bloom: What do you remember about recording Animal “F**k Like a Beast”?
Tony:
I remember the excitement of that song and being in a nice environment, being in that studio. Other people coming in and out from the studios next door. I think Quiet Riot was recording their album at the time. I just remember going from, sort of, I wouldn’t say rags to riches, but just having the respect and being in there working – putting something together that was very exciting. For me, it was just about being really excited about the whole thing. It was neat to be there and be included. And then you finish a good night’s work, getting some tracks down. Then step out on the streets, get something to eat, pick up some girls, and just hang out.
full in bloom: Any memories of Mike Varney?
Tony:
Not really. Like I said, I didn’t hang out a lot, and I think that used to bother Blackie. I just wasn’t the “hang out, play the rock star” musician. I would hang out for a little bit, have a drink, flirt a little bit, do whatever, and then BOOM, I was off to someone else’s house…private, you know? I don’t know, I think it might have rubbed him the wrong way. I think he wanted it to be more like the Crue. Hang out, go to strip clubs together, live and die together, so to speak. But Varney, I don’t think I ever got too close to him because I think he was more in Blackie’s ear.
full in bloom: I always thought he was a strange choice for a producer. You guys were signed to Capitol, and you chose a guy who hadn’t really proven himself.
Tony:
Yeah, I know, and I didn’t have any say. I remember hearing the mixed tracks. Well, first I remember hearing what we had laid down and the drums were just thunderous. They sounded great. Now, I know this is coming from a drummer, but it’s more than just that. The tracks that we laid down, the guitars, Randy’s guitars, they were out there, and everything was crisp and clean. I then remember this big WASH of disappointment when I heard the final mixes. They played it back, and the drums had been tweaked, to where they just sounded like shit. Randy’s guitar was buried. Everything had changed. And that was probably part of the reason I distanced myself from Varney because I had no say. I didn’t hang around, so I didn’t have a right to say anything.
It was a big circle, yet I knew things were fucked up. Something wasn’t right, and Varney is supposed to be behind the helm. So, I just had a feeling that’s Blackie calling the shots, wanting his man Varney in there, and it didn’t work out. And that was an important thing, that first album. That first album should have smoked more than it did. I mean, Capitol Records. Iron Maiden’s management. We had unlimited money, we had unlimited resources. There were a lot of bad decisions made, and Blackie made sure that he was in charge of a lot of shit and that was the beginning of the end. The rest of the guys in the band felt the same way.
full in bloom: In my opinion, that first lineup will always be the best W.A.S.P. lineup. I remember thinking, as a kid, that it was a big mistake to part ways with you.
Tony:
That was the problem. Blackie. I keep saying Blackie and I shouldn’t, but mainly it was. Him and whoever else he had involved with him in the band decisions, they all jumped the gun too soon. The best thing for a new band to do with that kind of money and resources behind them is to handle whatever fucking problems everyone has and keep it between the group. Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas in other words. What happens here, stays here and you do everything you can to glue this together. Do the first world tour and come back, then you start hashing out problems. That’s the time to work on it, but they made changes way too soon and that’s what ultimately killed the band. Greed fucked this band up. It was greed. Blackie was looking out for number one.
full in bloom: Do you remember doing the two videos for LOVE MACHINE & I WANNA BE SOMEBODY?
Tony:
Yeah. Those ended up being kind of corny looking. Shit like that used to bug me. The make-up, the corny videos and shit. I wanted to be cooler. I thought we were going to be cooler, more like the Crue, bad boys, but we weren’t that. Even if we were more Alice Cooper or partly KISS or something, but we were kind of in between and nowhere on any of that.
full in bloom: I didn’t even realize, before my Randy Piper interview, that you didn’t do the tour for the first album.
Tony:
NOPE. I got screwed out of it all, royalties, too. And they continue to sell t-shirts, posters and buttons and all that shit with my likeness on it.
full in bloom: Why were you kicked out of W.A.S.P.?
Tony:
I think I scared Blackie. I really lived the rock n’ roll lifestyle. I lived up in Hollywood. I was a madman. I was high every other night, every night. But I was always there, always on time, always did great shows. I just scared him; he was not that way. His was more of an act, mine was too real, and I think I was just too scary for him. I think he thought I was going to be trouble down the line, so he thought he was doing the right thing by nipping it in the bud.
full in bloom: How were you told you were out of the band?
Tony:
They called a meeting at Rod Smallwood’s house up in Beverly Hills. We all sat around a big table and talked about a few things. All of a sudden, that came up and before I knew it, it was like BOOM – the fingers were pointing at me and I just kind of stood up and said, “Whoa, ok.” I think I was in shock, and I just kind of walked away, walked down the driveway and got in my rental car, which I totally trashed. It was a brand new ’84 Cutlass with glass T-tops. Man, that thing was on one wheel when I brought it back. No glass left in it. I didn’t sit there with an axe and bust it up on purpose, I was just reckless in it. I fucked it up because I didn’t care.
Somebody had taken something away from me that I had worked my whole life for, and I was on a roll. I was on a binge. I was pissed. But yeah, I was devastated. I couldn’t tell you exactly what had happened or how, but I was the first to go. He used me as an example and had to put the fear back into Randy again because Randy had come and gone a couple of times. One by one, that’s what he was working on, he wanted control. It’s greed, man. The guy is a greedy, lonely person. The last few shows that I have gone to see him, he will not send his road crew down to escort me up, he won’t come down to see me or nothing. I haven’t seen him in years.
Chris Holmes
Chris Holmes:
When I joined the band W.A.S.P., before I joined, Randy was in the band and there was a bass player named Don Costa. When I joined W.A.S.P., it was Don on bass, Blackie on rhythm and Tony on drums. Randy was in the band, but they threw him out to get me in the band. Don was an outrageous player. He played with his fingers.
What happened was, we played the first show and Don was playing his bass out of tune on the last two songs. I flipped out. It really pissed me off. If you’re out of tune, you shut your guitar off or your amp, whatever. You don’t play out of tune. But I told him: “Don, if you ever play out of tune again, I’m going to chew your balls off and spit them in your face. Don’t you ever, ever do that with me again.” He quit. So, we had some shows lined up and Blackie freaked out and blamed me for it. He goes, “Well, we can bring Randy back in, he knows the songs, and I’ll just switch over to the bass.” That’s what happened. That’s how Blackie went to bass because Randy could sing, and he already knew the songs. Plus, I told Blackie that I was only going to be in the band for seven months to a year, and I was going to be gone because I didn’t want to be in a band like Sister. I didn’t want to work like that where I wasn’t happy. I didn’t want to play music and be unhappy. I wanted to do what Van Halen had done and be like them.
full in bloom: What was it like working with Mike Varney as a producer?
Chris:
Mike was enjoyable. He was a great guy to get along with. He used to play in a band called The Nuns. He was just starting to produce things. I love Mike. I saw him about ten years ago at some show in Vegas. It was cool seeing him again. I appreciated the guy.
Then, of course, Blackie got into a fight with him halfway through doing the record. So, Mike’s gone, and Blackie produces it. But Mike’s name had to go on it.
full in bloom: Oh, shit. I didn’t know that. I didn’t know they got into a fight at some point. I thought he was there through the whole thing.
Chris:
Well, he was there for the whole thing, but doesn’t it say that Blackie mixed and produced it.
full in bloom: I think it has both of them listed as producers.
Chris:
Right, not just Mike Varney. It had to be the narcissist himself. It should be that on every record – Blackie Lawless, the producer.
full in bloom: I think it is, pretty much. I guess Spencer Proffer produced the next one and then, from then on, it’s Blackie, right?
Chris:
Yeah. The Headless Children, Max Norman started doing the album, but halfway through, Blackie got into a fight with him and made Max leave.
full in bloom: How long did it take to record the first W.A.S.P. album?
Chris:
Two and half weeks. Two to three tracks a day, so the drums were probably done in three days. We were at the Record Plant. I went in and busted ass and laid down the rhythms, Blackie did the bass, and Randy came in and did a few solos. I did a few solos. He was singing in one studio while we were tracking the guitars in another.
full in bloom: And at this point you guys think that “F**k Like a Beast” is going to be on the record, right?
Chris:
No. We signed the record deal and before we found Mike Varney…We couldn’t put “F**k Like a Beast” on the record because Capitol wasn’t going to let it be on the record. Even if we called it “Animal” because it said “F**k Like a Beast.” That was released by an independent label in Europe. It was recorded at Cherokee, and it was done for Music for Nations. That’s the name of the record company. They put it out in England.
Some guy had commented on my YouTube channel, he said that Tony was kicked out because the record company made you guys kick him out. Is that true?
Chris:
No, Tony was kicked out because of Blackie and Blackie alone. That was it. You’ve got to remember that we were with Rod Smallwood, our manager. Rod had just moved to L.A. and Iron Maiden had just gotten rid of Clive Burr and changed singers, Bruce Dickinson. Tony liked to get high. They threw him out because they didn’t want someone who was addicted to drugs on the road. That was the only reason.
I always thought that once we got Tony on the road, he’d stop doing drugs. When you’re in L.A. and you ain’t got nothing to do, you go get high (laughs). You get drunk or fucked up in those days. When Tony was kicked out, it was like losing my left arm, man.
Out of everybody, you got along best with him?
Chris:
Yeah, Tony was great. I’ve got nothing but respect for the guy. I love the guy, he’s a great person, man.
This is PART I of a full in bloom interview with adult magazine model Suzi Hoppe.
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP BELOW. You can access the video directly on YouTube @ this location.
DESCRIPTION:
Suzi was one of the models in the 1982 Motley Crue/OUI Magazine feature. In this segment, she talks about Rob Halford, David Lee Roth, and dating Tommy Lee, Blackie Lawless, and Chris Holmes.
INTERVIEW EXCERPT:
There was one night that me and a girlfriend of mine, from Camarillo, we were going to go out with Tommy Lee and a friend of his. He was probably like a bodyguard friend. I think we went to the Troubadour and then we went to somebody’s house, and I don’t know what happened. But something crazy happened, and my girlfriend started acting kind of weird. Tommy was upset. Tommy ended up punching a brick wall. It was really crazy. My girlfriend took off, and we couldn’t find her.
It ended up that, Tommy and his friend, they went back and searched the streets, and I guess they found her and brought her home. I don’t know what happened, but this ended my relationship with this girl. I think something happened to her. I think she might’ve been drugged or something. I don’t who did it, but I’m certain it wouldn’t have been Tommy.
I don’t know what happened to her. It was just really, really strange stuff. Yeah, she was like my best friend in high school. It was unfortunate what happened.
WHAT IS THAT ON MY FLOOR?:
I was out with Tommy. This is one of the first times we were together. So, he came up to Camarillo with me, and I was living with my mom and my sister. I was so excited because he was coming to my mom’s house. It was late at night when we came in, and I didn’t want to wake anybody up. So, I just grabbed some blankets, and we crashed on the floor.
My mom got up in the morning and she taps me on the shoulder, and she’s like, “Come here.” I go with her into the kitchen, and she’s like, “What is that on my floor?” I go: “Oh, my God, mom. It’s Tommy Lee.”
To get the complete interview clip, watch the video below.
Ultimate Classic Rock: W.A.S.P. frontman discusses 40th-anniversary U.S. tour, new album and more. You can read the entire interview @ this location.
INTERVIEW EXCERPT:
If you look at any of the biggest rock acts throughout history, I think they understood from a very early stage that they had to play the long game, and they weren’t interested in scoring one or two hits or being the flavor of the week and then disappearing. They wanted to turn this into a career. I think that takes a completely different mindset than just having your 15 minutes.
Yeah, because you know, what is it you have to say? I mean, what makes you different? What makes you so cool that you can actually verbalize something in lyrics? So what is it you’re trying to say? Do you have some unique perspective? Because there’s a lot of people that can play instruments out there. What sets them apart? What is it that they’re saying?
When [Pete] Townsend says, “I hope I die before I get old,” when you make a statement like that, that’s substantial. And it’s either going to endear people or it’s going to repel them. But you want to stand for something, so what are you saying that everybody’s thinking but has never really figured out a way to put into words yet? Is there something that you’re really moved about that you can say that other people are going to identify with?
“I Wanna Be Somebody.” That’s a pretty comprehensive statement. I always thought the song was, quite honestly, mediocre. But I get the sentiment because the sentiment is what moved me in the first place. And I think that’s a pretty fair example of what a fan base would latch on to and say, “That’s something I can identify with.”
How’s the new record going? How far along are you in that process?
Well, I could tell you it’s pretty far, but I’ve learned in the past that that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. … I was convinced where I thought this record was going before we [started], and now I’m not so sure. It doesn’t mean that the material is gonna change; it’s the way you treat the material. You know, how do you want the mix to sound? There’s a number of factors that go into it. So these things, a lot of times, I’ve learned you’ve got to get out of the way and let it take its own direction. I mean, you can force anything if you want to, but if you let it go where it wants to go, then that’s a big part of the beauty of the discovery process.
You can read the entire interview @ this location.
Former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes talks about his battle with cancer. Watch the video below.
The Chris Holmes GoFundMe Page
Ultimate Classic Rock: Blackie Lawless still remembers the moment he knew he was gonna be somebody. You can read the entire feature @ this location.
EXCERPT:
It didn’t take long for W.A.S.P. to reach their Troubadour sell-out status. Lawless and guitarist Randy Piper formed the band in 1982 and quickly recruited guitarist Chris Holmes and drummer Tony Richards. At first, W.A.S.P. “never had any intention of ever playing live,” Lawless says.
“We had been in California for quite some time, and we understood that to get a record deal, you had to make the best demo tape you could make, and you had to showcase that material that way. That was the way to do it, not playing live. So, we went in and recorded — four times, we demoed that first record — and it ended up being effectively what you hear on that first album. So, after we had done all those sessions, we looked around and we said, ‘Well, you know what, we think these songs are OK. You want to try to take them out and play them live?'”
W.A.S.P. played their first show to about 50 people at the Troubadour on a Tuesday at 8 p.m. — “the worst slot of the week,” since the club was closed on Mondays, Lawless says. Within six weeks, they had graduated to the prime Saturday-night slot, doubling or tripling their audience each week and developing their legendarily depraved stage show, which included roaring flames, half-naked women tied to torture racks and the band throwing raw meat into the crowd.
Eleven months after making their Troubadour debut, W.A.S.P. was playing the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to 3,000 people, all without management or a record deal. “It was meteoric,” Lawless says of the band’s rise.
Lawless specifically cites Quiet Riot’s Metal Health, the first metal album to top the Billboard 200, as a watershed moment for the scene, which had reached a boiling point.
“I remember telling people at the time, I said, ‘When rock encyclopedias are written 20 years from now, you’re gonna see the ’50s are gonna have its own chapter, the British Invasion will have its own chapter, the ’69 San Francisco movement will have its own chapter, but the ’82-’83 L.A. movement will have its own chapter.'”
You can read the entire feature @ this location.
Chris Holmes (Official):
Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy…..Chris and Sarah said it was a beautiful place. Chris is walking as much as he can to get his strength back on track……Eating is very slowly getting there!! (7/7/22)
The video below is an update from June 14, 2022
This is a full in bloom interview with guitarist Chris Holmes.
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP BELOW. You can access the video directly on YouTube @ this location.
DESCRIPTION:
Chris talks about the time Blackie Lawless knocked him out during a W.A.S.P. show.
Chris Holmes (Official): We apologize for leaving you all so long without any updates. There is no excuse after all the love you all share with us and with Chris. But people who have had to deal with cancer within their family, know the ups and downs of every day, it is not always easy to go out the shell of the sickness and talk, even if we love all of you.
Chris decided tonight besides just a post to do a video for all of you, to thank you for all of your supports with messages as well as financially with the gofundme page, this helped us so much. I don’t know if you can imagine how much just words and a smile can feed hearts and give strength.
In the video you’ll notice Chris spitting. This is due to his saliva glands producing extra saliva to counteract the burning after the radiation. The nutritionist said today that that could happen for the next couple of months.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all, who during this difficult path keep their hands in ours.
Chris and Cathy Sarah Holmes
CHRIS HOLMES TOUR DATES
OCTOBER 2022
SAT 22 – SOUNDBAY FESTIVAL, SWANSEA
NOVEMBER 2022
SUN 06 – The Station, Cannock*
WED 09 – Bannermans Live, Edinburgh*
THURS 10 – Nightrain, Bradford*
FRI 11 – the jester bar westport, Mayo,
SAT 12 – Diamond Rock Club, Ahoghill
SUN 13 – Whelan’s, Dublin
SAT 19 – The Black Heart, London
SUN 20 – The Cobblestones, Bridgewater
*Special Guest at these shows is Kim Melville Music
Hi Everyone,
This is a tough message to write.
You probably won’t know me but for the past 4 years I have been playing drums for Chris Holmes or you may know him as the ‘Mean Man’.
In the time I’ve spent getting to know Chris, I can assure you this is so far from the truth, as many of you who have met Chris will agree. He has a lot of time for his fans and I wanted to do something to help out after his recent cancer diagnosis. The medical bills are coming in quickly, as they are working to get Chris the cancer treatment he needs, as soon as possible.
As he is unable to tour during this time and he is going to have 7 weeks of extensive treatment, he is gonna need a little extra support to help to get himself back to full health and to kick cancer’s ass!! This is where hopefully you can help out! If you feel you can afford to donate something, I’d be very grateful and I know both Chris and Cathy would be too.
Anything you can give would be a massive help, while he is undergoing his treatment. Please feel free to share this to anyone, you know is a fan or friend of Chris, or of the music he has been a part of during his 40+ year career.
I thank you for all of your kind words that you have sent Chris so far. I know he has seen many of the messages and the extra positivity will help him and Cathy during this tough time. We will keep you updated as treatment progresses.
Steve
ORIGINAL STATEMENT
From our previous post on February 5th via Chris’s wife Catherine: This post is not easy to write because of the personal nature of it and we would rather you hear it directly from us before stories and rumors start to circulate and by respect for all of you who love and support Chris, we feel that this is exactly what we need at this time. Recently Chris was diagnosed with cancer in the throat and neck but the medical team has assured us there has been no metastasis and this is good news. He will have to start 7 weeks of treatment as soon as possible.
I know how important the Monsters of Rock Cruise is for Chris and the band but the health of Chris is what we have to focus on right now for the next 7 weeks and we will reschedule the MORC for a future date. Thank You very much Larry Morand for your kindness & understanding in this matter, you are much appreciated and the world needs more people like you. Thank you also to all the team who make a wonderful work following every band in each step.
The Bandcamp page will still continue to run during this time but if there are some delays, please forgive me. The best way to keep Chris positive is to continue to focus on the upcoming Canadian tour, shows we have in September, and the UK tour in October. Don’t forget Chris is strong and he is a fighter and he will come back stronger than before.
Cherie Currie: Fun commercial I did for Spinal Tap where I recruited Blackie Lawless as my romantic interest. Rob Reiner let me have full rein. Really fun!
full in bloom: In a recent interview with the Eddie Trunk Podcast, W.A.S.P. mainman Blackie Lawless told a great story about hanging with Chris Holmes and Michael Schenker in the late ’70s. Lawless also talked about the upcoming W.A.S.P. retrospective box set, 40 for 40. Watch the video highlight clip below.
Chris Holmes (Official): This post is not easy to write because of the personal nature of it and we would rather you hear it directly from us before stories and rumors start to circulate and by respect for all of you who love and support Chris, we feel that this is exactly what we need at this time. Recently Chris was diagnosed with cancer in the throat and neck but the medical team has assured us there has been no metastasis and this is good news. He will have to start 7 weeks of treatment as soon as possible.
DONATE TO THE CHRIS HOLMES’ RECOVERY FUND
I know how important the Monsters of Rock Cruise is for Chris and the band but the health of Chris is what we have to focus on right now for the next 7 weeks and we will reschedule the MORC for a future date. Thank You very much Larry Morand for your kindness & understanding in this matter, you are much appreciated and the world needs more people like you. Thank you also to all the team who make a wonderful work following every band in each step.
The bandcamp page will still continue to run during this time but if there are some delays, please forgive me. The best way to keep Chris positive is to continue to focus on the upcoming Canadian tour, shows we have in September, and the UK tour in October. Don’t forget Chris is strong and he is a fighter and he will come back stronger than before.
Many of you in your own way show us every day how much you care, we are lucky to have you as friends, your strength keeps our spirits high to continue to fight another day.
Please we just ask for some privacy while we deal with this at this moment and Chris will come back to you stronger and ready to burn the stage with Stephen, Ollie, Lex and Florian.
Keep rocking
Chris and Catherine Sarah Holmes
The entire W.A.S.P. family are all optimistic of a positive outcome concerning the diagnosis for Chris. I certainly wish him the very best. – Blackie Lawless#waspnation #wasp #blackielawless #hardrock #heavymetal #80smetal #wildchild #thelastcommand #theheadlesschild #thecrims pic.twitter.com/2cZXC2IpDy
— W.A.S.P. Nation (@WASPOfficial) February 6, 2022