Former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes has made a striking revelation about the band’s 1998 live album, Double Live Assassins. He claims the record was assembled in the studio rather than recorded live.
Holmes addressed the album’s authenticity directly when asked whether any of the material on Double Live Assassins was actually performed live.
When asked, “So nothing on here, ‘Double Live Assassins,’ was performed live at all?” Holmes left little room for doubt in his response.
“No. I did my parts all separate. Blackie [Lawless] went in and played with Stet [Howland], and did the drums, and came back and did the bass. [Mike] Duda didn’t play, and then I came in and did the guitar. And then they mixed it, they just put it in a tape loop,” Holmes said.
Holmes went on to explain his personal grievances with the album and the band, citing unpaid publishing royalties as a key source of his frustration.
“I’ll tell you that right now, because I’ve never got any publishing off it. And take that record and shove it. Why do you think I don’t like signing this stuff? I never got a penny of my publishing. I can’t stand that band. I can’t stand the band, I can’t stand what he’s done. So, that’s the way it is,” he continued.
Holmes’s comments mark one of the most candid public statements he has made regarding his time with W.A.S.P. and his ongoing disputes with the band’s frontman Blackie Lawless.
The revelation adds a new layer to a record that has long been presented to fans as a straightforward document of the band’s live power. The album was marketed as a live recording from the 1997 K.F.D. World Tour. It was billed as capturing the reunion of Lawless and Holmes on stage. Holmes’s account directly contradicts that narrative.
Double Live Assassins was released in 1998 and officially described as a live capture of W.A.S.P.’s K.F.D. World Tour. The album’s liner notes and promotional materials made no mention of any studio reconstruction of the performances.
Holmes’s history with W.A.S.P. has been marked by repeated departures and unresolved tensions. He first left the band in 1992 following years of personal struggles and creative friction with Lawless. He briefly rejoined for the K.F.D. tour that produced the disputed album. That reunion proved short-lived, and Holmes departed from the band permanently shortly after.
Publishing rights have been a persistent source of conflict between musicians and band leaders across the rock industry. Holmes’s claim that he never received a penny from the album’s publishing points to a breakdown in the business arrangements surrounding the record that was apparently never resolved.
Holmes’s willingness to speak so bluntly about the album and his former bandmate reflects a long-standing estrangement that shows no signs of softening. His refusal to sign Double Live Assassins memorabilia now has a clear and direct explanation. It is rooted in both financial grievance and a fundamental rejection of how the record was made and sold.
Source: Rock Interview Series
