In a recent chat with Canada’s The Metal Voice, Chris Holmes criticized Blackie Lawless for using W.A.S.P. to attract fans and said he finds it all fake.
“I could care less what he does,” the guitarist replied when asked about Blackie and the current W.A.S.P. lineup playing the band’s debut album on a recent U.S. tour. “I used to bitch about not getting my publishing [royalties for the early W.A.S.P. albums], this and that.”
He continued, “Hey, I let it go. I don’t care. I could care less. I don’t even wanna hear his name. I don’t care what he does. He’s over. I don’t deal with anybody with that crap. I’m playing Chris Holmes.”
“Yeah, he goes out and plays that because he’s got to. Nobody’s gonna go see Blackie Lawless; they’re gonna see W.A.S.P. If he went out as Blackie Lawless, you think people would go see it?” Holmes further shared.
The musician added, “Whatever. I don’t wanna even talk about the guy. I’d rather talk about what I’m doing. To me, that whole thing’s a joke. A joke. It’s show business. Show business. My thing’s music. I like the music.”
“Whatever I do, none of it’s gonna be fake. It can’t. I’m not a fake type of person. I hate it. I don’t like — whatever they call, the sampling; some people call it backing tracks, karaoke sampling. I don’t know,” Chris stated.
In an interview with Cassius Morris last year, Lawless rejected the idea of a reunion with the original lineup for the 40th anniversary tour of their first album. The singer explained, “Allow me to be unapologetic for just a moment. The band that I have now… Mike Duda is one of the best bass players in the world. Doug Blair is one of the best lead guitar players in the world.”
He went on to say, “Aquiles Priester, his drumming speaks for itself. I’m fortunate enough to be in a band with world-class musicians, the guys that are way better than me. And I look around sometimes during the show at I think to myself, ‘Wow, I get to play with these guys.’ And I’m being honest here — they’re far better than me. So why would I wanna go back to something that would be taking a step backwards?”
After the U.S. tour, W.A.S.P. will play their debut album in full on the spring/summer 2025 European tour, called ‘Album ONE Alive.’
