From Scream Issue No. 33






WASP Represented by: Blackie Lawless & (a silent) Chris Holmes Interviewer: Frode Johnsrud Blackie sits down on a chair. Chris Holmes lays down on the floor. This is how a press-conference with WASP starts in Hamburg, February 1st 1997... - The reason why WASP is back with Chris and an outrages stage-show, is because people like you have asked for this for years now.

Besides that I have felt an empty hole inside myself, which I later found out was missing working with Chris. Chris barely opens his mouth to state that he wasn't totally happy with the band he put together after the split in 1990 (Psycho Squad). - Bob Kulick was a brilliant guitarist, but both me and Chris felt that it was the two of us that was WASP. Anyway, I was very uncertain of Chris' reaction when I called him after six years, states Blackie. On the new album, Blackie and Chris has written all material.

So how was it to write with him again, after six years of writing on your own? - Naturally it's more easy to write on your own, because no one tells you what you can't do. Now I have Chris who tells me when I'm crossing the line, and vice versa. We make compromises with each other, and there is the essence of the true WASP. But, your new shocking scene-show, isn't that just like travelling in the past? - Is that so bad? No, the show is not the same as it used to be. It's much worse. "The Exorcist" shocked a whole world 20 years ago.

Our shows shocked in 1981, but the same show wouldn't shock anyone today. Tonight's show, though, will shock, I can guarantee you that. This comeback should have been the original WASP. So why isn't that so? Where is Tony Richards and Randy Piper? - We wanted Tony, but he has quit the business. Randy was never asked, because I have no intention to go back playing bass. Besides that, Randy was not an original members of the band.

I played guitar back then, and we had Don Costa on bass, but that was before the first album. Chris, who have just got up from the floor says that Johnny Rod was caught stealing from the band, and he's now earning a living driving an ambulance! Steve Riley was not mentioned, probably because he's still with LA Guns. WASP is back, and the show later that night, proved that Blackie was absolutely right about the new shocking show. It was bizarre, and some people didn't take it at all. WASP is back, rawer, more intense and bizarre than ever!