Former W.A.S.P guitarist Chris Holmes recently had a chat with Louder Sound and revealed the reason that made him leave the band. He recalled Blackie Lawless’ confession:
“Blackie confronted me with something I’d said in an interview, and I admitted it. There was a little bit of a confrontation, and as he started to walk out of the room I asked about something he’d done to me – something so bad I wouldn’t have done it to anybody. I wanted to know the reason why. His response of ‘Because I was jealous’ blew my mind.”
Maintaining a good relationship with bandmates is not always easy, and what happened that day was the last straw for Holmes. He explained further:
“Once he said that, everything to do with the way I was treated in W.A.S.P. fell into place. Blackie once said: ‘Any bands of note have a one-two punch: Jagger and Richards with the Stones, Lennon and McCartney in The Beatles and Page and Plant with Led Zeppelin. In W.A.S.P. it’s myself and Chris.'”
The two could not get along well when the guitarist was in the band. In an earlier interview, Holmes mentioned not having been allowed to have interviews with guitar magazines since he was ‘overlooked’. He told Guitar World:
“[…]When I was in W.A.S.P., I was never allowed to do any interviews with guitar magazines. Blackie wouldn’t let me. Writers would ask management to talk to me, and they were told I had ‘other obligations’ – shitty things like that. I don’t know if that was done to keep me down so Blackie could stay up.[…]”
Even after the guitarist quit, the tension was still around. Holmes got diagnosed with throat and neck cancer last year and although Lawless made a public post about the diagnosis and wished the guitarist the best, Holmes later revealed that the singer never helped or contacted him. He told:
“Blackie could have helped to pay for some of my treatment, but [he didn’t]. But Nikki Sixx did. He gave me a lot of money. He was the first one; he forked over 500 bucks, and I love the guy for it. […] Blackie didn’t send me a message at all. I thought he would, but he didn’t. But that’s okay; I didn’t expect it.”
After he departed from the band, Holmes focused on his solo career and is now on tour. See the dates here.