W.A.S.P. (BAND)

:''This article is about the band. For other meanings of wasp, see Wasp (disambiguation).''
'W.A.S.P.' is an American heavy metal band formed in 1982 . The band had continued success in the 1980s. ''W.A.S.P.'' gained notoriety for its shock rock themed image, lyrics and live performances.
The band continues to write and perform today, though Blackie Lawless remains the only member from the original line-up. They released a new album in April, 2007 entitled "''Dominator''".

Contents

Name

History

Current Band Members

Former Band Members

Guest Members

Trivia

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilations

Videos

References

External links

Name

Some people believe the initials of W.A.S.P. stand for "We Are Sexual Perverts" or "We Are Satan's People" or even "We Are Satan's Preachers". "We Are Sexual Perverts" is inscribed on their first album into the vinyl next to the label. Another possible abbreviation is "White Anglo-Saxon Protestants", that is the original meaning of the acronym. When asked, Blackie normally doesn't give a straight answer; in one interview, he answered "We Ain't Sure, Pal".

History

W.A.S.P. formed in Los Angeles, California, initially consisted of Blackie Lawless, Rik Fox, Randy Piper and Tony Richards. The band became famous for its raunchy and at times shocking live shows; Lawless was known to tie semi-naked models to a torture rack and hurl raw meat into the audience. The band's debut single, entitled ''Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)'', and its cover were equally controversial.
The first lineup didn't last for long, as Rik Fox left the band to join the band Steeler with (then unknown) vocalist Ron Keel and guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen. He was replaced by Don Costa. Shortly afterwards, Don Costa also left the band and his position on the bass was filled by Lawless. At the same time, guitarist Chris Holmes joined the band.
W.A.S.P. signed to Capitol Records for their debut album, ''W.A.S.P.'', released on August 17, 1984. The debut was at one time planned for release under the name ''"Winged Assassins"''. The idea was obviously forgotten though. The band's first single ''Animal (FUCK Like A Beast)'' was omitted from the album by the record company in the United States to prevent the album from being banned from major chain stores.
"L.O.V.E. Machine" and "I Wanna Be Somebody" helped the album sell well, and set the band up for "Blind in Texas", a song written in St. Paul, Minnesota, by Blackie Lawless. The song was released on the next album ''The Last Command'' on November 9, 1985. ''The Last Command'' is still W.A.S.P.'s highest charting album, peaking at #47 on the Billboard album chart. "Blind In Texas" is still perhaps their best known song, more than 20 years later. The Last Command Album was also the first album with new drummer Steve Riley. The former Keel drummer replaced Tony Richards at the beginning of the 84-85 tour.
After The Last Command tour, guitarist Randy Piper quit the band. He auditioned for a spot in Alice Cooper's band and was accepted, but, according to Piper himself, left in a few weeks because Kane Roberts was going to be the lead guitarist, and Piper was not content with staying in the background once again. Former King Kobra bassist Johnny Rod joined the band as Blackie went back to rhythm guitar.
With the changes made, they recorded their 3rd album called ''Inside the Electric Circus''. It was released on November 8, 1986. The album was a big hit with W.A.S.P. fans. Critics on the other hand dismissed it as "7th grader rock". Songs like "Shoot from the Hip" and the minor hit single "9.5.-N.A.S.T.Y." might have helped the band earn the reputation to match one of the possible meanings of the infamous band name, i.e. "We Are Sexual Perverts" – an idea that had been around since 1984. However, Blackie Lawless himself, known to be a harsh critic of his own work, cited ''Inside the Electric Circus'' in its re-release liner notes 'A tired record by a tired band'. Ultimately it was a critical review of the single "9.5.-N.A.S.T.Y." that convinced Lawless of the necessity to take some time off and reconsider the band's creative direction.

''W.A.S.P.'' became a very prominent target of the Parents Music Resource Center, an organization led by Tipper Gore and dedicated to opposing music with lyrics deemed violent or sexual. This lowered the band's reputation to such a degree that concert halls were getting bomb threats, band members were getting written death threats by the hundreds, and singer Blackie Lawless was shot at twice (though not hit). Ironically, the publicity this controversy generated ultimately improved album sales.
In 1987 W.A.S.P. had their song "Scream Until You Like It" on the movie ''Ghoulies 2''. The same year a few dates during the ''Inside The Electric Circus'' tour were recorded. On November 27 1987, the Long Beach arena concert was released as the ''Live... In The Raw'' album. Unfortunately by this time Steve Riley left W.A.S.P. to join L.A. Guns, a band that had just recorded their debut album ''L.A. Guns'' with drummer Nikki Alexander who quit just after the recording of the debut LP, this is when Riley stepped in.
W.A.S.P.'s fifth album, ''The Headless Children'', was released on April 15 1989. This was their first album without any sexually explicit songs and also the first one that sold rather poorly. It reached #48 on the Billboard 200, but quickly fell off the charts. However, it was critically acclaimed to be W.A.S.P.'s best work at the time, and according to a recent Lawless interview, it is now actually the biggest selling W.A.S.P. album. The drumming duties for the album were handled by current Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali.

Chris Holmes left in August 1989, stating that he wanted to 'have fun, you know,' to which Lawless responded with a caustic remark about the fact that 'some guys want to stay at home and wear aprons,' hinting at the nature of Chris Holmes' relationship with his newly acquired wife Lita Ford. The band effectively disbanded a few months later with Blackie Lawless embarking on a solo career. Lawless was originally slated to play T-1000 in the movie, but was later replaced by Robert Patrick after Arnold Schwarzenegger deemed Lawless 'too tall'. Blackie commenced work on a solo project, but under pressure from both promoters and fans had to release it as a W.A.S.P. album. Ironically, many critics feel that the resulting concept album, ''The Crimson Idol'', has been the best W.A.S.P. output so far.
The follow up to ''The Crimson Idol'' was ''Still Not Black Enough'', a collection of dark introspective tunes that extended the ''Crimson Idol'' mythology. This time, rather than 'hiding behind' alter ego Jonathan Steele, Lawless spoke directly to the audience about his own feelings (as stated in the liner notes). While the album lacked the cohesiveness of its predecessor, the lyrics still explored similar topics to ''Crimson Idol'': being an outcast and misfit, the pressures of fame and society and the search for love. ''Still Not Black Enough'' included cover songs as 'bonus tracks'. The initial European edition included a different track listing from the American and a subsequent American re-issue featured yet a different track listing. No version to date includes all the various tracks on one disc.
Chris Holmes returned to ''W.A.S.P.'' in 1996 and together they released ''K.F.D.'' (1997) and ''Helldorado'' (1999). They also recorded two live albums from these two tours, ''Double Live Assassins'' and ''The Sting'', respectively. The Sting CD and DVD were taken directly from the experimental webcast. Apparently Blackie had no control over this release and was unhappy with the results with their poor sound and picture quality.
The band continued with ''Unholy Terror'' in 2001 . Chris Holmes left the band again in 2002, citing that he wanted to 'play the blues'. He hooked up with fellow ex-W.A.S.P. member Randy Piper's band Animal, but fell out soon. It's interesting to note that Holmes has claimed he never played on 'Unholy Terror'.
''Dying for the World'', released in 2002, was written and recorded in less than a year which is very fast by Lawless' perfectionist standards. Its liner notes feature one of Lawless' strongest statements about political correctness, inspired by the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
In April 2004, ''W.A.S.P.'' released the first part of ''The Neon God'', subtitled '', a conceptual album about an abused and orphaned boy who finds that he has the ability to read and manipulate people. The second part, '', was released in September 2004.
In 2005, W.A.S.P. headlined American Metal Blast. A video shoot of a promo for the 'Never Say Die' track was planned with Ward Boult, a fetish photographer, as director, yet to this day there's no news as to whether the shootings resulted in anything. It would have been the first W.A.S.P. promo video in ten years, since the 1995 "Black Forever".
Early 2006 saw the seemingly stable lineup fall apart. Long-time session and tour drummer Stet Howland left first on amicable terms, promising more specific information about the reasons for the split to be posted on his website. Larry Howe of Vicious Rumors was considered as a replacement, yet in May the departure of Darrell Roberts hit the band, and as the new guitar player Mark Zavon was announced several days before the first tour date, the same press release confirmed Mike Dupke and not Howe as the new drummer. Still, two days later Zavon was out of the picture as well, seeing Doug Blair step in once again.
A new album, ''Dominator'' was planned for release October 2006, according to a statement made by Blackie Lawless at a tour stop in Kavarna. He then went on to play a new song from the album, entitled ''Mercy''. A few weeks later the release of the album was postponed until April 2007, with the band recording two news songs and dropping two cover tracks, to be used as selective bonus tracks.
The release of the Dominator album was finalized for April 16th in the UK, April 20th in Scandinavia with the rest of mainland Europe following on April 27th. The release dates for South America and Russia followed in early May.
W.A.S.P.s new cd Dominator got to #72 on the charts in Germany.
W.A.S.P. recently cancelled their North American tour due to their record label losing distribution. They were going to finish up their shows in Europe and then reschedule their shows in the United States. They were unable to finish the shows in Europe because of a "family illness that needed immediate attention." This forced the band to return to Los Angeles right away. W.A.S.P. would like to apologize to the fans and promoters for any inconvenience caused by this fact. They were originally going to perform at Rocklahoma(a HUGE 80's hair metal festival being held on july 12th-15th.) As the tour was cancelled, W.A.S.P. was not able to perform at Rocklahoma and was replaced by Queensryche.
W.A.S.P. have recently announced a new tour of Europe which will include dates in Scotland, England and various places throughout Europe beginning in late October 2007. More information can be found on their myspace page www.myspace.com/wasp

Current Band Members

★ Blackie Lawless - lead vocals, guitar

★ Doug Blair - lead guitar, back vocals

★ Mike Duda - bass, back vocals

★ Mike Dupke - drums

Former Band Members

★ Glenn Soderling - drums

★ Stet Howland - drums

★ Tony Richards - drums

★ Johnny Rod - bass

★ Frankie Banali - drums & percussion

★ Chris Holmes - guitar

★ Randy Piper - guitar

★ Steve Riley - drums

★ Darrell Roberts - guitar

★ Don Costa - bass

★ Rik Fox - bass

Guest Members

★ Valentina - vocals on "Unholy Terror"

★ Bob Kulick - lead guitar (1989-1995) (live performer and guest on "The Crimson Idol" and "Still Not Black Enough")

★ Roy Z - additional lead guitar on "Unholy Terror"

★ Mark Josephson - violin on "Still Not Black Enough"

★ Lita Ford - lead guitar on the song "Sunset And Babylon"

★ Ken Hensley - keyboards on "The Headless Children"

★ Philip Wolfe - keyboards

★ Patrick Johansson - live drums (2006)

Trivia

★ The band can be seen briefly in the movie ''The Dungeonmaster'' (1985) about an evil wizard.

★ According to the Last Command liner notes, the track "Wild Child" was originally written in 1983 by Blackie for Mötley Crüe, but Nikki Sixx felt the vocals were out of Vince Neil's vocal range.

★ The video for "Tormentor" plays briefly in the movie ''TerrorVision'' (1986) which is about family's new satellite TV system that receives signals from another planet, and soon it becomes the passageway to an alien world.

★ W.A.S.P. contributed ''Scream Until You Like It'' for the horror film Ghoulies II.

★ According to Blackie, with the exception of only one member, which was Johnny Rod, every time someone left the band was because of drugs.

★ In the song ''Sunset and Babylon'' (with lead guitar by Lita Ford), the Rainbow Bar and Grill of West Hollywood is mentioned. Opened in 1972, it catered to some of the world's biggest rock and roll celebrities (and is today known as a favorite bar of some celebrities, mostly rock musicians). Blackie met Rod Smallwood in this bar.

★ Ken Hensley, former member of Uriah Heep, played keyboards on The Headless Children album.

★ In many concerts, Blackie could be seen with a metal contraption over his crotch containing fuel that would spray sparks outwards in somewhat of a suggestive manner. In an interview to VH1, Blackie stated he used the device until, during one concert, the device exploded, causing him great pain and knocking him back a number of feet.

★ The band played many gigs in the legendary Troubadour nightclub, where they made a name for themselves.

★ The band participated in a US/Europe/Asian tour in 2006. Blackie, in an interview, stated that "the tickets will cost no more than US$15 each at any show" and the sets will be at least 90 minutes because he is "tired of shitty bands charging $50 and playing less than an hour."

★ As part of the W.A.S.P. stage performance, Blackie mounts a demonic-looking metal sculpture (called "Elvis") that doubles as a microphone stand. Reportedly weighing in excess of 1,000 lbs., it is mounted on springs to allow Blackie to climb atop and swing from it during the show to dramatic effect. This mic stand is often cited by the band as the reason for its cancellation of shows, due to its tremendous weight being too heavy for the stage.

★ The band was rumored to be headlining Metalstock 2007, open air festival in Australia

★ Comedian Brian Posehn has a regular routine in which he details his account of asking Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. for an autograph sometime in the 1980s. According to Posehn, after asking for the autograph he was told to "grow some tits."

★ Independent Wrestler Davey Richards used the song "Charisma" (from Unholy Terror) as his theme song in Ring of Honor, preceded by a ten second intro from Van Halen's Runnin' With the Devil.

★ W.A.S.P. is a major influence on Alexi Laiho, one of the most prominent and technically accomplished Finnish melodic death metal guitarists of all time. Alexi got his nickname "Wildchild" from the W.A.S.P. song of the same name.

Discography

Studio albums

★ ''Face the Attack'' (1982, independent demo tape)

★ ''W.A.S.P.'' (August 17, 1984)

★ ''The Last Command'' (November 9, 1985)

★ ''Inside the Electric Circus'' (November 8, 1986)

★ ''The Headless Children'' (April 15, 1989)

★ ''The Crimson Idol'' (June 8, 1992)

★ ''Still Not Black Enough'' (1995)

★ ''Kill Fuck Die'' (1997)

★ ''Helldorado'' (1999)

★ ''Unholy Terror'' (2001)

★ ''Dying for the World'' (2002)

★ '' (2004)

★ '' (2004)

★ ''Dominator'' (2007)

Live albums

★ ''Live...In the Raw'' (November 27, 1987)

★ ''Double Live Assassins'' (1998)

★ '' (2000)

★ ''Live...Animal (EP)'' (November 27, 1987)

Compilations

★ ''First Blood Last Cuts'' (1993)

★ '' (2000)

Videos

★ ''Live at the Lyceum'' (1995)

★ '' (2002)

★ ''In the Raw''

References

★ Aussie WASP Fan Tribute

★ History of W.A.S.P. with Tony Richards

★ History of W.A.S.P. with Randy Piper

★ Album liner notes (written by Blackie Lawless and/or Dante Bonutto)

★ Press archive @ W.A.S.P. Nest

★ Press archive @ The Official W.A.S.P. Nation page

★ Press archive @ W.A.S.P. World Domination

★ Blackie Lawless chats with fans on AOL; subjects include Terminator 2

★ Rik Fox Interview about the early days of W.A.S.P.

★ Press release - WASPONTOUR.COM

★ [http://www.rockfeverfest.com/

External links

★ W.A.S.P. Official Website

★ W.A.S.P. Arena Of Pleasure Fan Site

★ W.A.S.P. Newsletter