Interview – Blackie Lawless from WASP
Words by Adam Kennedy
Adam Kennedy speaks with WASP frontman Blackie Lawless ahead of the band’s Tyneside return.
Los Angeles metal pioneers W.A.S.P. return to the UK next week for a very special celebratory tour. ‘Album ONE Alive!’ marks the 40th anniversary of the release of W.A.S.P.’s first album. To celebrate this classic metal album, W.A.S.P. will, for the first time in 40 years, play the entire album in full, from start to finish, plus classics from the band’s catalogue.
Reflecting on the tour so far, frontman Blackie Lawless said: “We’ve taken it to the US, to Canada, Mexico, South America. We’ve actually been to Europe three times this year already. So, this will be the last leg of this entire world tour, and it’s been a long one. But in all honesty, it’s been the greatest tour I’ve ever done. I’ve had more fun doing this than anything I have ever done in my entire life. I’m going to be sad to see it come to an end.”
The band will retrace the steps they took on their first UK tour in 1984 when they arrive on Tyneside next week. But how does it feel for the WASP frontman to be celebrating this musical milestone? “Well, it really does make you think …it was funny because I remember when we first came to the UK, that’s where we started, because we did our production rehearsals there in ’84. And we were there for about two weeks. And then Newcastle was the very first show we ever played,” recalls Lawless. “And I heard it every single interview – how long do you think it will last? And I thought, Why are they asking me this? And my answer to them was, hey, I don’t know if I’m going to be around in five months. Why don’t you just let me enjoy this while it’s happening? And what I didn’t realize at the time is every new band gets that question, but I just thought they were singling me out for some reason.”
He adds: “Looking back on it now, you realize how fortunate you’ve been. Because they say that one in a million gets a record deal. That’s not true. It was one in about 10 million. And once you’ve done it for a while, you realize that even one in 10 million or less than 1% that ever do it, will ever go on to do anything where they have any real success. And so, for any artist to do it for 10 years, 20 years, that’s a milestone. To do it this long, I pinch myself.”
When the band released their debut album, did they know they were onto something special at the time? “The only thing that I could judge it from, I mean, I thought it was okay. But there’s a difference between thinking something’s okay and really understanding what it is,” explains Lawless. “We were young, we were hostile because we were over the world because we couldn’t get where we wanted to go. All those factors, all those elements, factor into your attitude. And looking back on it now, that record is dripping with attitude. But at the time, you don’t see it because you’re just doing what comes naturally. And you learn early on that you just make records that reflect who you are at that moment in your life. You don’t try to look at what’s going on in the charts or you’re trying to be the flavour of the month or any of those things.”
He continues: “Something else you come to understand later is that when you make a record, those are snapshots of your time, your generation, that moment in time and in society. And that snapshot should reflect that moment in time. And hopefully it’ll do that. And I think that that first record certainly did.”
One dilemma that the group faces when performing their debut record in full is the running order. If they perform the track listing as it appears originally on the album, they may end up playing some of their biggest anthems at the start of the show. “We’ve opened with On Your Knees for 40 years,” confirms Lawless. “The conclusions I came to quickly when the idea of this tour was being put together is, how in the world do I start a show with I Wanna Be Somebody? I don’t know how to do that. I’ve never done that before. And I thought, there’s a good chance this may fall completely on its face.”
He elaborates: “I held my breath when I went out there for the first couple of times. And after I saw the audience’s reaction, I thought this ended up being the absolute right thing to do. But like most performers when you’re going into something you’ve never done before in uncharted waters, it can be a little frightening.”
The artist has fond memories of his first visit to Newcastle back in 1984. “I have two distinct memories of Newcastle. The first one was the hotel that we were staying in. I was on like the fifth floor, and I looked out the window and I saw there was probably 100 kids. They were in sleeping bags. And they were lined up on the sidewalk. And it was raining outside. So, I went outside, and I got them all to come inside the lobby,” said Lawless. “That night after the show, I went to an Indian restaurant, and I’d never had Indian before. And I fell in love with it that night, and it’s been a staple of my diet ever since. And I had a Newcastle Brown for the first time that night.”
WASP will perform at the O2 City Hall in Newcastle on Friday, 26th September. For ticket information and further details, please visit https://www.academymusicgroup.com/o2cityhallnewcastle.
