BLACKIE LAWLESS: New W.A.S.P. Music Has To Be Better Than The Classic Songs

In a new interview with George Dionne of KNAC.COM, W.A.S.P. frontman Blackie Lawless was asked if he and his bandmates have been working on music for the follow-up to their 2015 album "Golgotha". He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We have been, and last year, we had done quite a bit of work in between the American tour and the European tour, we did a lot of recording, a lot of demoing. And I thought I liked what I was hearing, and then I came back. I had a problem with my back last year when we were in Europe, and, actually, my back got broken while we were over there, so I had to have a couple of surgeries when we got home from the tour. And it gave me a lot of time to sit around, twiddle my thumbs and just listen to stuff. And I listened to the demos that we did, and there is some good moments, but it's not consistent. 'Golgotha' was a very consistent record. I mean, 'Golgotha', I think, is one of the best things I've ever been a part of. And to try to at least do something on that level…"

He continued: "Today, a band like us, it's all about your legacy, because we're not making records anymore to sell records. I mean, those days are gone. But what we do, or what any artist does when they make a new record now, they are competing against their past. So your new album effectively becomes your opening act, and it's an opening act that's going up against songs that the audience has heard and romanced in their heads for decades. That's stiff competition. So when something new comes out, for it to even be remotely considered good, in all honesty, it has to be better than the original stuff, and that's no joke.

"It had been a while since I listened to 'Golgotha', and I listened to it — I don't know — a couple months ago, and it was, like, 'Wow, this is a pretty good record,'" Lawless added. "And it has to be that good to compete with the 'L.O.V.E. Machine's and the 'I Wanna Be Somebody''s of the world. Because, again, people are romancing those songs in their head, and rightfully so.

"Music does a funny thing to our sense of time. It creates memories, the same way smell does and things like that. We remember where we were when we heard a certain song, and those are very powerful memories. And I'm glad we have that, but at the same time, when you're the person that has to create new music, you're constantly going up against that legacy.

"So, again, the new album will always be your opening act, and your opening act has to try harder just to get noticed," Blackie concluded.

W.A.S.P.'s latest release was "ReIdolized (The Soundtrack To The Crimson Idol)", which came out in February 2018. It was a new version of the band's classic 1992 album "The Crimson Idol", which was re-recorded to accompany the movie of the same name to mark the 25th anniversary of the original LP's release. The re-recorded version also features four songs missing from the original album.

Blackie previously spoke about the progress of the songwriting sessions for W.A.S.P.'s new LP in a recent interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station. He said: "We still are [working on it]. What happened was when we came back from the European tour, I had to have surgery and stuff, about a year prior to that, we had been working on a lot of new stuff. And when I came back, I've had a long time to go through those early demos, of what we have been working on. Listening to it with fresh ears, some of it's really good, but there's not enough of it yet where I would be comfortable in saying, 'Okay, this is finished, and let's go with it.' I'd like to go back and visit the drawing board, so to speak, and see what else is there. Because even from a two-year period of when we started working on that before to where we are right now, you're gonna gain so much, you're gonna grow so much."

Blackie continued: "I've learned you don't make records or I don't make records anymore that are spread out over a two- or three-year period, because the guy you are when you first start making it is not the guy you are when you finish making it. Get in, six months top to bottom, get that thing cranked out, because, like I said, if you don't, you end up running the risk of it kind of being a schizophrenic type of record where you've got one type of one thing and then the other half is something else and it has no real cohesiveness."

Asked what kind of stuff inspires him now in 2024, Blackie said: "Well, when we got ready to start this record a couple years ago, my mindset was I wanted to do a heavy, nasty, stinky rock and roll record. And that's where my heart was at. But when I started to write, that's not what was coming out. And so when you first start the process, you think, 'Okay. We'll go along with whatever comes out to begin with, but I wanna try to start steering this ship in a different direction as time goes by.' And that's just not what was happening. It was stuff that was more in-depth. And I thought, we did call 'Golgotha', that's one of those thinking man's records, and I thought, I don't wanna do that this time. I wanna do something that's a little lighter, like I said, a little nastier, stinkier old-time rock and roll, but as hard as I was trying to force it in that direction, that's not what was happening. Now, when we get done with this tour and the European tour next year, then it'll be time to start looking at that again in earnest. So who knows where we'll come out of it again? To give you an honest answer, I'd need a crystal ball right now to tell you that, 'cause I don't know."

Last November, Blackie addressed the high musical standard of W.A.S.P. most recent albums, telling Canada's The Metal Voice: "Nobody makes money making records anymore. So if you're going to make records now, you're doing it because of your legacy. And if you're going to do that, then you really have to make sure that it's as strong as it can be, because it's always gonna be measured against what you did to begin with."

He continued: "All bands, they make their bones the first five years they're together, the first five or six records they make; their whole legacy is cemented there. It doesn't mean you can't make good records later on down the line, but everything is gonna be constantly compared to that… In other words, think of whatever new record you do now as your opening act. It's always gonna be compared to that early stuff. And so for it to get an honest review or a fair shake, so to speak, that new record has to maybe be even better than the original stuff was, because people have had so many years to romance those older songs in their heads. And when you go up against people that have been doing that for a long time, it's hard to erase those memories, and you don't wanna do that anyway. But you just want the new stuff to have a chance to compete. And the only way that new stuff can do that is they have to be solid records."

2024 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 from top to bottom, start to finish, on a fall 2024 North American tour, dubbed "Album ONE Alive", this fall. Support on the trek will come from DEATH ANGEL and UNTO OTHERS.

Along with bassist Mike Duda and lead guitarist Doug Blair, whose tenures in the band are 29 and 26 years respectively, W.A.S.P. is joined by longtime drummer extraordinaire Aquiles Priester.

The 39-city run kicks off on Saturday, October 26 in San Luis Obispo, California, making stops across North America in Vancouver, British Columbia; Toronto, Ontario; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Dallas, Texas; New York City; Orlando, Florida; and more before wrapping up on Saturday, December 14 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California.

W.A.S.P. will again offer fans VIP tickets that give fans a chance to meet Blackie Lawless, get a personal photo with Blackie, autographs and take part in a very personal question-and-answer session with Blackie. VIP tickets can be purchased at waspnation.myshopify.com.

Because of the extensive back injuries Lawless suffered during the European leg of W.A.S.P.'s 40th-anniversary tour, the band's previously announced 2023 U.S. tour was canceled.

W.A.S.P.'s massive European leg of the 40th-anniversary world tour wrapped on May 18, 2023 in Sofia, Bulgaria at Universidada Sports Hall.

W.A.S.P. wrapped up its first U.S. tour in 10 years with a sold-out show on December 11, 2022 at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. This marked the 18th sold-out shows for the U.S. tour, which kicked off in late October 2022. W.A.S.P.'s performances included the return of the band's classic song "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)", which hadn't been played live in over 15 years.