This interview with the Man himself took place just before the release of "Helldorado", in 1999 !     W.A.S.P. WARRIORS (Thomas "ulti" Inglebert) : Ok First of all I'd wish to congratulate you for the new album, it's a real killer, and to have us credited on it ! I've been heading this fan club for 8 years now, it was a great day in my life to see my name on the cover ! Blackie Lawless : Well… it's a way of saying "thank you", to you and the other people who have been involved with us for so long. I'm trying to create a « network » who really, really have been involved with us. They understand that we appriciate it, but I also wanted to create a sense of unity around W.A.S.P. So let's talk a little bit about the new album… it is obviously more Rock’n Roll than KFD, is that something you really wanted to do before going to the studio and recording it ? Well I think I had it in mind since the live album (Double Live Assassins). Chris and I, were listening to the mixes of this record, it's a long time since we've done anything like this, so we thought « why don't we do this again ? ». You know, You have to be in the right frame of mind, your head has to be in the right place to be able to do that. I think it was just time that we went back and we did that, the timing was right. At the time of KFD, you said that you wanted W.A.S.P. to be the nastiest band in the world, is it something you still want to be ? I think we'll always gonna be that ! (laughs) I don't think that something we have to try at anymore,! That comes natural for us. About the shows, are you going to do something as wicked as the previous one with the nun and the pig ? Well… we're on rehersal right now, I just got the message a little bit ago that we're getting problems with the promoters again. We scare people as that ! We said « we want to do this , we want to do that », there's two ideas but I can't tell you what they are, because it looks like we won't be able to do them . To be honnest, I don't know what's gonna happen. I heard something like you could be touring with Iron Maiden or KISS, is it correct ? We were going to do the KISS tour in Europe earlier this year, but Helldorado was not finished yet, so… I had to stay and finish that. What do you think abou the « come back » of these bands, KISS putting the make up back and so on ? What about KISS? Oh it's old news isn't it! (laughs) You know, if it's makes the fans happy, the band happy so it's a good idea ! indeed, a lot of your french fans are not going to be happy because you won't come in France with this tour, … Yeah I know, but the problem is that it was trying to make time in between the festivals we were doing, to my Know, there's no Heavy Metal festival in France… Yes that's over! The Monsters Of Rock used to came some five years ago … Right, but as we were doing mostly festivals this summer, so… In fact, We really regret that we cannot get in there, because it's the first time we come to Europe and not play in France, it's very unusual to be honnest… Well, I'll have to go to London to see you ! (laughs) Unfortunately ! Let's get back on the album, We have noticed that Mikey Davis did not mix this album unlike all the previous ones… It was just time for us to find somebody else… Stan Katayama did the Double Live Assassins, but Bill Metoyer did Helldorado. Bill was somebody that I had interviewed for Crimson Idol, but I did'nt think that he was right for the Crimson Idol at the time. But for this style of album, for Helldorado,he was a very good choice, he comes from that type of background. He works for Metal Blade, the record company, he is one of their house ingeneer, so we just thought he was a good choice. About the line-up, Mike Duda is still on the bass guitar, what a good surprise ! You realize, Mike plays for us since KFD, it's almost 4 years now… Yes, in fact this is the steadiest line-up W.A.S.P. ever had, with a studio album, a live albumand another studio album still with same line-up. So I think you'd be rather satisfied with it? Yes, I think people are pretty familiar with this line-up, with Mike and Stet… Stet is in W.A.S.P. since any longer than any other W.A.S.P. drummer. He is the best drummer of W.A.S.P.indeed… Right ! I don't think there is any surprise with the line-up there. About line-ups, there's this dude, Rik Fox who pretends he was the first bass player of W.A.S.P., in 1982, He even said he found the name « W.A.S.P. ». Did you ever have heard of him ? He… he… mmm… are you familiar with the expression « a Wannabe » ? (laughs) I thought so ! (laughs) He even have pictures of him, you and Randy Piper on his web site ! Well, I brought him up here from New York a long, long time ago to do 2 rehersals, but he sucked, He was terrible ! End of story. There was not even « W.A.S.P. »at that point. W.A.S.P. did not exist until Chris and I, Tony Richards, and Don Costa, our first bass player, went to record the original demo. Even at that point, we didn't have a name yet ! So why does he tell such crap ? I think the expression is « bullshit artist » ! Like I said we didn't have a name until we decided to play live. The original demos was played with Don Tony Chris and myself. When we decided to play live, then we realized we needed a name, it is also the time we decided to do some sort of a show…When we went to do the demo , we didn't have any intention of playing live. We were just going to make a demo and trying to find a record deal. And this guy…I don't know maybe he is so desperate for attention that he goes on telling people this stuff .To be honnest with you…It's pretty sad. So this is the last time we dare to ask you this question. Does that name have a meaning ? We wanted a name that was controversial, that's where the periods came from ! As for B.A.D., L.O.V.E. Machine ? Exact ! So there's no real signification ? It has got a lot of different meanings, it depends on the individual! We were the first band to ever use periods in the name, noone did it before. There's a lot of bands who have done it since , but... In that way it worked very, very well and does to this thing ! When you began playing with W.A.S.P. was there any band you loved to look like or play like or be like ? When you gather 4 musicians in a band, they all have their influences, so when you put them all together you don't know what you gonna have …I don't think there was any ONE band that was a dominant influence. I presume that you've seen there has been a tribute to Alice Cooper released a couple of months ago, hosted by Bob Kulick (guitar player on The Crimson Idol), a.k.a. « Mr. 3 Days »… Yeah right… ( laughs) If you had to do smething for this tribute, which song would you have chosen ? If I had to pick up a song ?… Certainly « Ballad Of Dwight Fry ». I don't know if it is on the album ; probably not because it was not the most popular. It was pure theater ! I 'd like to know about some of the project you had, like the book about the history of W.A.S.P.… It's something Chris and I are still working on because … in the last year and a half I've been assembling photos of my childhood and things like that. That doesn't sound like it's very hard, but when you have relatives across the country, believe me, it's a lot of work to do and it takes time. But it's still something that we want to do, we did'nt forget about that. And what about The Crow 3, the animated adult cartoon, Spawn- style? What happened with that is that we did a lot of work with him, but at the end they couldn't even decide on a three. So I think a lot of people got very frustrated and walked away. The last news I heard on 99 is that it is not going to happen…I don't know. But didn't you record the dialogues for the main character ? No, we didn't get that far. The sole thing I had started was the recording of a song for it. Is it a song on the new album ? No (laughs) Ok, let's change ! You are going to perform live at the Gods Of Metal festival, where Motörhead gonna play toot. Do you still have hard feelings about Lemmy ? No, all that is now forgotten… And I think the press made out a lot more about that that it should have done… And I think if you ask them they'll probably say the same thing. If you want to get more political just one second, about that slaughter in a school and the fact once again people condemned the Music, reproducing the old pattern ? Well, there's nothing new… This happened in the 50s, when Richard Nixon did his « communist witch hunt », and in the 80s, with Tipper Gore (founder of PMRC) and myself, and now the massacre in Colorado. Or a year and a half ago, when Bob Dole was running for Presidence and he was attacking rap… It's been around for a long time, and it will probably be around for a long time, but all those problems go back to the responsability of the parents. If the parents raised their children correctly, then we won't be having these problems. Everytime you see the interviews with their schoolmates and friends they allways say the same thing : those kids are fuck unwanted. It's simple, there's never been one piece of music ever recorded, or one movie ever made or one TV show , anything that caused people to do such a thing. About Marilyn Manson there was talk about he mixing « Animal (Fuck Like A Beast a couple of years ago… But regarding to your performance at the Rock & Horror Convention, where you fucked a Marilyn Manson doll, cut its head and drank its blood some could think you don't like him very much… Not at all ! It's the opposite ! I thought he would have liked that! (laughs) I don't dislike him. That's my way of showing affection ! So is there a possibility for you to work together someday ? I don't know… The reason why the « Animal »thing didn't happen out is that he was very busy, we were very busy and we never got time to do it. I never had a chance to hear what he wanted to . No, I like him ! (laughs). I recently heard some Black Metal bands like Gates Of Ishtar who covered « I Wanna Be Somebody », and another band who covered « I’m Alive »… What do you think about bands paying tribute to you ? I would have to hear it first to really give you my opinion. There's a million different ways of doing something… Don't they grant permission from you ? No, That's a mess a lot of people believe that but it's not true… Once something has been published, it becomes public domain, and everyone can use it. The only time you ever have to ask for permission , because the songwriter can say « You did not let me the opportunity to do my song », but since an artist has done a song already then it becomes public property. They have to pay royalties, of course. So you are not aware of any bands that can pay tribute to you ? No, I hear them from time to time when people come and say « Did you heard this yet? », but I am not always aware of all that . There is, in particular, one band in Sweden right now called W.Ä.S.P., and they do the same shows you did in 1984, with blood and so on, for those who missed it… The singer is called Blackie Sawless… (laughs) …and the guitar player Cheese Holmes… Ha ! ha ! ha ! (Blackie bursts into laughter) I'm gonna go back on rehearsal and call Chris like this ! We were talking about Black Metal, I know that you have studied the Occult for a while… Are you still into that ? No. If you look at people like myself, Chris, Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, There's one thing we all have in common; something we all share : we are all raised very religeously. Even Chris ? Chris was a strict Mormon ! No way ???! Oh Yeah ! If you want to talk about the Bible with Chris You'd be amazed ! You would be amazed at what he knows. He can quote you Scripture ! So your attiude would just be an act of rebellion against your environment ? Yes, I explain… In my case, and Chris', I grew up in a church. My father was Sunday school superintendant, my grand father was the main deacon of the Church, and my oncle was a preacher. So every time the doors were open, I was there… I went to the Church until I was seventeen, and noone made me go. I went there because I wanted to . I was a virgin 'til I was 18 ans ! So was I, you know !… (laughs) I was heavy into the Church…And then when I left the church, I was angry and unhappy, and I didn't know why. So I started looking for things that were extreme, and the Occult was the most extreme thing that I could find. It was not until the last few years that I understood why I did what I did… You grow up and there's a lot of things that you don't like in the things you learn in the Church, you want to blame God. When I went older I realized I was not angry with god, but with men. Because all the things I was angry about were people's interpretation of the Bible. And once I understood that, then I saw Life, religion , even the world in a whole different way. So I see things very differently now I did even 10 years ago. So the nun's rape has the same meaning as when Marilyn Manson tears the Bible apart and throws it away to denounce the hypocrisy of Religion ? Yeah ,but, more than that… I see the Catholic Church as a cult. Quite a gigantic cult, butA cult indeed. And I look at that and it angers me cause I realize that they're doing to their people what was done to me à moi. And they are deceiving their people… For me, doing the thing with the nun was just a rebellion towards the whole attitude. I don't want to take too much of your time, but I'd like to come back on the musical subject : when writing songs, do the lyrics come first or the music ? Well it's different everytime… the easiest way for me is when I dreamed of , because sometimes I dream songs! You dream songs ? ? ? With music and lyrics and all ? Yeah all of it ! But you know other songwriters do that I am not the only one . « The Headless Children » ? I dreamed that ! « Hold On To My Heart » ? dreamed that ! You wake up in the morning, and the song's there, the lyrics are there… So that's the easiest way ! It's a song for free ! (laughs) the second easiest way is when I find a good songtitle. It gives me the framework to know how the thing is supposed to look like, sound like feel like… When I happen to find a title like « Dirty Balls », the first thing I say is « ok, what is the song like ? Does that sounds like a ballad ? » Not really… No, not really ! (laughs) It pulls me in the direction that I 'm supposed to go, and the rest is pretty easy. But there's not any one way that I do it. So I suppose that with the track « Don’t Cry Just Suck », the title came first ! Well, « Don’t Cry » was an Idea that goes back to KFD. One night, I went in on the bus, after a gig on tour, and Chris was already in the bus , and I didn't now it. And he had some girl in the back of the bus, down on her knees, acting like she didn't want to do it, but I can tell you that she really did (laugh), and Chris was drunk, he looked down and went : « hey baby, don’t cry, just suck ! ». I heard that and fell on the floor, laughing ! And it's a good thing I heard it because he was drunk, he didn't remember it the next day ! When you hear something like that you just think « OK, what could it sound like ? ». Talking about the girls and relationships and everything I guess that when you wrote KFD, you and Chris were pissed off against girls ! Oh yeah! Does it feel any better now ? Yes, with life in general, not just about the girls ! The word I would qualify everyone now is « relaxed»… Everyone is in a really good mood… You know, when we were on rehersal for KFD, there was a lot of tension every day. Everybody was pissed off at the time. But now it's completely different ! Doing a record is like going to a psychiatrist, it's a cheap therapy ! I'm serious it really is ! We did the record, we did the tour and all that was over, we've put that anger out of ourselves now, we are ready to move on, and here we are ! But I imagine you don't have any serious relationship right now ? No, now no… Ok, Do you still have some time for few more questions ? Sure ! I was just wondering… what kind of music are you listening to in general ? Is it Heavy Metal or any other kind of stuff ? I don't really listen to anything because I'm working in the studio for 14 à 15 hours a day 6 or seven days a week… It's like you're a mecanic and you work on cars all day long, the last thing you long to do is working on your own car! True… Is there any songs that were meant to be on Helldorado and were finillay kept aside ? Yes, there is 4 or 5 songs we had prepared, but we chose to work on them a little longer so we keep them for the next record. You are already thinking of the next one ? No, not really, but I know we have material ready for the next record. Do you already have a direction for it ? I really try not to get so far ahead, like I said we do records that reflects the mood that we're in … We already had « Don’t Cry » from the previous recordings, but it didn't match with the other songs so we kept it for this one. If you did not build W.A.S.P., what do you think you would have done with your life ? Jail, probably ! I was a bad boy ! (laughs) I had just decided that I'm was gonna be rich, and I didn't care the way I would accomplish this ! One last question about W.A.S.P. Nation, was it one of your ideas originally ? It's something we wanted to do for a long time, putting an official fan-club together, because we were tired of seeing those bad T-shirts this bad merchandising. So we thought : "Why don't we do something that we have more control over, and try to make it as good as it can be ?" We thought we would do it for a couple of months and it will be ready to go, it has taken over a year ! We wanted to do something with the best quality, so it took a very long time. Now I understand why the previous things were so bad, because to get it right, no matter what time it takes, and the people who had done it just didn't have time. I'm very proud of it, it is unlike no other fan-club. Are you behind all of that stuff ? I look at all eveything that goes out of W.A.S.P. Nation ! I don't know if there is an other artist that has already done it the way I'm doing it. I see every piece of it. I don't now how much longer I could do it, because trying to make records and do it like this, it is very challenging! Well, Blackie, thanks a lot for giving your time ! Thanks to you, Thomas, we'll see each other when we'll get to London ! No Problemo ! Bye bye !