Headbanger.ru caught up with ex-W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes earlier this year to discuss a variety of subjects. An excerpt from the interview, focusing on Holmes' days in W.A.S.P., is available below:

Q: Since The Last Command (1985) almost all cover artworks depicted only Blackie, but you contributed a lot of songs to The Last Command and Inside The Electric Circus (1986) albums as well. Don’t you think that you and Randy deserved to be on the covers too?

Holmes: "Blackie wants to be Elvis Presley, he wants to be the only guy. Let’s put it this way, he has an ego. He does really shitty things to everybody in the band. The only reason why he kept me that long is to get more ticket sales. You wanna get some really shitty? The money you make off the records is called publishing, and he made me sign my contract in the way that this goes back into the band, so I never saw any of publishing. I was young, and I said, 'Is this the right thing for me to do?' He said, 'Yeah', and he knew exactly where it was gonna go. That’s why I had really bad issues with the guy. Even today – I’d never play with the guy again, I’d rather be dead. He’s only out for himself, he’s not out for the whole band. If he was a nice guy, would he please keep a few band members? He’s always changing band members. I hate signing those… Well, I wouldn’t say I hate signing those records, I played on them, I guess. So what I do is I sign them right on Blackie’s face.

Randy and I were talking last week. We recalled how we were told to go down and choose the pictures out of like 500 to put on the record, and why choose the pictures if they didn’t go on the record? Blackie turned around and changed them. Did I choose that picture to be on the record? (points at his photo in a CD booklet) No! It was all him. The worse we look, the better he looks. And that was the case with every album. That’s him on the cover, it’s not the band, and this sucks. I have to live with it, because it’s part of my past, and that’s OK. But why should Blackie call it WASP? It’s Blackie Lawless and nobody else."

Q: Now it is, but I guess in the 1980s that was different…

Holmes. "Yes, but the reason why is that – do you think he would have got anywhere being by himself like he is? Here we’re talking about negative things, but this is reality, that’s what the guy was. I have nothing good to say about him. The other guys, they’re friends, they’re cool…

Q: In the '80s and 90s W.A.S.P. did really cool shows with raping nuns and stuff on stage, but now Blackie is a Christian. What can you say about this? It’s a little bit strange for me…

Holmes: "I’ll tell you what kind of person he is – he’s full of shit! If being a Christian can make money, that’s what he’s doing. It’s all about making money and nothing else. Blackie is religious! There’s got to be some catch in there to make money."

Click here for more (thanks RockAAA.com).

As previously reported, author Darren P. Upton is working on the unofficial biography on W.A.S.P. called Sting In The Tale, featuring new interviews with Randy Piper (guitar), Chris Holmes (guitar) and Stet Howland (drums). According to a book description, "W.A.S.P. were one of the primary heavy metal bands to crawl from the gutter of the Los Angeles scene of the early '80's. Led by the charismatic, dark and intense Blackie Lawless, W.A.S.P. went on to cement their status as rock legends. From their early shows full of blood and gore, to Blackie's eventual return to his Christian roots, this book brings you bang up to date in revealing detail. Riveting and controversial, Sting In The Tale dramatically lifts the lid on the many skeletons stashed in the W.A.S.P. closet."

Check out the final cover design below:

For more info visit Waspstinginthetale.co.uk or Facebook.