Almost six years have passed since the world saw a new studio album from W.A.S.P. On October 2nd, the wait ends, as Blackie Lawless and co. will release their new album, and Napalm Records debut, Golgotha.

Installment #3 of The Making Of Golgotha, written by Blackie Lawless, reads as follows:

"We came to Hollywood in 1975 with $162 dollars between us, We, meaning Arthur Kane and myself.  The New York Dolls had just broken up and he and I found ourselves orphaned.  We started what would become the band “Killer Kane”.  It was actually Arthur’s nick name but it seemed cool so we went with it.  I mentioned the $162.  It didn’t go far.  We were broke in just a few days.  I was in L. A. just one week and started selling my personal gear that I had accumulated over the years, and that went pretty fast too. I tried to make the band work but it was impossible.  The last time I ever spoke to him I told him he had to get himself together and he said: 'Hey, you’re not pulling that Paul Stanley crap on me.'  He resented KISS for their new-found success, and made it clear he wanted nothing to do with me or them. For the first 2 months I was in L. A. I slept on a couch in the garage that was our rehearsal space in a house in Laurel Canyon.  But the band disintegrated and for the next year and a half I was basically homeless.  I slept on floors in the houses of whoever would have me at the moment.  Eating, well that became an extra curricular activity.  In other words, I literally never knew where my next meal was coming from, and there were a lot of times it didn’t!!   

 It’s interesting, a year and a half goes by pretty quick when you’re writing about it, but in real time, it’s an ETERNITY!!    When I first got to L. A. I saw a Hollywood Chamber of Commerce statistic that said a teenage girl came to Hollywood once ever 13 seconds.  That didn’t include the guy’s or the guy’s and girls over 20. Just teenage girls.  When they’re in school they’re the best looking, the most popular, and voted the most likely to be 'whatever' and think they’re going to set Hollywood on fire.  They don’t realize that every other girl with the same exact credentials from 'anytown' in the world is all thinking the same thing.  They all come to Hollywood with stars in their eyes and get eaten alive!

That same statistic said the life expectancy there was 6 months! Only a fraction of 1% will ever have even minor success.  It’s the same for music too.

It’s a place where the competition is enormously fierce and nobody even wants to know your name.  But, there is a place there for those that want it more than life itself.  I remember, I was 12 and my Father telling me America was one of the last places on earth where a man could still become a self made millionaire,'if he wanted to pay the price!'

I said, 'Yeah Dad, I wanna pay the price.'  But I had NO IDEA of what I was talking about.  But I soon learned. 

Fans ask me now how they can become successful.  I tell them, “you don’t choose it, it chooses you’!!  In other words, if you CANNOT live without it, then go for it.  But if you think, for even one moment, you can live without it, you should seek another line of employment, because you WILL NOT make it.  Show business is tough, but Hollywood is flat out cruel.  I didn’t make these rules.  I’m just telling it like it is!!

The song, “Last Runaway” is a musical/autobiographical account of my years in the wasteland called “Hollywood”.  Was I scared to death?  You better believe it !!  But there were also times of tremendous joy.  In the chorus I write: “It was the best years of our lives, the world was ours to run”.  Even in the midst of all that misery, nothing I’ve ever written has been more true.  At times it was glorious!!

I’m sure most people at some time in their lives have gone through something that has been extremely challenging.  Something that took them out of their “comfort zone”, something that made them want to “runaway”. This song is for ME and THEM!!  I know your pain!!

There’s a line in the first verse that says, “on borrowed beds of nails I wailed and I’d lose control”, well that goes back to the year and a half sleeping on other peoples floors.  Think about it, it’s one thing to be on a “bed of nails”, but ones that are borrowed?  That just adds to the fear and the angst because as uncomfortable as they are, they’re not even yours!!

There are a million other horror stories that came out of that time, but there was also a tremendous amount of hope. It was the life blood of what we all lived on!!   As the song say’s, ”just one last chance to change it, give me back the life I can’t wait to live”!!

Out of the ten’s of thousands of musicians that came through Hollywood at that time, there were only a small handful of us who “made it out”.  You know who we all are. Some are still with us and some have passed on. 

No matter what, it’s a song about our survival, but even more so…….Redemption!!!!"

Go to this location to read Part 1 and Part 2.

Blackie Lawless on Golgotha: "There are times in any band's career that somehow all things mesh together. Their experiences, influences, and personal timing bring them into a common space. This has happened with this record. Four years in the making has provided direction, but even greater reflection. Golgotha, where Christ was crucified - Hebrew for "the place of the skull"."

Golgotha is available for pre-order from the Napalm Records webstore in North America here and Europe here.

Golgotha tracklisting:

“Scream”
“Last Runaway”
“Shotgun”
“Miss You”
“Fallen Under”
“Slaves Of The New World Order”
“Eyes Of My Maker”
“Hero Of The World”
“Golgotha”

Golgotha will continue down the path that 2007's Dominator and 2009's Babylon started on, both in production style and theme. Years in the making, Golgotha will undoubtedly lead the listeners on the emotionally epic undertaking that W.A.S.P. has become acclaimed for.

To view their complete tour schedule, visit this location.