Former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes spoke with Metal Express Radio about his career and new documentary film, Mean Man: The Story Of Chris Holmes, which was released on January 15th via Cleopatra Entertainment. Holmes also talks about his new band, and the 35th anniversary of W.A.S.P.’s Inside the Electric Circus. Following is an excerpt from the interview.

MER:  Were you initially apprehensive when your wife brought you this idea about a documentary and how it was going to portray you?

Holmes: "Man, after The Decline of Western Civilization, nothing would bother me. It doesn’t bother me. What’s important to me is to have the realism. No fake stuff, no lying about anything, no making things look better than what they are. It’s about reality."

MER:  One of the things that that stood out to me in the trailer was a line by whoever’s narrating the documentary.  It says the United States looks at Chris Holmes as a has-been from the ‘80s, but now that you’re in France you’re like a local rock star. Where are they coming up with that?

Holmes: "That (statement) came from a singer that I played with when I was about 17 and in my 20s. Roger is a very good friend of mine. It was seven years ago. I didn’t think about it much at the time. The older I get the more I realize he’s right. In W.A.S.P., I’m a has-been in that situation. Now, I’m starting a new band. Luckily I have the past to go off of. Everybody knows me from W.A.S.P. People in America, the young kids, they don’t really listen to rock. It’s not like it was in the ‘80s or ‘90s there anymore."

MER:  You have new band you’ve put together called Mean Man. You’re transitioning from releasing stuff under your own name. Why the switch solo artist to band?

Holmes: "I’ve always wanted to be a band. When I was in America, I couldn’t find any players that would be my band. When I came over here, I had members that wanted to go their own ways and stuff, but I finally got enough guys, and I hope this will stick together. People get tired of each other after being around each other for a while. That’s what happens in groups. I always wanted a group that would stick together. You take W.A.S.P., they changed members like you change underwear."

MER:  You have a new album scheduled for 2021. Is that still going to happen with everything that’s happened with lockdowns, and no live shows, and all that stuff?

Holmes: "I hope I can get it out by March or April. If not it will be a little bit later than that."

Read the complete interview here.

Iconic W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes has lived a life of highs and lows. This musical journey draws parallel stories of his rise, fall, and rebirth with live performance, interview, behind-the-scenes, and archival footage.

Written and directed by French filmmakers Antoine de Montremy and Laurent Hart (whose Music production career includes televised interviews with Scorpions, Deep Purple, Slayer, Guns N' Roses and more), Mean Man: The Story of Chris Holmes was a project that was born in 2014 after they had an opportunity to meet and direct Holmes in a music video for the Holmes-penned song "Let It Roar" in Cannes, France. At that time, the former W.A.S.P. guitarist had more or less disappeared from the music scene, leaving his home in the US to seek a new beginning with his wife Sarah in France. Not content with merely directing a music video for the re-born Holmes, de Montremy pursued his bigger dream of writing and directing a documentary film about this iconic metal guitar legend and for the next several years shadowed him throughout Europe while filming everything from band rehearsals, to recording sessions to live performances.

By creatively combining archival footage, interviews with past and present band members and musical peers, family members and childhood friends - interspersed with beautifully filmed concert performances of Holmes' current solo band - Director de Montremy skillfully portrays the story of an iconic guitar player who has lived a life of extreme highs and lows. After losing the publishing rights of his own songs and combating dangerous addictions, the legendary W.A.S.P. guitarist is shown starting over from scratch while living at his mother-in-law's in Cannes, France as he puts together with his wife a brand new band and a brand new musical role as not only the main guitarist, but now as the actual lead singer of this newly-born musical project aptly named Mean Man.  

Montremy said: "Over the last five years, I've had the privilege to establish a true relationship with Chris Holmes and to follow him throughout Europe. I was impressed by his charisma, his approach towards life, his multiple experiences and taste for simplicity which have actually altered my own vision of existence. In fact, he has almost become a spiritual father to me, in the way that he inspired me in many of my own decisions."