... & OTHER ODDBALL STORIES |
Our first gig ever with W.A.S.P was in Winnipeg. After the show I had to go to the hospital, (I accidentally stabbed myself close to my eye with a drum-stick in the middle of the show) and Paul went out partying with Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. The next day Paul tells me that they went to some hotel looking for a party and couldn't find it. They were wandering through the hallways of this hotel trying to find the party, when suddenly Chris turns to a door and boots it right off the hinges! There are people in the room, and some guy jumps up and approaches Chris as if he's going to fight him, but when he gets to the door, here's this six foot plus guy with long hair and tatoos. Chris offers the guy a hand shake and says, "Hi! My name's Chris Holmes". The guy shakes his hand, looks up at Chris, and is barely able to choke out his name. Paul said they left after that...
Chris Holmes was the guitar player for W.A.S.P and an absolute madman. First of all, the guy was intimidating just to look at. He had to be over six feet tall, with dirty blonde hair that nearly reached his waist, and tatoos that ran all the way from his left hand to his right hand via his chest. His mother was a biker. On stage he wore hockey shin pads and would slide across the stage on them. The two pieces of his guitar (he had smashed it in half) were held together with a six inch bolt.
The afternoon of the Long Beach, California show, a vintage hand-made guitar was delivered to Chris at the arena (at no cost) so Chris would endorse the guitar in advertisements. The guitar was probably worth two or three grand. It had a hand-painted finish on it with some sort of air-brushed drawing. Chris was busy putting new strings on it when Paul and I happened to walk by. Paul commented to Chris, "Nice guitar!" Chris looks up, smiles, says "yah", picks up a nearby screw driver and proceeds to attack the body of the guitar with a series of stabbing motions, gouging the living crap out of it. After about ten or fifteen fatal blows, he looks up and laughs!
Another day Chris, or Chewey, as everyone called him, comes into our dressing room for a chat. He asks if it's alright to have a cigerette, and in my mind I'm thinking of that old joke "What do you give a 300 lb. gorilla that breaks into your house? Answer, ANYTHING HE WANTS!" Anyway, Chewey is having a cigerette and we're chatting about this and that, when Chris says, "I have a cat, you know". "That's nice Chewey", we all agree. Chris says, "Yah, he's only got one eye. When we have parties we put different coloured m&m's in the empty eye socket and let him run around the house.........."
Brian Vollmer (centre) with W.A.S.P.
A Christmas card from W.A.S.P., Chewey is on the left.
