Former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes, who has lived in Cannes, France with his wife since 2014, spoke to Duke TV about when fans in the U.S. can expect to see him perform again in his former home country. He said (see video below): “I see a lot of comments, ‘Come back to L.A.,’ or, ‘Come back to North Hollywood.’ I’ll go back there to live. I don’t know if I’ll go back to play music, ’cause look at the Grammys — there’s no rock in ’em. There’s no rock in any of the shows. And I’m not knocking hip-hop; I’m not knocking rap. That’s what people like in America. That’s the kind of music it is. That’s what the younger crowd likes.
“It’d be stupid for me to go play there if nobody comes to the shows,” he explained. “I was booked to go to Canada [in 2020], and some of the shows were sold good. But the COVID came up, like, two months before, and bam, you can’t go. So it’s sad.
“I don’t know when I’m gonna be able to play live again. I just have to wait. I’m still gonna play. I’m gonna play till I can’t — till I can’t stand and play my guitar or whatever.”
The documentary film “Mean Man: The Story Of Chris Holmes”, written and directed by French filmmakers Antoine De Montremy and Laurent Hart, will be made available on Blu-ray, DVD and VOD on January 15. The project was born in 2014 after De Montremy and Hart had an opportunity to meet and direct Holmes in a music video for the Holmes-penned song “Let It Roar” in Cannes. At that time, the former W.A.S.P. guitarist had more or less disappeared from the music scene, leaving his home in the U.S. to seek a new beginning with his wife Sarah in France.
Holmes joined W.A.S.P. in 1982 and remained with the group until 1990. In 1996, the guitarist returned to W.A.S.P. and stayed with the band until 2001. Chris has not played with W.A.S.P. since.
During a November 2017 press conference in Moscow, Russia, W.A.S.P. leader Blackie Lawless was asked what he would say to those fans who continue to call for the band to reunite with Holmes. He responded: “People get divorced for certain reasons, and there’s times when the kids want the parents to get back together, but sometimes it never happens. And this is one of those [times]. Sorry.”
