W.A.S.P.’s original lineup will not happen for the upcoming anniversary tour

Blackie Lawless, lead singer and guitarist of the band W.A.S.P., explained in an interview with Chris Akin Presents, that for the upcoming tour of W.A.S.P., the original lineup will not come together. W.A.S.P. will play their entire debut album for celebrating its 40^th anniversary on the 2024 “Album ONE Alive” tour. They will be supported by the bands Death Angel and Unto Others in this tour through North America.  

“You reach a point where the musicianship starts to grow. Not everybody in the original incarnation of a band grows together, or do they grow in the same direction. Everybody’s heard the age-old adage about, ‘Well, we broke up because of musical differences,’ and as corny as that may sound, a lot of times there is truth to that. And you really find people either growing in different directions or some guys can’t keep up with the rest of the class. And so, for one reason or another, if nothing else, just attrition will start to weed guys out, especially when you start getting into more complicated material.”

“When you reach a point where that band grows — in our particular case, you go from the first record to [1989’s fourth album] ‘[The] Headless [Children]’, the band that created that first record could not create ‘Headless’. It was impossible. The musicianship that was required to make ‘Headless’ was vastly different than what created that first album. That first album was done with attitude and snot and spit. That was an angry record made by an angry band.”

Blackie Lawless, lead singer and guitarist of W.A.S.P.

W.A.S.P. does now consist of the original member, lead singer and guitarist Blackie Lawless, guitarist Doug Blair (joined in 1995), bassist Mike Duda (joined in 2006) and drummer Aquiles Priester (joined in 2017). About the upcoming shows, Lawless said:

“Listen, I totally get the idea of the romance that people have in people’s heads about what an original lineup could be, but me as the person who’s on stage has to understand that no matter how much the audience may want that to be the way it was, my responsibility to them as ticket buyers, I have to give you the best show possible. […] And again, especially when people have been out of the game for a long time, for us to do what is being suggested, that the original band do it, I would think that that would be pretty much an impossibility. […] Unless you’re working with people who have stayed constant, who stayed in shape, that have done whatever it is they need to do to keep that edge, they’re gonna go out there and it’s not gonna be very good. And I cannot do that to our fanbase.” Blackie Lawless, lead singer and guitarist of W.A.S.P.