The Truth About W.A.S.P. Tour Money
How Frankie Banali ended up joining W.A.S.P. on The Headless Children album/tour while Quiet Riot were working overseas. The money and personalities behind the scenes got complicated fast. See what was really going on between Chris Holmes and Blackie Lawless, and why Holmes now points to those days as a turning point.
You can listen to the entire interview with Rock Interview Series here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIKf02mw-N4
@tgwazu
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Always great to see a new Full in Bloom vid!
@HakanTunaoglu
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Blind in Texas
@VivaToddVegas
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
I’ve always thought WASP was an “also ran” band. They were never really part of the scene. They never had hits. In my midwestern high school in the late 80s, only two other people besides me had ever even heard of WASP, and all three if us disliked them.
@MrLobba
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Let me guess, 95% to Blackie Lawless and the rest split the remaning 5%
@garycollingwood4002
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
" BEE REAL WASP " 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
@3heteee45
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Frankie was a Monster drummer, Holmes only a little light.i saw Wasp in 86, 89 and 92 in Germany!
@PoeCoffin
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Of course Blackie is a terrible person. That’s why he’s MAGA.
@rmartin9426
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
I really liked WASP in the early days. Too bad they sunk to faking the shows like so many bands do now.
@deumservio6565
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Holmes didnt write any WASP songs.
@cliffistheman
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Can't stand this band.
@_Clem_H_Fandango_
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Blackie Lawless famously said in an interview back in the mid 80s when asked about all the bloody meat they threw at their live shows and Blackie said "If our music was good we wouldn't have to resort to such antics."(NOT verbatim). And he wasn't wrong, even at 13 I could tell their musice was trash. I mean, Blind in Texas was ok, and Animal(F.L.A.B.) was funny but overall I don't get what they're arguing over. Not like VW is putting thier music in a commercial…
@rondellschuyler7074
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
This changes my view of Blackie Lawless aka Steven Duren.
@Bob-q1t5c
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
First and foremost, Blackie is a fucking businessman. It's HIS band. HE owns the name. Everybody else is an employee and thats the way it's always been.
@KevinStimelsky
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Wasp was better when Don Costa was playing bass!!
@vc7393
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
So how much was everyone getting paid ?????
@dgiv1014
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Blackie's elaborate mic stand makes more the $500 / show !
@lanceraustin
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
At the Denver stop for the Kiss 1986 tour, WASP was support. During their set, one song had a huge, vocal harmony chorus. But during it, the guys left their mics and ran past one another, criss-crossing the stage.. while the vocal harmony continued to play by itself.
It was the first time I'd ever seen anything canned like that.
@RemoWilliams-jg4yb
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
$500 a week? I get it, with the little I know of touring economics, the bus drivers and techs may be making more than the members of the band, but to pay Chris $500 a week at that point in their career is criminal. Chris was a blithering alcoholic and Blackie may have been trying to save his life. He should have put his money in a trust until he sobered but it is just wrong to treat your band members that way.
@yeahsure9759
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
So Blackie starts a band…his band not anyone else's….so yes you are a hired hand…period. You took the job knowing the pay….
@Roy-z8h7c
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
We never were into this hair band stuff in Detroit, we hated that east coast west coast noise
@HeavyInstinct
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Sounds like Blackie took some lessons from the Sharon Osbourne playbook.
@okiwatashi2349
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
I did one gig as the guitar tech for WASP in 2001, I had to replace the guitar strings as you’d expect, but the old strings had to be saved and labelled so they could be sold on the website.
@randymoran67
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
between Blackie greed and chris lack of any businesses knowledge doomed him from the start or ahould i say the rest of the band
@zerodok
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Why did he go back then for KFD if Blackie had screwed him out of publishing?
@David-de8rt
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
He treated fans like dirt and so did Slash, Phil Lewis from LA Guns and Tom Keifer from Cinderella. They think they are better than everyone else! Saw LA Guns playing in a hellhole dive bar that was having an electronic bowling tournament right next to the stage while they were playing and he still acted like a dick and too good for everyone else like they were playing a huge arena or outdoor shed!!;🤣🤣 They didn't even headline those places at their peak! King Wanker
@RandyFricke
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
I've always thought that Blackie Lawless was not as important as he thought he was.
@OutOfOrder-o6i
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
WASP was never as good after Last Command
@johnturner2082
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Chris holmes can really guzzle that water.
@houstonpenguin
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Pleeeeeeease stop it with the subtitles!
@The-Contractor
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
"Money is the root of all evil." Unfortunately, as I age out I've come to think it's part and parcel of the Human Condition. We are a fatally flawed creature, however, there are some amazingly wonderful people in the world as well. Daily, I strive to be "one of the good ones." I don't always hit the mark.
@ARTOFWAR2008
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
I hate people.
@pubstadoka
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
I wish I could read the names on the Du Brow press photo.
@johnrushing9273
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Chris was always my favorite member of the band even from the e. P. Animal that they released, I just loved Chris. He was awesome on guitar.
@alderoth01
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
Man, snakes everywhere.
@cirenotsluor9999
May 21, 2026 at 10:14 pm
A narcissistic front man? NO WAY! You can say that about a lot of lead singers. Heard 1,000 stories about Rock stars getting screwed out of money. Jake E. Lee, George Lynch, and Vivian Campbell who never shuts up about it. Blackie isn’t unique but come on who went to a W.A.S.P. Concert to see Chris Holmes? It’s all about Blackie.
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