Ex-W.A.S.P. Guitarist CHRIS HOLMES: Why LEMMY Didn't Want Me To Join MOTÖRHEAD

Chris Holmes says that Lemmy once told him he would never play in a band with the former W.A.S.P. guitarist because Holmes would “overshadow him” on stage. Speaking to Johan Jakobsson of the Swedish newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning, Holmes recalled a conversation he had with the MOTÖRHEAD mainman in the 1990s. He said: “[Guitarists] Würzel [Michael Burston] and Phil [Campbell] were in MOTÖRHEAD then, so I went, ‘Throw Würzel or Phil out and let me be in your band!’ [Lemmy] looks at me and says, ‘Chris, are you serious? I wouldn’t play with you for a second.’ I got so mad and said, ‘I’m easy on the road.’ Lemmy looks at me again and says, ‘It’s not about what you’re like on the road. It’s about what you’re doing on stage.’ Then I got even madder, and he goes, ‘Let’s say, for instance, that I was in the middle of a verse. You would probably be standing right in front of me.’ I thought about it, and he was absolutely right. Especially if he told me not to do that, I’d have to do it just to piss him off. What he meant was, of course, that he didn’t want me overshadowing him. It didn’t bum me out, though. Everybody’s different, and their personality really comes out on stage. The people in the real bands are like that.”

Holmes, who was close friends with Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor in the years prior to the former MOTÖRHEAD drummer’s death, went on to claim that Lemmy and Taylor‘s relationship took a turn for the worse when the MOTÖRHEAD frontman refused to entertain an offer for a tour featuring the band’s original lineup. Chris said: “Lemmy was cool. But Phil and Lemmy, the last years, they weren’t really close. If they were, Phil would have been in the [acclaimed documentary] ‘Lemmy’. But if you noticed, he wasn’t. I know why. The reason why Phil was bitter was because a few years ago, somebody had offered ‘Fast’ Eddie [Clarke, MOTÖRHEAD guitarist during 1976-1982), Lemmy and Phil to do a tour for about six months, and Lemmy wouldn’t do it. That’s why Phil didn’t do the movie, and I know that for a fact.”

He continued: “It’s sad. Lemmy died of cancer, right? When I was at Phil‘s funeral, Lemmy wasn’t there. ‘Fast’ Eddie was there. He and I and some other people carried Phil‘s coffin. Someone at the funeral had seen MOTÖRHEAD live a week earlier, and Lemmy did not look good. If he didn’t know he had cancer by then, something was wrong. I don’t think he would have been able to carry the coffin. They say he didn’t know he had cancer. How do you get that sick and don’t know?”

Holmes added: “Too bad [Lemmy] didn’t die on stage. That’s probably where he would have wanted to die. Like [late PANTERA guitarist] Dimebag.”

Holmes in 2013 released a solo album called “Nothing To Lose”. Chris composed, performed, and produced the music and vocals, and teamed up with Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor to perform on and engineer the effort.

Holmes‘s latest effort, “Shitting Bricks”, was released last year via M & O Music.

Holmes joined W.A.S.P. in 1982 and remained with the group until 1990. In 1996, Holmes rejoined W.A.S.P. and stayed with the band until 2001. Holmes has not played with W.A.S.P. since.

Fonte: Blabbermouth.net