Chris Holmes (musician)
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Chris Holmes (Christopher John Holmes) is a musician who was born in Glendale, California and grew up in La Cañada, California. Together with Blackie Lawless he was one the founding members of the heavy metal band W.A.S.P..
[edit] Career
Chris Holmes is a lead guitarist who was among the break-out crop of rock musicians in the Pasadena area in the late 70's and early 80's. He played in the bands Buster Savage, LAX, and Slave before meeting Blackie Lawless and playing with Blackie in Sister. Out of Sister became W.A.S.P. Chris played in W.A.S.P. from 1983-1990 and again from 1996 until 2001.
Chris left W.A.S.P. after the Headless Children Tour (1989-90) and formed the band Psycho Squad. The song "Mean Man" from The Headless Children album was written by Blackie Lawless about Chris Holmes. While still with the band Chris participated in the filming of the rock documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years[1] which included interviews with members of Aerosmith, Poison, Kiss and others discussing their lifestyle and the metal genre in the late 1980's.
He was briefly married to Lita Ford from June 1990 to July 1991. Holmes rejoined W.A.S.P. in 1996 and remained lead guitarist until 2001 when he decided to call it quits for good. He was briefly a touring guitarist for L.A. Guns, after they parted with Tracii Guns. In mid-2002, Chris was contacted by friend and former bandmate, Randy Piper to join Randy's band Animal. Chris relocated to Ohio to prepare for the upcoming Animal tour "900 lb Steam" Tour in 2003. The tour went off without a hitch and after the end of the tour, Animal decided to go back into the studio to record the next album with Chris. Unfortunately, Chris had prior obligations back in L.A. and had to move back home.
Chris is currently helping produce music with a number of bands, including L.A. Metal legends XPELD, and is still cutting guitar tracks.
[edit] "The Metal Years" Interview
Holmes is infamous for his contribution to the 1988 documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, during which he was interviewed while floating in a swimming pool, fully dressed and extremely intoxicated. This interview stood out in stark contrast to the more light-hearted and humorous interviews conducted by director Penelope Spheeris, which mostly portrayed rockers as good-natured (though often dimwitted) party animals.
During the interview, Holmes smiled drunkenly at the camera, deeming himself "a piece of crap" despite his band's success, and punctuated his remarks by guzzling from several bottles of vodka. To add to the disturbing atmosphere, Holmes' mother is also present during the interview, sitting at poolside with her own drink and trying to ignore her son's taunts. When she is asked how she feels about her son's obvious alcoholism, she shakily replies "I try not to think about it." At the end of the interview, Holmes upends a full bottle of Smirnoff over his head as he rolls out of his inflatable chair and into the water.
