Ex-W.A.S.P. Guitarist CHRIS HOLMES “To Bad LEMMY Didn’t Die On Stage Like Dimebag”
Former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes has clarified his recent comments about MOTÖRHEAD‘s Lemmy wanting to die on stage like late PANTERA guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott.
Dimebag was shot to death along with three others during a DAMAGEPLAN performance at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio in December 2004.
Speaking to the Swedish newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning earlier this month, Holmes stated about Lemmy‘s final days: “They said he didn’t know he had cancer. C’mon! How do you get that sick and not know? I don’t know.”
He added: “Too bad [Lemmy] didn’t die on stage. [Laughs]… That’s where he probably wanted to die the best, you know. Like Dimebag.”
In a brand new interview with Über Rock, Holmes clarified the comments he made to Upsala Nya Tidning, explaining: “Well, I didn’t mean get shot! What happened to Dimebag was horrible. All I meant was it was a drag Lemmy passed away in his apartment and not on stage because he played live right up until the end. It wasn’t like David Bowie who just passed away; he didn’t play since 2006 or something. Lemmy kept playing until the end. That’s what I meant. Going out on stage, having a heart attack or whatever. Just keeling over doing what he loved. I think that’s what Lemmy always wanted. Nothing about getting shot. But now everybody thinks I said something about a shooting, like him getting shot in the head which is a bunch of shit. For anyone to even think that’s what I meant is just… Why would somebody dream that up? It’s bullshit.”
Asked when he first met Lemmy, Holmes responded: “I think it was probably about ’84 in London. It was around the time of the first W.A.S.P. album. He came along to one of the parties after a show. I think it was at a place called the Brewery. We used to hang around a lot in ’89 / ’90. It was a long time ago… I helped him go shopping for furniture for his apartment and stuff when he first moved over to L.A. Took him to a few places so he could get himself sorted. But we mostly just drank, got messed up and cracked jokes at each other. Then W.A.S.P. toured with MOTÖRHEAD in ’97 for a while. There was a fight on the road at that time, but that was between Blackie [Lawless, W.A.S.P. mainman] and him. I never had no qualms with Lemmy. We only had one dressing room for both bands. I didn’t care if they used the same dressing room as us, but Blackie wasn’t happy, that’s what it was over. I told him I didn’t mind sharing anything with MOTÖRHEAD and he got all mad at me for that but, hey, I don’t care.”
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.
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