This isn’t Blackie Lawless’s first rodeo, folks. Actually, the man has 14 to his credit, some more worthy (read: The Crimson Idol and Headless Children) than others. Through it all, Lawless has kept to his shock rock shtick, able to weather the 90’s and 00’s virtually unscathed. Their profile is significantly lower than what is in Europe, which might not be the fault of Lawless, rather the blind ears of the American recording industry who probably sees the band as relics. Nevertheless, onward WASP marches with the sturdy and mostly enjoyable Babylon, which was released at the tail-end of 2009.
Talking to Lawless is a tall order, even for a pseudo-veteran journo like yours truly. We tried to lob a few softballs past the man (he called our bluff when we inquired about the band’s inactivity on the American touring front), and sure enough Lawless spat back with the calm wisdom of a musician who is a pure survivor. We kept the conversation focused on the state of the recording industry and sure enough, Lawless fired away...
Blistering.com: For someone who has been writing songs for over three decades now, do you still get that “rush” out of songwriting and putting a new album out?
Blackie Lawless: It’s good...that’ s the object – to hit a home run every time you’re up. If you’re passionate about what you’re doing, then that will make it easier. If you’re not passionate, you can’t do it this long. You can still be passionate and miss the ball. The object is to be passionate and hit the ball and that’s the two-part object of the equation. I’ll give you an example: when we finished “Crazy,” off this album – I listened to that song 100 times. I’ve never done that with any other song we’ve done. That should give you a good idea. If something will move you that much as to where you’ll go “Wow, we got a big fish on the hook,” it’s a pretty gratifying moment.
Blistering.com: Or when you did something like The Crimson Idol or Headless Children.
Lawless: Other than “Crazy,” I can’t tell you – I’m too close to the songs. I’m not going to sit here and do what other bands do and say “Oh, this is best thing we’ve ever done.” They don’t know it – they’re too close to it. It takes me a couple of years to get away from a record. Just recently I listened to the Dominator record and it had been three years since we made it – that’s one of the best records we’ve done. In the discography as to what we’ve done, it’s certainly up there. Ask me this question in a couple of years and I’ll tell you about this one.
Blistering.com: You’ve had Doug (Blair, lead guitars) and the two Mikes (Duda, bass; Dupke, drums) in the band for a couple of years now. How has this contributed to your progress?
Lawless: Mike Duda has been in the band for 15 years and Doug goes all the way back to The Crimson Idol. Doug Blair has been in the band for six years and it’s been a pretty long establishment. To give you an idea as to what people’s accomplishments are in this band, you would have a pretty fair argument if you say that Doug Blair’s contributions were even greater than mine.
Blistering.com: For someone who has done time on the major labels, how much harder now is it than ever before to get your music recognized and out to the people?
Lawless: What we’re experiencing is nothing new, it’s just that the model for selling records has been demolished. The model that was created, we used that for 50 years and then the Internet comes along and changes everything and blows it to a thousand pieces and nobody since then has been able to come up with a working model. Every band is going to through that, but quite honestly, it’s returned to a thing like it was in the 50’s where things were single-based instead of album-oriented. You have bands now that are doing records for themselves and their hardcore fans and creating off their tour. When the 80’s came along, it took rock to a place it was never designed to be. Rock has always been a sub-culture and put into the mainstream, it’s an unnatural state for it to be.
Blistering.com: You’ve had your battles in the past with record companies, so it is karma that they’re suffering?
Lawless: They’re not suffering. They’re gone. None of us benefit by their demise. We all referred to them as the “Evil Empire,” but let’s be honest – we were on EMI for 13 years. When they decided they wanted to make a record happen, it was a thing of beauty to watch that machinery go into effect on a worldwide basis. They could move mountains if they wanted to and it was great to watch it work. That doesn’t exist anymore and the problem is, it’s never going to give new bands a chance to develop. You’re never going to have new bands having two or three records trying to find itself. Think of an AC/DC that had a couple of records to develop. You would have never heard Back In Black. It would have never been made. And you have bands out there with that potential, you’re never going to hear that record because of this.
Someone asked me a couple days ago, “Where are all the new great frontmen going to come from?” And I said, “Well, there ain’t no more!” What you see right now is all it’s ever going to be. That delivery system that we talked about, even though we despised it...fans thought they were getting ripped-off – that was nothing compared to what was happening to the bands. It was slavery, pure and simple. The one thing that they did is that allowed people time to develop and develop into becoming the superstars we have today. That machinery doesn’t exist anymore. I told someone a couple days ago that, “If you want to see the next Geoff Tate, you’d be buy a ticket to see Queensryche because there’s not going to be another one of them.” Any band that can headline a festival or fill up a stadium, you better go see them because they’re an endangered species. When these bands are gone, you will not see the likes of them again. I don’t mean to be the doom prophet here, I’m just telling you the way that it is.
Blistering.com: You’ve spent a great deal on the road of late, so what type of considerations do you take into choosing the setlist?
Lawless: It’s always a challenge because anytime you come out with a new record, you have to take into account how much you play from [it]. If you play too much, you become self-indulgent and there’s a good portion of the audience that may not have heard it or own the album. You gotta ask yourself: if you were going to see this guy, what would you want to hear? And that’s really a good way to disassociate yourself and take an average as to what you’ve done in your career. You have to put yourself behind the guy with a ticket in his hand. What is he going to want to hear?
Blistering.com: “Themed” tours seemed to be en vogue right now and you did one for The Crimson Idol a few years ago. Any similar plans?
Lawless: I don’t know. In relation to that record, it was the 20-year anniversary is coming up in a few years and that’s coming up in a few years. In terms of this tour, we’re just putting one foot in front of the other. We’ll think about that later.
