W.A.S.P. lead singer Blackie Lawless recently spoke to Ultimate Classic Rock and opened up about the band’s first years in the industry. The musician unveiled that they initially didn’t plan to perform at any live shows.
W.A.S.P. originated from Circus Circus, where its co-founders Lawless and Randy Piper played together. In 1982, Lawless, Piper, Rik Fox, and Tony Richards formed the band, but the band faced a couple of lineup changes during its early years before earning great fame and success.
The iconic heavy metal group shared their self-titled debut studio album on August 17, 1984, which also consisted of the demo records they had worked on to make a deal with a company. In a recent interview, the frontman recalled when they realized something to reach their goal.
Blackie Lawless stated that they needed those demo tapes, and after the band members finished their recording sessions, they asked a peculiar question to the people around them back then. The musicians wanted to know whether there was anyone that wished to play these songs because they didn’t intend to play live.
Lawless shared his thoughts, saying:
“At first, W.A.S.P. never had any intention of ever playing live. We had been in California for quite some time, and we understood that to get a record deal, you had to make the best demo tape you could make, and you had to showcase that material that way.
That was the way to do it, not playing live. So we went in and recorded — four times, we demoed that first record — and it ended up being effective what you hear on that first album.
So after we had done all those sessions, we looked around and said, ‘Well, you know what, we think these songs are OK. You want to try to take them out and play them live?’“
You can check out the album below.
