CHRIS HOLMES MEAN MAN

Chris Holmes will shortly be making his welcome return to the UK. Currently residing in France, the former WASP guitarist will make the short jaunt across the channel in June for his ‘Chris Holmes Mean Man’ 65 Tour.

In recent times, Chris has been battling with health issues, although he feels as though, by his admission, he is “starting to feel a lot healthier now,” says Chris. “I guess my whole last year or so, I’ve been stuck in a machine going through the cancer thing.”

The guitarist has always had a fondness for the UK. “I’ve always had the best time of my life touring in England versus anywhere in the world,” he says. “England has always been one of the best places - I love it.” His association with the country goes way back to the start of his career. “With WASP, it is where we got our foothold and took off from was England. Of course, the management was English,” explains Holmes.

Before returning to the UK, the artist will be performing at sea. “Before we play in England, we’re going to play on the Monster Cruise in Florida. I’ve never been on a cruise ship,” he says. “It was booked last year at the end of February. Two months before that I was diagnosed with cancer, and I had to cancel everything - it was a bummer. I was thinking about maybe putting off my treatment and doing the Monster Cruise. But I was like, I think getting healthy is a little bit more important. So, I did that.”

At this point in his career, Holmes is laid back about the commercial success of his work. “I don’t expect my albums to sell like they did 30 years ago; they don’t even sell records anymore. It’s a different era,” he says. “I can play on my past name and whatever I’ve done in the past, that sells tickets for me. I’m lucky for that. I don’t look at my guitar playing as Eddie Van Halen, Tony Iommi or things like that, but I have read a lot of the comments about it. People say that it is unique and that I have my certain sound. Because it’s my sound, I don’t look at it that way. I kind of look at like, why would anybody like what I do.” He adds: “I’m just happy to be going. This June I’ll be 65 years old, which is retirement age in America. I don’t want to retire; I like to play too much.”

Chris Holmes will celebrate his 65th birthday on tour in the UK with a special show in Northampton on the 25th of June. “I’ve had some good birthdays. I’ve also had some bad ones. My last birthday wasn’t very good, because I had a tube in my nose and I was being fed. But yeah, this will be good. I think Sarah is going to plan to have a party and have some cake might be thrown in my face. I don’t know,” said Holmes.

The artist recollects a special birthday whilst on tour in Russia. “I played a show outside of Moscow at a festival. And I was just there playing with another group,” he says. “There were probably about 30-40,000 people, and they weren’t crammed against the stage. There were fires going on, and you could see cars around where it was kind of crazy.” He adds: “I think the last song was Animal and I was walking offstage.” The security wouldn’t let Chris get away so easily.

“I turn around, and there’s a barstool, and they’re lighting a candle with a birthday cake,” Holmes recollects. “The whole crowd was singing happy birthday to me. It was radically touching to me.”

Of course, Holmes’ current shows are somewhat different to those of his formative group. “We don’t drink blood, and do the pyrotechnics and stuff like that,” he says. “This is just a good kick-ass rock and roll show. That’s what they should expect. I hope I do that every time I play.” Chris adds: “I don’t have a new album out. I’ve just got my Unbearable Influence record, that’s the one that we’re touring on.”

But after all these years, does Chris Holmes still enjoy playing the music he created with WASP? “I enjoy playing the songs that I wrote in WASP,” he says. “When people hear them, they sing them and they like the songs. So yeah, I enjoy playing it. I enjoy playing Love Machine, and of course, Wild Child people love that song.”

‘Chris Holmes Mean Man’ 65 Tour will visit seven venues across the UK in June 2023. Chris will be performing a mix of W.A.S.P. classics along with his own original material, including tracks from his latest album ‘Unbearable Influence’ which was released in September 2021.