Chris Holmes (musician)
Christopher John Holmes (born June 23, 1958) is an American heavy metal guitarist and songwriter. Holmes started his musical career in the Pasadena, California area in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He is best known as the lead guitarist of heavy metal band W.A.S.P. Together with Blackie Lawless and Randy Piper he was one of the founding members of the band. Holmes was a member of W.A.S.P. first from 1983 to 1990, and again from 1996 to 2001. Career. W.A.S.P.. Prior to meeting Blackie Lawless and Randy Piper, and joining W.A.S.P., Holmes played guitar with Los  Angeles bands Buster Savage, LAX, and Slave. Holmes joined W.A.S.P. from 1983 to 1990, playing on the first four studio albums and the first live album. In 1996, Holmes rejoined W.A.S.P., and remained lead guitarist until 2001. Holmes has not played with W.A.S.P. since. Randy Piper’s Animal. Holmes was contacted by friend and former bandmate Randy Piper to join Piper's new project, Animal. Holmes quickly relocated to Ohio to prepare for Animal's upcoming "900 lb Steam" tour. The tour was considered successful, and after its conclusion, Animal recorded tracks for a new album. After Animal. After Holmes  returned to Los Angeles in late 2003, he began working with several Southern California-based metal groups, producing and contributing guitar tracks. In 2007, Holmes was involved in the filming of a Randy Rhoads documentary directed by Peter M. Margolis, which is yet to be released. Holmes appears briefly in a 2009 episode of "VH1's Rock Docs", "Do It For The Band: The Women of Sunset Strip." In the Summer of 2009 Holmes released Secret Society's "Death by Misadventure." Where Angels Suffer and solo career. In 2010, he joined Where Angels Suffer with Randy Piper on guitar, Steve  Unger (Metal Church) on bass, Rich Lewis (Animal), on vocals, and Stet Howland on drums (Blackfoot, Lita Ford, Killing Machine, Belladonna, Impellitteri, Sister and W.A.S.P.). Ira Black has since replaced Piper. The band toured Europe for the first time in 2011. On November 26, 2012, Chris Holmes released his first solo album "Nothing to Lose" and decided to produce, manage and distribute it himself along with his wife Catherine Holmes. After the success of his first album, Chris started recording his second solo album, "Shitting Bricks". On May 2, 2015, that album was released worldwide and on the same day  Chris Holmes played his first concert in Nantes, France, with his new band Mean Man . Two of the songs were filmed live, and uploaded to the official YouTube channel. In September 2018, Chris recorded the EP "Under the Influence" at Replug studio, mixed by Raphael Gary and produced by Chris and Catherine Holmes. It was released on the 2nd December 2018 in Dublin. The album is scheduled to be released in 2020. Since 2019 Chris has introduced new members to Mean Man. Taking lead on the original W.A.S.P material is Oliver Tindall, who was introduced to the band after sharing  the bill with Chris in Welwyn Garden City with his own band The Wicked Jackals. Alongside Ollie and also recruited from The Wicked Jackals is his new bassist Lex Gifford. Tying the 4 piece together is Stephen Jackson on drums whom Chris met 2 years prior with Alexa De Strange from Heart Break Remedy. In 2021 Holmes was a guest in the new album of the Portuguese thrash metal band Angriff. He played a guitar solo in the song "No Saviours No Gods". Section::::"The Metal Years" interview. While a member of W.A.S.P., Holmes participated in the filming of the documentary  film, "", directed by Penelope Spheeris. The film included interviews with many well-known heavy metal personalities of the era discussing their lifestyle and the metal scene in late 1980s Los Angeles. Holmes' contribution to the 1988 documentary is perhaps the most memorable, because he was interviewed while floating in a swimming pool, fully clothed and visibly quite intoxicated while his mother sat poolside. The 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 or deluded) party animals. During the interview , Holmes makes casually misogynistic comments, displays callous behavior towards his mother, smiles drunkenly at the camera, deems himself "a full-blown alcoholic" and "a piece of crap" despite his band's success, and punctuates his remarks by guzzling from three bottles of vodka. At the end of the interview, Holmes opens a full bottle of Smirnoff over his head as he rolls out of his inflatable chair and into the water (Spheeris has stated that the bottle was actually half filled with vodka, with the rest being pool water). Holmes looked back on the interview with a "sequel pool interview  in 2017, with his wife asking him the same questions; Holmes stated that he has been sober since February 6, 1996. Section::::Mean Man" documentary. Chris Holmes is the subject of the 2020 documentary "Mean Man: The Story of Chris Holmes" , directed by Antoine De Montremy and Laurent Hart. The project's title is from the song "Mean Man" on the 1989 W.A.S.P. album "The Headless Children". Personal life. Chris Holmes has been married three times. His first marriage was to Kaylen Rodgers in the late 1980s. He was briefly married to Lita Ford in the early 1990s. He is now  married to Catherine Holmes, whom he wed in August 2012. In 2014, Chris Holmes and Catherine Holmes moved to Finland, but after living in Porvoo for a few months they moved to France where Catherine's parents lived. The couple currently resides in Cannes, France.