"You either forget about anarchy and revolution and turn you into a part of the machine, or you're going to rebel totally against it and become even more of a revolutionary."

With their brand-new album, "Dominator", W.A.S.P. are about to prove they haven't lost their immense might through the last two decades. Not at all. However, this doesn't seem to be the most importantВ thought in the mindВ of the quartet's mastermind and sole original member, Blackie Lawless, as it gets clear from this interview given to the only independent professional rock media in Bulgaria - Tangra Mega Rock. Read the following lines to find out more about Blackie's opinion on the music industry, the Vietnam War, the war in Iraq, George W. Bush, anarchy, revolution...

Vassil Varbanov: Hey, Blackie, hello! How are you?

Blackie Lawless: I'm good, thank you.

V. V.: The idea to talk with you today is because of this forthcoming album of W.A.S.P., "Dominator". I personally find it a very strong record, and I believe you think the same?

B. L.: I hope so. When you create something, you always try to reserve your opinion until after it's been out for a while, because when you're making a record, you're so close to it that you have a tendency to not be able to tell exactly what it is. Usually I wait about a year after it's finished, because if you don't, you're too close to it and can't see it properly. At this point you probably have a better idea of what "Dominator" is than I do.

V. V.: How long did it take you to create the album?

B. L.: Not very long - that's probably the shortest record we've ever made. It only took about a month to write it and a couple of months to record it, and that was all. It happened very, very quickly.

V. V.: There should be a reason behind this quick creation.

B. L.: You know, the work on our previous record, "The Neon God" (2004), was very heavy and intensive, as it was a double effort ("Part 1: The Rise" and "Part 2: The Demise"), so now I thought that I'm gonna get my head out of the way and I'm just gonna write, and whatever happens - happens. Usually, when you write like that, it's the purest and honest form of doing it - you don't let your conscious thought interrupt your subconscious thought. A lot of writers will tell you they do this sometimes, because you just don't know where you're going. It's like a marathon race in the dark, and what comes out of it could be interesting, so that's what I did.

V. V.: Obviously, "Dominator" is a very heavy and emotionally charged record, and at the same time there's no doubt it's quite American. Tell us please, is the situation in the world today really that bad as on your album?

B. L.: It depends on your point of view. For example, 130 people got killed three days ago down there in Iraq, so it's a day as bad as you can have for them... For the rest of the world - no, but... You know, I'm a reporter and my job is to report what I see. The only difference between me and a journalist that writes for a magazine is that I use music and I make the words rhyme.

V. V.: All the American musicians we've been talking to say it's a fuckin' rubbish situation with the US government, the war in Iraq, the so-called "war against terrorism"...

B. L.: Look what happened in the 70's. The music back then created an awareness in people that it's up to them to make a change, and that awareness stopped the Vietnam War.

V. V.: Is it all about public opinion or it's deep inside people's hearts?

B. L.: It's both. As Abraham Lincoln said about the USA, we are a government of the people, by the people and for the people, and we still believe in that. Occasionally, we get somebody - like the one we have now or Richard Nixon - who comes along and tries to change that, but the way our system is built is called "checks and balances". I mean, the president can't really do anything without the Congress and vice versa. Even Thomas Jefferson said that because of the way the system was set up, all changes designed happen slowly. In other words, you're gonna get frustrated from time to time, but it keeps it from becoming a fascist state.

V. V.: Let's finally talk about music. You've got a new line-up in the band, with Doug Blair (lead guitar), Mike Duda (bass) and Mike Dupke (drums). To what extent were the other three guys involved in the creation of the new W.A.S.P. album, or it's just a Blackie Lawless record?

B. L.: This line-up was more involved than any other record I've done, including the first album ("W.A.S.P." [1984]), and that's quite a statement. I wrote the songs, but when we got into rehearsals and recording, the ideas these guys brought in to their particular parts were something that really took it to a different level. I can hear it, because there are specific parts on songs which wouldn't turn out as good as they are if they hadn't suggested some ideas.

V. V.: You mentioned the 70's a few minutes ago. Back then there were people who had problems due to pointing a finger at the government. Do you expect any problems because of your statements made in "Dominator"... or you're quite used to it?

B. L.: I've had my share. To be honest, you don't think about it from this point of view when you try to do something that's driven by passion. First you have to do what you feel is right and then, if something happens, it just does. We have a different situation going on now. In the 70's we had the draft and you knew that if you're 17 years old, one year later you're eligible for it and you're going to Vietnam. Now we don't have the draft - we've got a professional army - so we've got this kinda lethargic attitude in people's idea, like "That's not gonna happen to me, so fuck it, I don't care!" At the same time people are dying, because America is involved in a bullshit war right now, and this should not be going on. America has no business being there.
After September 11 I was angry, yes, and I wanted them to be hunted down like animals and executed, and I still do. However, this has nothing to do with Iraq. Like I said, in America there are a lot of people pissed off right now, but there's a difference between now and the 70's. Back then those kids were setting universities on fire, because they knew they were next. That attitude doesn't exist today, because they know they're not next. I would like to see Americans and the rest of the world get off their ass and start putting more pressure on Washington DC to stop this.

V. V.: What's gonna happen, according to you? Do you think we're gonna have a war in Iran next?

B. L.: I don't know, we need a crystal ball to see that... I remember telling people two years ago that the war in Iraq is not about oil, as they were thinking, but about something far greater than that. In America we have an expression, "setting up shop", which we use when you start your own business, and what's happening now in the Middle East is that the USA is setting up shop. Now a corporation is moving its headquarters to Dubai, and you know why? Yeah, because that's where they can best set up shop. They've got more customers there to peddle their weaponry - what better place than go directly to your customers? History shows us that if you can dominate people economically, you can then dominate them socially and politically, without firing one shot. That's what's happening right now - they're setting up shop in the Middle East.

V. V.: Is there any light in the end of the tunnel, according to you?

B. L.: I don't think anything according to me is important. It's more important what's better for the world, what's the right thing to do. Most people in the world are good people, but big business eventually dominates their lives - whether it's the car company they work for or the government - whatever it may be, it starts to change us. Pink Floyd wrote the song "Money" and that's what they were talking about. How can all this happen? And when shall we as a people say, enough is enough, we gotta stop this? There's also an idea that David Bowie wrote about in the song "China Girl", where he said that this process of China becoming a giant has a lot to do with the Western civilization. He says: "I'll give you television, I'll give you eyes of blue, I'll give you a man who wants to rule the world..." What he's meaning is that I'll give you freely all these things, but I'll influence you so much, that you will willingly embrace the indoctrination that I'm about to give you. If somebody wants to do that as a people, if China wants to embrace Western theology - fine, so be it, that's wonderful. Honestly, I've enjoyed quite a good lifestyle because of it, but there are people around the world that don't want it, and that's why I chose the title "Dominator". The word "domination" means to impose will on people who otherwise do not want it.

V. V.: It seems that the record industry didn't fuck you up -В I mean to the point to steal from you, to put you into lethargy and make you not to think about things that are very important.

B. L.: Rock'n'roll by definition is about anarchy and revolution, and when you realize that you too have become one of the ones who are oppressed, then you start to rebel against that even more. I think there are some artists who recognize that, because when you're growing up, the thing that you want more desperately than anything is a record deal, but after you're there for a while, you realize that only 2% of these 1 in 10.000.000 bands who get a record deal see real money from it. If you're one of the few who can survive more than 5 years, you start to realize what an ugly piece of machinery record companies really are, and that's gonna do one of two things to you - it either makes you forget about anarchy and revolution that you grew up with and turns you into a part of the machine, or you're going to rebel totally against it and become even more of a revolutionary. You can't stay in the middle, you're gonna go one way or the other. In other words, artists go more pop, for example, because they give in to the system, and on the other hand you've got guys like Neil Young who just refuse to go along with the system. I admire him.

Copyright: Tangra Mega Rock