"It has become obvious to many of you that either watching the shows live or on YouTube that there is something physically wrong with me," writes Lawless. "There is. I've done my best to hide it, but there are times during many of the shows the pain is overwhelming, and it then becomes impossible to disguise."

 

Lawless then goes on to detail the injury, revealing that he is currently touring with a herniated disc in his lower back. The injury stems from an accident that occurred more than a decade ago, when when he broke his leg after being tossed off the back of a truck onto a pile of bricks.

 

"The nerve roots that attach to my spinal cord are extremely inflamed," says Lawless. "Effectively the root nerves at the spinal cord are being choked and that leads to even greater inflammation that then moves from the spinal cord and can eventually go all the way down the leg and reach into the foot, causing numbness, weakness, and honestly... pain you cannot imagine."

 

Lawless reveals that doctors told him to rest and recuperate, but he was determined to continue with W.A.S.P.'s 40th anniversary European tour, which was originally scheduled for the summer of 2022 but was postponed for a year due to pandemic-related issues. Instead, he's been able to proceed with the dates after undergoing an MRI scan and receiving several epidural injections next to his spinal cord.

 

"These epidurals are painful in themselves because when the medicine is injected it puts pressure in and around the spinal cord," says Lawless. "When we were there on Saturday the pain was horrific and the nurse looked at the table I was on and it was covered in my sweat. The injections take about 20 minutes and it hurts badly the entire time. 

 

"This nurse there saw my whole body was shaking and while the Doctor was doing the injections she reached over and started gently rubbing and caressing my left calf. I could not see her face but she could see the pain I was in and little she could do for me to stop it. 

 

"I’m a big man, but I swear that I wanted to cry because here was a woman who had sworn an oath to help people anyway she can. It hurt so damn bad but just her touch was telling me she knew what was happening to me and that she was there for me. It was like an eternity of absolute hell and tenderness all at the same time. I will never forget her and that moment for the rest of my life."

 

Lawless finishes by saying that the band are committed to finishing the tour.

 

W.A.S.P. is set to play in Sofia on 18 May.