In a new interview with Andy Hall of the Des Moines, Iowa radio station Lazer 103.3, punk rock icon Henry Rollins once again discussed his decision to stop making music 15 years ago after spending well over a decade recording and touring with ROLLINS BAND, his alt-rock powerhouse. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I had no more lyrics. I no longer thought in lyrical form. If you made me sit down and write a song, I’d have to write it like someone who just likes listening to the radio or make something rhyme. ‘Love — dove…’ Hmmm. A chorus? Oh. No. Call Paul McCartney, ’cause I’m not him. And so one day, it was just over.

“I’m not a musician. I can’t play an instrument,” he continued. “I can pick them up and carry them, but I can’t play them. And so it’s not like I’m looking for a career in music.

“Please, remember — I was working in an ice cream store. My favorite band, BLACK FLAG, said, ‘We need a new singer. You’re crazy. You wanna audition?’ And I’m, like, ‘Well, let’s see. It’s either scooping ice cream and moving on to another minimum wage job after I’m sick of this one, or I can go humiliate myself in a practice room and audition for BLACK FLAG.’ And, obviously, you know what I chose. And so my life has been, ‘What am I doing here?’

“I’m not a musician,” Henry repeated. “And once I didn’t have the overwhelming urge to write lyrics, I can’t be like songsmith guy and just architect my way through a song. If I don’t have it, I don’t have it — and many people will tell you I never had it to begin with. [Laughs] But be that as it may, it’s too late now; the tape has been rolled.

“And so one morning I woke up and I went, ‘I’m done,'” Rollins added. “And I looked in my hand and the metaphorical stone was in it that I took from the master’s hand, and it was time to leave the temple. So I called my manager at the time, and I said, ‘I’m done with music.’ I can be pretty blunt with things like that. And he saw 10 percent of all of that just go up in smoke. ‘No more sushi for you, son.’ And he had a meltdown. He was, like, ‘No.’ And I’m, like, ‘Well, yeah.’ ‘We’ll do a greatest-hits tour.’ ‘We? You’re not on tour with me.’ And I had no greatest hits. And I don’t wanna stand on stage and be a human jukebox because it wouldn’t be a hundred percent sincere. It would be 98 percent, but it’s the two percent that you’d remember after you left, going, ‘Something was off.’ Yeah, it’s over, and I’m still there. And so I left into the great unknown and I stopped. Luckily for me, the talking tours were going, the book company was going, I was already doing voiceover, film, TV, hosting, writing for different publications. So I had things going on, so I just kind of filled in the music gap with all of that stuff and actually became busier because of all of it. And so it was a very quick decision which I’ve never regretted.

“I pivot pretty hard. Once I’m done with something, once I make my mind up, I’m done. And that’s it. And I call the people I have to disassemble. Like, I called my bandmembers. I said, ‘Fellows, we’ve reached the [end]. The long march is over. Thank you. And I’m out.’ And they probably had no indication from me before those phone calls I made. And they were, like, ‘Oh. Okay.’ I said, ‘Yeah. Thanks. It was great. And I can’t do what I can’t do. And call me if I can be of help with anything.’ And that was it.”

Rollins has toured the world as a spoken-word artist, as frontman for both ROLLINS BAND and BLACK FLAG and as a solitary traveler with insatiable curiosity, favoring road-less-traveled locales in places such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, Siberia, North Korea, South Sudan and Iran.

When he’s not traveling, Rollins prefers a to keep a relentless schedule full of work, with gigs as an actor, author, DJ, voice-over artist and TV show host to name a few of the roles that keep him occupied.

As a spoken-word artist, Rollins regularly performs at colleges and theaters worldwide and has released a number of spoken-word recordings. His album “Get In The Van” won the Grammy for “Best Spoken Word Album” for 1995. As an actor, he has appeared in “The Chase”, “Johnny Mnemonic”, “Heat” and David Lynch’s film “Lost Highway”.

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Plus, the iconic soundtrack that’s brightened even his darkest days since he was 8 years old.

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Former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes has begun undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments in his battle with cancer in throat and neck.

Earlier today (Friday, March 11), the 63-year-old musician’s wife and manager, Cathy-Sarah Holmes, who first shared the news of his diagnosis in a social media post last month, issued the following update on his condition: “Chris started the first chemo (he will have 3 rounds) last Monday. They don’t let me sleep at the hospital then at 8pm I had to leave it was difficult. Chris said to the doctor ‘Do you know in 10 years it is the first time my wife and I are separated’ but when I arrived the next morning with a big smile he said ‘I missed you’. He started also his radiation every day from Monday to Friday. He has nausea and can’t eat very well because of this, but the first week of radiation was ok. He don’t suffer for now any bad effects. He is getting tired quickly but it is normal apparently.

“I was watching him eat yesterday and I told him ‘I will never imagine I will be so happy to see you eat’ he laughed. He is in good spirit and positive.

“He asked the nurse, who is doing his radiation, to take pictures, this is one of them Chris want we share with all of you.”

Holmes joined W.A.S.P. in 1982 and remained with the group until 1990. In 1996, the guitarist returned to W.A.S.P. and stayed with the band until 2001. Chris has not played with W.A.S.P. since.

Last year, Holmes told SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” that W.A.S.P. was “a group, a band” on the first LP. “And after that, the second album, it wasn’t a group — it was a one-man show,” he said. “And it’s been a one-man show after that ever since. It’s the way it is. Look at the records. It’s the way it is in that band.

“W.A.S.P. never played any shows until I was in the band, so where does a band start — when they record or when they do their first show?” he continued. “I came in before the first show, and it was ‘one for all, all for one.’ But then when money came into it and fame, people changed — they change real bad. And I never changed. I don’t change. I haven’t changed the way I think, the way I am. I’m not gonna change. I am what I am.

“During the [making of the] second [album], I was told the manager wants to use Blackie’s [Lawless, W.A.S.P. frontman] image [on the cover], which the manager didn’t tell me that — Blackie told me that.”

According to Chris, he, guitarist Randy Piper, drummer Tony Richards and Blackie were all part of W.A.S.P. initial management contract, but Blackie was the only one signed to the record label. “Everybody thinks we [all] signed to the label, but it wasn’t [like that],” Holmes told “Trunk Nation”.

“I never learned about the business till about 10 years ago,” he explained. “How do you learn about the business? You’ve gotta be in there with the manager and all that stuff, so I was always kept from that… I put my trust into somebody, and [I found out later that he was] sticking a knife in my back. I didn’t find that out until 2010 or ’11.

“Once [W.A.S.P.] became [all about] one person, [my attitude was] ‘Hey, I’ll just do my thing, and leave me alone. I’ll play my guitar.'”

Despite the fact that he only got songwriting credit on a a couple of the songs on each of the first four W.A.S.P. records, Holmes was adamant that his input was essential to the band’s overall sound.

“If I would have quit after the first album, the way I play guitar, the way I play is really important to writing those songs,” he told “Trunk Nation”.

“If I hadn’t joined in the beginning, it would have never worked. Blackie told me that the first day, when he came and talked to me to play in W.A.S.P. He says, ‘I’ve got this band. It’s not gonna work unless you’re in it.’ He told me that to my face.”

In October 2020, Chris said that he would never consider returning to W.A.S.P. unless Lawless agreed to pay him the publishing royalties that he allegedly owes him. He told Canada’s The Metal Voice: “A lot of people think I made money from W.A.S.P. I’ve never gotten my royalties, or even my songwriting. All the stuff that I wrote, I’ve never gotten paid one penny. And you know whose fault it is? It’s my my fault for not knowing the business, how it is. I trusted somebody.

“After every album, when the album is done, how they split up the publishing with the publishing contracts, the publishing companies — that’s where the money comes from,” he continued. “I was never told about when that meeting was. Because the other guys in the band never wrote — I was the only one [other than Blackie]. So I’m the only one that they have to screw over to get all the publishing. So I was never told. Then when I dug into it in about 2006 or [2007], I went into Sanctuary Music, had a lawyer go in to find out where all my publishing is, and I was written in as a session player into all the records. And if you don’t know about it, and you’re not told, and you don’t see, you don’t know. So I trusted Blackie Lawless about that. And when I found out, it really kind of yanked me wrong. It yanks me wrong — it makes me see he was sticking a knife in my back from the first day, from the first album, and not telling me, and being my best friend.”

Last month, Lawless shot down Holmes’s claim that the guitarist was “screwed” out of receiving royalties on the W.A.S.P. albums that he performed on. Lawless discussed Holmes’s tenure with W.A.S.P. in an interview with “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”. Asked to respond to Holmes’s assertion in Chris’s recently released documentary “Mean Man: The Story Of Chris Holmes” that he was financially taken advantage of during his time in the band, Lawless said: “I don’t really know much about… I spoke to [former W.A.S.P. guitarist] Randy Piper a couple of years ago. I don’t really know what’s going on with the rest of the guys. And I’m not sure exactly what you’re talking about with Chris about not being paid.

“Chris, at two different points in his musical career, received settlements from this band; he signed documents as such,” Blackie explained. “And he was paid quite well.

“I haven’t seen what you’re talking about. The answer I’m giving you right now is based on what you just said to me.”

The W.A.S.P. frontman went on to confirm that he hasn’t seen Chris’s documentary and was once again asked about Holmes’s claim that there is money and songwriting credits that he didn’t get that he’s due. Lawless said simply: “That is not true.”

During a November 2017 press conference in Moscow, Russia, Lawless was asked what he would say to those W.A.S.P. fans who continue to call for the band to reunite with Holmes. He responded: “People get divorced for certain reasons, and there’s times when the kids want the parents to get back together, but sometimes it never happens. And this is one of those [times]. Sorry.”

Please read the update below Cathy has asked me to share with you all.

“Thank you for all your messages for Chris, he…

Posted by Chris Holmes & The Mean Men on Friday, March 11, 2022

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Get distracted from everything going on by the latest heavy releases from Crowbar, Jesus Wept, Haunted Shores and more!
The post Five For Friday: March 11, 2022 appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

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KORN drummer Ray Luzier spoke to Sakis Fragos of Greece’s Rock Hard magazine about the current status of the band’s bassist, Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu. Fieldy announced last June that he would sit out KORN’s recent tour in order to “heal” after “falling back” on some of his “bad habits.”

Ray said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Bands are like marriages, especially a band of brothers that’s been together as long as KORN has been. There’s a lot of things you deal with. You’re dealing with your personal family things you have at home, with loved ones getting sick and elderly people. Everybody has the same problems in that effect. But when you get people together as long as KORN has, you’re gonna see lifetimes of problems and different things that occur within the band.

“As far as getting along with each other, we’re all a bunch of brothers; everybody really likes each other’s company,” he continued. “I know a lot of my friends that are in very big bands right now that they can’t be in the same room together; they can’t stand each other’s presence. They have separate buses. We’re not like that. We’re always hanging out in one dressing room sometimes and joking and laughing, but when the personal issues start interfering with the band, that’s when it’s time to address those situations and say, ‘Hey, let’s figure out how to deal with this so we can come back as a collective unit and make it better and stronger than everything else.’

“[Fieldy] reached that point where he was just going through a lot of personal things, and it’s affecting everything,” Luzier added. “We love him. He’s our brother. We care immensely about him and miss him not being there. That [summer/fall 2021] tour was very weird, not having him out there. As great as [KORN’s current touring bassist Roberto] ‘Ra’ Díaz [SUICIDAL TENDENCIES] is at playing bass, Fieldy is a huge part of KORN’s sound and personality. So we just wish him the best, and time will tell what’s gonna happen and everything.”

Last month, KORN guitarist Brian “Head” Welch told Spotlight Report that Fieldy was “just taking a little time to be with his family. He is a great dad,” Welch said. “He has so many kids. He has adult kids, teenagers and young kids. He is just taking time, and we are giving him the time. We want everyone to be healthy and happy.

“I guess we will go and tour this record,” Head continued, referencing KORN’s recently released album “Requiem”. “I don’t know a lot more other than that. We love him very much and we hope to communicate with him during the year at some stage, to see where everyone is at.”

Welch previously addressed Fieldy’s position in KORN during a November 2021 interview with U.K.’s Kerrang! magazine. At the time, he stated: “The best thing to do is stay at home, be with your family, and start processing. He’s got to find that healing. I still struggle with it. I had a few slip-ups with my ‘bad habits’ three to four years ago, so I understand it, but I dealt with it by hitting it head-on and stopping it from becoming a problem. I’m not concerned because I know he’s going to be okay.”

KORN singer Jonathan Davis expressed a more worried outlook on Fieldy’s predicament, saying: “I love him; he’s my brother. But I watched somebody I care about die and I’m not going to fucking do that again. I refuse to. I will feel guilt for the rest of my fucking life because of that. I tried my hardest but perhaps if I’d been a little bit tougher there’d have been a different outcome. I pray that he can figure it out and get better and come back and be a huge part of this band again.”

Despite the fact that he didn’t join his KORN bandmates on their recent tour, Fieldy did play on “Requiem”.

Earlier in November, KORN guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer told “Loudwire Nights” host Toni Gonzalez about Fieldy: “Right now he’s just taking some time to kinda figure out what makes him happy and figure out his happiness and what he wants to do with his life, I guess is the best way to put it. And make sure his mental health is at its best, because if your mental health isn’t good, or you’re not clear, you’re gonna make bad choices.

“I make an example,” he continued. “I had my own challenges through the years, and once you get clarity, your life becomes a lot easier to manage. We’re just giving him time to, like, no pressure, just figure out what you want to do because we can still work and we can still go out and tour. But we miss him. We love the guy, and we want him to just be healthy.”

Regarding how KORN ended up recruiting Díaz to fill in for Fieldy, Welch told 97.9 GRD: “Well, there’s COVID and everything, so when we started talking about it, it was a thing where we wanted to be careful still and whatnot. ‘Cause it was a couple, a few months ago or whatever. So we just started brainstorming and hitting up friends and whatnot. We need the slap — we need the slap bass, we need the finger playing, we need someone, ’cause Fieldy is unique — very unique. So it just kind of happened that way, man, where Ra, he was open because SUICIDAL is not going out until next year. I think Mike Muir has a back surgery or something this year. So it just worked out, man. He came down, we jammed. He’s a really humble guy, and just very talented. He can play anything — from jazz to slap to anything. He played all the songs with, like, three mistakes out of 10 songs or something — little mistakes. I mean, not even mistakes — it was just, like, ‘I thought I heard it that way.’ They weren’t even mistakes. So we were, like, ‘Okay. You got it down.'”

Nine months ago, Fieldy broke the news of his absence from KORN’s summer trek, writing in a social media update: “To all KORN fans worldwide. The past 6 years I’ve been dealing with some personal issues that at times have caused me to fall back on some of my bad habits and has caused some tension with the people around me. It’s been suggested to me to take some time off to heal. I’m going to respect what was asked of me and take that time. Unfortunately you will not see me on stage with my band. I will be working towards getting the bad habits out of my system. In the meantime I will be staying creative to keep my mind & soul in a good place.

“I’m thankful for all of your support, patience & understanding as we all have something that we deal with.

“Jonathan, Munky, Ray and Head, I love you and I don’t want to bring any tension or bad vibes to the circle.”

A short time later, KORN’s official social media shared Fieldy’s statement, along with the following message: “We love and support our brother, Fieldy. Health and family always comes first.”

Back in 2017, METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo’s then-12-year-old son Tye Trujillo filled in on bass for KORN’s South American tour after Fieldy was unable to make the shows due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

Fieldy’s 2009 memoir, “Got The Life: My Journey Of Addiction, Faith, Recovery And Korn”, detailed his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction during KORN’s early years and how he became a born-again Christian to help get his life together and get sober.

Fieldy’s STILLWELL side project released its third album, “Supernatural Miracle”, in September 2020.

“Requiem” was released on February 4 via Loma Vista Recordings.

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