Although Kiss hit a rough patch popularity-wise in the US during the early ’80s, by 1984, they were back on track with their hit album “Animalize”, and headlining arenas. And for a stretch of dates supporting “Animalize” plus shows for their next album, “Asylum”, they invited ghoulish rockers W.A.S.P. to open.
However, during an interview with the Metal Voice, former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes recalled some problems he experienced on the road with Kiss. And also, how he supposedly corrected them.
“Gene and Paul…I can’t stand those guys,” Holmes confessed (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar). “They are what my mom brought me up not to be. The reason why W.A.S.P. beat up on Kiss was because of Chris here, nobody else. Because I ran the sound with the sound guy. And when we first went out on tour, I was told we couldn’t get no subs, and only 80% of PA.”
“I said, ‘I’m not gonna tour like that. Find another guitar player. Because you can’t beat up on them.’ And then, finally, the deal was if we could have two lines of merchandising, then we get full sub and full 100% of the PA. We’d have our own mixing board. But then I said, ‘Yeah. I’ll do it then.’ But it was a big hassle when the management and Blackie [Lawless].”
Holmes then recalls how there were still hurdles to overcome when touring with Kiss. And according to the guitarist, W.A.S.P. may have been the bigger draw, if you are to use t-shirt sales as a gauge.
“And believe me, the first two weeks, our merchandising, we didn’t put out two lines. They put out every bit they could. And we were doing two to one on them. And then Gene and Paul found that out. Boy, I come in to soundcheck. My roadie goes, ‘Chris. Um, our gear will not get on the stage ’til the doors are open.'”
“I’m like, ‘So we don’t soundcheck?’ He goes, ‘No.’ And I go, ‘That’s alright.’ We had all of the safeguards, the PA guy and I, we had it all worked out. I’s just the way [it is]. It’s business. That’s business. The more they can hold you down, the more the better. And you know, touring and playing arena is big business, selling shirts.”