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W . A . S . P .’ s Blackie Lawless continued from page 20
songwriting . That ' s what set me apart . But then again , to get a real honest opinion , you ' d have to ask somebody else , because I don ' t know if that ' s something that the actual person themselves would ever be aware of .
IE : Then we descended into the American Idol years , where almost none of the contestants seemed to understand that songwriting was the key . BL : Actually , I don ' t watch any of that . And if they don ' t know , they ' ll eventually find out . I mean , that ' s a game show , and you can ' t compare a game show with reality . Not to say that there ' s not talented people that come off of those things , because there are , and some of them I ' ve seen do other things . So it ' s impressive .
IE : Aside from the codpiece misfire , what other memorable shows can you recall ? BL : I mean , go back and look at the history of what we did . I dunno if I could just pull any one rabbit out of the hat there . If we had an idea , we ' d figure out a way to make it work .
IE : Then you took a teenage left turn into occultism , like Crowley and such . What fascinated you about that ? BL : It was really looking at organized religion and the hypocrisy of the people . And I ' m not saying anything negative about Christianity , you know ? But let ' s put it this way – it ' s kind of like Gandhi said , " Your Christ ? I like Him very much . But your Christians I do not like . They are so unlike your Christ ." So if you put it through that lens , then you can understand why myself or the preacher ' s kids , like you were saying , there ' s a great sense of wanting to rebel against it . When you finally get out from underneath what you think is tyranny at the time , then you go away , as far away as you can go .
IE : Terence Trent D ' Arby once told me that in his twenties , he threw away all the dogma his minister father taught him . But in his thirties , everything that was true about it boomeranged back to him . BL : Hmmm . Yeah , yeah – I can certainly see that , yeah . And there is a boomerang effect because really , at the end of the day , what I think any of us are looking for is truth . So the basic values that I learned early on , you come to recognize them as such , and you basically say , " Well , okay – that ' s a pretty good way to live your life ." And you try to do it as such .
IE : Being Grateful is a good way to go through life , I ' ve found . BL : Well , I guess that ' s part of what I was saying before . When you come back to the things that you were taught , that would certainly qualify as being part of that because you go through a lot of things early on . But my mother was a Southern girl – she was from Houston , born and raised – and they used to have an expression down there that said , " The truth is gonna stand when the world ' s on fire ." And that pretty much encapsulates it .
IE : Are your parents still around ? Mine aren ' t . BL : No . I lost my mom 40 years ago , and my dad three years ago .
IE : And it ' s kind of weird , becoming an orphan , right ? BL : It is . You wake up one day , and that ' s the word that pops into your head . But you know what ? That is one way of looking at it . And you can see it as such . But the lessons that you were taught by them will always be with you , and in that sense , no , we ' re never gonna be orphans . So I guess it depends on how we see it – as half full or half empty .
IE : But you did actually come back to Christianity , though ? BL : Well , that ' s what we were talking about with those early lessons that you learn – if it ' s a good way to live your life , then you go back to it .
IE : You were raised Baptist . Do you attend a specific church again now BL : Well , I had been for a while , then I just recently left it for , honestly , some of the reasons I was mentioning earlier , things about the … the human aspect that I just didn ' t care for .
IE : What part did religion play in your Jonathan Steele character in the Crimson Idol concept album ? Is he autobiographical ? BL : Not really . He ' s a combination of a lot of guys that I knew in the music business , and I took ten percent of one guy and ten percent of another and rolled ' em all together . And that ' s basically who he is . But it ' s a common tale , so in that sense there ' s really nothing new about it , nor was it intended to be . But what separates Crimson Idol from other thIngs is , it goes into depth about a boy , and it really is a simple story – it ' s a kid looking for love .
IE : Wouldn ' t that be a motivation for most aspiring rockstars ? They ' re just looking for love on an arena-sized scale ? BL : Well , they say when you get that hug from 10,000 fans there ' s nothing like it .
IE : As I recall , to date , there have been no paparazzi shots of you staggering drunk or high out of some trendy nightclub or down some red carpet , and Tom Petty was the same . How did you maintain such a low profile ? BL : Well , you ' re talking about people who have made careers out of it . You ' re not gonna stagger out of anything . And hey , listen – we ' ve all had our moments when we got out of hand ! But what are you focused on ? Are you focused on that , or are you focused on your career ? You know ? Everybody ' s had a moment or two where they got a little goofy . But that ' s not the focus . That ' s not the prize . So what are your eyes on ? If you ' re gonna be focused and you ' re gonna do this for a long time , you ' ve gotta see that prize .
IE : Was there a point in your career where you lost sight of that ? And if so , how did you get yourself back on track ? BL : The short answer is No . You ' ve heard the expression " It ' s harder to stay there than to get there "? Well , that expression is grossly understated , you know ? And it ' s like anything else – How bad do you want it ? And I ' m simplifying it now , but that really is the bottom line . I could
22 illinoisentertainer . com december 2022