W.A.S.P | rikfox

It was, in 1982, following the previous years as a club circuit favorite in New York and New Jersey, that Rik Fox made a jump to the west coast on an audition invitation from one Blackie Lawless, late of a band at the time called ‘CIRCUS, CIRCUS’, yet seemed to change that band name back to an previously earlier one: ‘SISTER’. Obviously history bears out that he not only got the gig, but, despite dismissals by Lawless, it is yet supported by former band members Randy Piper and Chris Holmes, that Fox also came up with the legendary moniker for the band we all know now as WASP. Much of the story of W.A.S.P. is retold in both the books “Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal” by David Konow, where this is confirmed by W.A.S.P.guitarist Randy Piper as well as in several online interviews with him as well as having been clarified by Fox in the best-selling unofficial band biography: ‘W.A.S.P.; A Sting in the Tale’ by U.K. fan and author Darren P. Upton, and ultimately acknowledged by the greater percent of W.A.S.P. fans today, seeking to know more behind the bands’ early origins that they were originally being told. The idea is said to have occurred to him after he stepped on a wasp in the courtyard of the house where he lived with band leader Blackie Lawless). Here’s the interesting kicker; who knows WHAT they would have called themselves if Rik Fox wasn’t, in fact, an original founding band member from the beginning. As well, there are also the band photos shot by early Mӧtley Crüephotographer Don Adkins Jr. as well as that legendary 3-track WASP demo (mistakenly referred to as “Face the Attack”), that Foxrecorded with the band (and the obviously more melodic bass lines than what Blackie re-played on the first album). Fox's bass tracks found on the now-legendary collector’s item, the 'original' W.A.S.P. 3-track demo recorded at Pipers' studio, shows how muchLawless was actually incorrect about his dismissive assertions. Controversy creates its own magnetism which has become self-evident; Lots of fans have written, stating that they not only hear the difference, but, that they actually like Fox’s bass tracks much better on that demo than what we hear on the debut WASP album. In the bigger picture, looking back, apparently, fate had other reasons why Rik Fox’s path with W.A.S.P. was to come to such an abrupt close, and STEELER might not have happened as it did.