MEAN MAN: THE STORY OF CHRIS HOLMES (2021)
Label: Cleopatra Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 80 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Antoine De Montremy
Cast: Chris Holmes, Scott Ian, Dizzy Reed, Johnny Rod, Stet Howland
I must have been about thirteen when a schoolmate handed me the firsts self-titled W.A.S.P. cassette and told me to check it out. I dutifully carried it around school with me all day obsessively looking at the cool evil-looking artwork and thinking that these guys looked fucking cool! When the last bell of the school day rang I went to my locker and retrieved by cassette Walkman and slipped in the cassette tape in as I exited the school in my jean jacket and began my routine walk home. That was the day I fell in love with shock-rockers W.A.S.P., and it all began with that one-two punch of "I Wanna Be Somebody" and "L.O.V.E. Machine" that burned into me metal-loving ears, tapping directly into my overly-excited and lustful teenage brain, it was the right band at the right time. The band had been on my radar for a while as I had been following the humorous exploits of the uptight conservative censorship group Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center (P.M.R.C.) and their ridiculous efforts to make parent's aware of the supposedly dangerous music that their kids were listening to. They has placed the band's notorious "Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)" song on their "Filthy 15" list, a grouping of songs by bands that also included prime cuts from Motely Crue, Twisted Sister, Judas Priest, Mercyful Fate, Black Sabbath and Venom - in addition to Prince and Cyndi Lauper! Counter to their intentions it was through this list that I first heard of the bands W.A.S.P., Venom and Mercyful Fate, so thank you and fuck you to the P.M.R.C. for that! The band's horror imagery went quite well with my love of scary movies with a great live sact that included setting the band logo on fire above the stage, spitting blood, throwing raw meat at the audience and faux torturing half nude women. It was a real tasteless mix of Kiss-styled showmanship by way of Alice Cooper mixed in with that Shout At The Devil-era Motley Crue aesthetic, it certainly hit the sweet spot for me at that age.
Also interviewed for the doc are friends and musical contemporaries like Scott Ian of Anthrax, former W.A.S.P. members Johnny Rod and Stet Howland, Rob Chevelle of Lit Soul, Blitz from Overkill, Dani Filth of Cradle of Filth, Henrik Bergqvist of The Poodles, Dizzy Reed of Guns N' Roses, band mates Jungle Jim and Chris Olson of Psycho Squad, former W.A.S.P. roadie Curt Levis, L.A. concert promoters Joe Sutton and Gina Zamparelli, GNR tour manager Doug Goldstein, Chet Thompson from Hellion, producer Bill Metoyer, as well as childhood friends David Nord, Denny Barry and Jack Van Furchge', Doug Anderson of the Van Halen Museum, plus his uncle, sister and mother. It's a good mix of memories and love for the guitarist as the talking heads talk of Holmes' friendliness, his distinct guitar tone, and his antics both on-stage and behind the scenes.
The shock-rockers released a string of salacious metal albums throughout the eighties before guitarist Chris Holmes departed following the release of their fourth studio album,
The Headless Children (1989). It was after his departure that I pretty much checkout of new albums by W.A.S.P.. I have only recently going back and checked out the post-Holmes discography, though did briefly return tot he fold in the late-90's. The image and sound of Holmes and front man Blackie Lawless were an integral part of attracted me to the band, they were a great duo but were apparently not the best of friends behind-the-scenes. The doc does dig into their complicated
history a little bit, noting that it was Lawless who helped get Holmes get off the sauce in the late-90's, which is cool, but he also seems to have screwed him over when it comes to songwriting credit and royalties owed.
This meat of the doc is catching up with Chris Holmes who is still alive, which might be surprising to anyone who saw the infamous clip of him in Penelope Spheeris's lampooning metal-doc The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, where we saw Holmes floating in a swimming pool and drinking and excessive amount of vodka before drunkenly pouring it over his head, while his sad-eyed and clearly embarrassed mom watches from poolside. He is now married an living in Southern France where he has been touring and making music with his latest band Mean Man, in which he sings and plays guitar.
The doc is not a deep diving examination of his career, his guitar-style, or his contributions to W.A.S.P., it's more of a tour doc peppered with interviews with Holmes as Mean Man makes their way through Europe playing a handful of smaller clubs and bars to the delight of hardcore fans. Holmes during his interviews touches on his childhood, the early bands he was in, the formation of W.A.S.P. and his relationship with Blackie Lawless, and his marriage to rocker Lita Ford. He also gets into what life has been like since, including performing in the band Psycho Squad, whom I had never even heard of till I watched this doc, but from what I could tell their only output was a cassette demo tape, so maybe that is not all that surprising.
Also interviewed for the doc are friends and musical contemporaries like Scott Ian of Anthrax, former W.A.S.P. members Johnny Rod and Stet Howland, Rob Chevelle of Lit Soul, Blitz from Overkill, Dani Filth of Cradle of Filth, Henrik Bergqvist of The Poodles, Dizzy Reed of Guns N' Roses, band mates Jungle Jim and Chris Olson of Psycho Squad, former W.A.S.P. roadie Curt Levis, L.A. concert promoters Joe Sutton and Gina Zamparelli, GNR tour manager Doug Goldstein, Chet Thompson from Hellion, producer Bill Metoyer, as well as childhood friends David Nord, Denny Barry and Jack Van Furchge', Doug Anderson of the Van Halen Museum, plus his uncle, sister and mother. It's a good mix of memories and love for the guitarist as the talking heads talk of Holmes' friendliness, his distinct guitar tone, and his antics both on-stage and behind the scenes.
Holmes come across a super-nice guy who leans a bit on the annoying side, he has a big goofy personality and doesn't seem to have much of a filter. We often hear his wife, whom I believe is also his tour manager, telling his to stop doing embarrassing stuff or to tone it down a bit, and for the most part she doesn't have much luck reigning him in. Sober for over 20 years this just seems to be his personality, he's just a big jovial guy who loves to get silly and truly doesn't give a fuck what anybody thinks about anything, he just wants to rock and roll for as long as he can.
The doc doesn't have much of an arc to it, I would have preferred more depth and detail about his time in W.A.S,P., his song-writing contributions, and what lead to the fall-out with Blackie Lawless, and while there's a bit of that there was not enough for my tastes, which as a fan of W.A.S.P. is what I was looking for. Honestly I am not such a fan of Holmes post-W.A.S.P. stuff, including his current band Mean Man. He's not a great singer but as he says, he'd rather be a bad singer than have to deal with shit-heel lead singers, apparently Blackie left his mark on the man! At the end of the day he seems to be having a great time doing what he is doing, and that's what counts. If you are a fan of Mean Man you're in luck, we get plenty of footage of him and the band rocking the bar rooms, playing what looks to be the same thirty plus years old guitars he played back in W.A.S.P., beat to Hell and back, but still sounding great in the hands of a rock n' roll wild man.
Audio/Video: Mean Man: The Story of Chris Homes (2021) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Cleopatra Entertainment in 1080p framed in 1.78:1 widescreen. The new digital shot interviews and live performances look great. Also mixed in are vintage clips from W.A.S.P. interviews and concert footage from VHS sources, so it's a mixed bag, but within the constraints of a documentary it was just fine. Audio comes by way of lossy English Dolby Digital 5.1 with optional English subtitles, everything is clean and well-defined in the sound department.
Audio/Video: Mean Man: The Story of Chris Homes (2021) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Cleopatra Entertainment in 1080p framed in 1.78:1 widescreen. The new digital shot interviews and live performances look great. Also mixed in are vintage clips from W.A.S.P. interviews and concert footage from VHS sources, so it's a mixed bag, but within the constraints of a documentary it was just fine. Audio comes by way of lossy English Dolby Digital 5.1 with optional English subtitles, everything is clean and well-defined in the sound department.
Extras on the disc includes a brief image gallery, and a handful of Cleopatra Entertainment trailers, but the main extras are the seventy-five minutes of bonus interview footage which includes some great stuff like Holmes recalling the time he auditioned for Ozzy and what it was like touring with Metallica and Armored Saint back in '84-'85, as well as behind-the-scenes shenanigans while opening for Iron Maiden. It also gets into his friendship with the late Eddie Van Halen and how Eddie used one of Holmes' guitars on the Women and Children First album. We also gets lots more childhood memories from family and friends as well as W.A.S.P. stories from former bandmates and roadie Curt Levis who has some great tour tales to tell
Special Features:
- Bonus Footage (75 min)
- Image Gallery (24 Images) (1 min)
- Cleopatra Entertainment Trailers: Street Survivors (2 min), Hollywood Rocks (4 min), Jane's Addiction: Ritual De Lo Habitual - Live From Irvine Meadows (3 min), Conny Plank (2 min), Bluebird (2 min), Melody Makers (3 min), Mean Man: The Story of Chris Holmes (2 min)
Mean Man: The Story of Chris Holmes (2021) is not so much an in-depth exploration of the guitarist's' life and career as it is a celebration of his improbable survival and "I don't give a fuck" attitude, and to that end it's an enjoyable enough watch. I learned quite a bit about the man that I did know beforehand, but there was just not enough W.A.S.P. talk for me, but this is a doc about Holmes, not that band, so it is forgivable. Seeing the now sixty plus year old guitarist still out there rocking n' rolling with his band and seeing how sincerely appreciative he is of his fans is super-cool, but if you're looking for a deep dive into the history of W.A.S.P. chock full o' heavy metal pathos this is maybe not the doc for you.
More screenshots from the Blu-ray:
