W.A.S.P. mainman Blackie Lawless says that he is "leaning in the direction of" performing the song "Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)" on the band's upcoming 40th-anniversary tour. More than a decade ago, Lawless, who is a born-again Christian, said that he would "never" play "Animal" again, explaining that it was "totally because of [his] religious faith." He added at the time: "I don't want 13-year-olds going around singing that song. If that's something they wanna do later in their life, that's their business. But, like I said, it's a question of faith and the religious conviction that I have." Now, in a new interview with SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", conducted on Wednesday (January 12), Blackie addressed the possibility of bringing back the song for the upcoming W.A.S.P. run of shows. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I don't know [if we will play it]. There's a part of me that says it's already out there. You can't put the genie back in the bottle. Do I owe it to the fanbase to really make this a true retrospect of what we've done. If I had to give you an answer right now, I would say I'm leaning in the direction of doing it." Asked why he dropped "Animal" from W.A.S.P.'s live set in the first place, Lawless said: "Two reasons. Number one, my religious convictions. [Because of] my Christian faith, I thought, 'Well, this is not really something that I wanna say.' But also, there was another reason as well. We were doing more serious material. Do you really want that conflict of messaging going on at the same time. So there was a two-fold reason for it. "We haven't played that song in quite some time; it's probably going on 15 years now," he continued. "But however long it's been, I think I made my point. So we're in the process of… We're discussing [the possibility of bringing it back]; let's put it that way." Lawless previously discussed his decision to stop performing "Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)"in a 2015 interview with Classic Rock. He said at the time: "At the time I came back to my faith, I said, 'That's it. I can't stand up on a stage and say this.' There's a verse in The Bible that says: 'Let no corrupt speech come from your mouth.' Between me and you and the fencepost, that song was put into my life for a reason — for me to create the fervor that it did with the PMRC and make the band a household name, and then for me to announce to the world that I would never play the song again." He added: "I tell people now, the silence of it is deafening. It's worked like a charm." W.A.S.P. will embark on its first U.S. tour in a decade this fall. The trek will coincide the band's 40th anniversary and will include support from ARMORED SAINT and MICHAEL SCHENKER on select shows. Joining Lawless in W.A.S.P.'s current lineup are bassist Mike Duda and guitarist Doug Blair, who have been in the band 26 years and 18 years, respectively, along with drummer extraordinaire Aquiles Priester.
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