There are very few musical acts – if any – that can provide a theatrical experience like GWAR; for nearly three decades, the band have been offering audiences truly epic sci-fi heavy metal madness.
Earlier this year, the band released a new record titled The New Dark Ages. We’ve been really enjoying the album, along with the new graphic novel the band released. On top of those releases, the band also have a new documentary currently streaming on Shudder! This Is GWAR is a fascinating look into the band’s history, as well as a brilliant exploration into what it means to create art and find community in art.
The band are currently on the road as part of a big tour and recently played at Riot Fest (a big music festival that takes place in Chicago). We had the opportunity to talk with that of band frontman Blothar The Berserker (which we are always going to say ‘yes’ to). During our conversation, we talked to Blothar about playing at Riot Fest, This Is GWAR, how the band would like to “off” Machine Gun Kelly, and so much more.
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to the band’s performance at this year’s Riot Fest.
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The Pit: Riot Fest tends to be a place where you’ll find a lot of non-metalheads and folks who may not be aware of GWAR. How should these types of Earthlings prepare themselves when crossing the band’s path?
Blothar: Keep your pants up, bring an umbrella, I don’t know – stay out of the line of fire. Every time we play Riot Fest, it’s a good time. There’s a lot of people that are anxious to see the band, and we just look out into this ocean of people who are at least vaguely interested in the fact that there are five space aliens up on stage fighting giant monsters. It’s always good for a laugh; but the best thing about Riot Fest, to be honest with you, is hanging out backstage in the food pit and meeting all the weird artists you would never meet. Like Jerry Lee Lewis, and I don’t know, Michael New… Gary Newman. All these weird people I didn’t think I’d ever meet, so that’s fun.
The Pit: Are there any bands you are hoping to check out while at the festival?
Blothar: You know what? I don’t even know who is playing. To be honest with you, I have no idea who is on the bill for that. But there usually is; I’ve seen a lot of bands – it seems like no bands break up these days, it’s always good. I know that Sunny Day Real Estate is a band I’d love to see, I think they are playing; of course The Misfits, the original Misfits are there. I’d love to see Ice Cube; I don’t know if we’ll be around for that. Looking around on our date, that’s the day The Misfits play.
The Pit: Compared to a smaller rock venue, how do you, as a band, prep yourselves for a festival experience like Riot Fest? How different of a setup is that compared to a typical show?
Blothar: To be honest with you, the live performance for a festival is usually a truncated version of the show. GWAR shows generally have a narrative, even if it’s indecipherable and confusing to everyone [laughs]. It does follow a story arc, and a lot of times, when we do festivals, it’s much less following a story arc than it is just bringing out a bunch of characters and what we call a “Destroy All Monsters Show.”
So there’s actually a little bit less planning, except for the fact that we also don’t usually run the tracks that we do, but sometimes we’ll have an added GWAR effect that we don’t normally use. For instance, we have a cannon that shoots liquid into the crowd and we call that the Bile Driver, and that’s a big festival item we bring out because it has a lot of reach.
The Pit: We’ve had the chance to watch This Is GWAR on Shudder a few times now, and we absolutely love it. What has it been like for you – having lived a life in GWAR – and seeing others react to the documentary? Has there come a deeper connection with your fanbase?
Blothar: I haven’t noticed a change in the interactions with the fans – they’re still just piggly [sic] faced dipshits and [inaudible word] boobs. But, I have noticed a greater variety of humanity seems interested in GWAR; we’re getting a lot of good comments on the documentary from people who like it. It is a good documentary, it is a good ride. I think that Scott Barber, who was the director of it, did a really good job.
The Pit: Earlier this year, GWAR put out an amazing record, being that of The New Dark Ages. But, it seems the universe had to balance itself out, for while we got an awesome GWAR album, we also ended up with a Machine Gun Kelly album. The band has come up with a plethora of ways to “off” celebrities in the past – how would GWAR do MGK in?
Blothar: I don’t know, I think we probably just assemble a golem of himself, of Machine Gun Kelly, so he can see exactly what Colson Baker looks like. Who he is, right? Grotesque, just the most self-involved turd in the world. Maybe not the most, but he is a turd. He’s 32, what do you expect? Young people suck at everything. Youth is wasted on the young.
The Pit: If you are game for it, we’d love to do a quick lightning round with you. First off – What are you currently reading?
Blothar: Right now I am reading a book called Information Architecture [laughs].
The Pit: That’s a casual read I’m assuming?
Blothar: Yeah, it’s just that I’m trying to learn how to take over the world through computers.
The Pit: What are you currently watching? Feel free to mention movie and TV if you’d like.
Blothar: Well, I exist on a steady diet of German piss porn. But as far as shows, lately I’ve been watching a lot of I Think You Should Leave. Its got Tim Robinson in it [and] it’s a Netflix show.
The Pit: What are you currently playing? Can be video game or tabletop related.
Blothar: Well I’ve been playing a lot of Blood Bowl, which it being football season, I always get excited about Blood Bowl again, which is a tabletop football game. Sadly, my dwarves usually get beaten by the black orks. You know, there’s a band called A Band of Orcs – GWAR truly is a band of dorks.
The Pit: Blood Bowl is a Warhammer property, right?
Blothar: It is!
The Pit: Speaking of gaming, we’ve been itching to ask – Why hasn’t there been a GWAR video game yet? It seems like something that would be super obvious. Has the band talked about such a project?
Blothar: There’s certainly has been talk of it. If I’m being honest, probably the pinnacle of human achievement – other than German piss porn – is the video game. I mean, that’s the most coordinated form of artistic effort that you see today that involves so many different skills and styles of art. But it’s very expensive; there hasn’t been anybody who has been willing to make a GWAR video game and invest the kind of money in it that would need to be there. But I do think there is potential there. We have made appearances in video games – obviously the Beavis and Butt-Head video game. But we have definitely talked to some people about it before, it’s just that the cost of getting it started is pretty intimidating.
The Pit: From comics to CBD to alcoholic beverages and so much more, GWAR has had a plethora of merchandise throughout the years. But Blothar, besides getting a GWAR video game out of you guys… How come we haven’t gotten a GWAR dildo yet?
Blothar: Well you’re going to! Surely you knew this?
The Pit: No this is a surprise to us! Please, tell us all about it.
Blothar: Okay well yes, there is the Cuttlefish of Cthulhu coming out soon. CUMING SOON! [In a] partnership with Bad Dragon, we are going to put out a really cool, very large [sex toy]. I wanted it to be a male masturbator, because I like those words together – “A male masturbator” – but that’s not what it is. Instead, it’s a weird little dream-like dildo. It’s actually huge; it’s the size of a burrito from the Mission District in San Francisco. I don’t know how anybody is going to do anything with that thing.
The Pit: It’ll be quite the personal journey we’re sure.
Blothar: [Laughs].
The Pit: Last question, and thank you so much for your time. Sort of coming back to This Is GWAR – it’s remarkable to see how much you and the band have done throughout your career. So we want to ask – What continues to drive you artistically? What gets you up each day and fuels you with a sense of, “I’m real excited to make a new record” or “I can’t wait to make another monster for our show”?
Blothar: It’s just the desire to do, to create. I don’t feel like we’ve told the perfect story yet. There’s so much of it that is unexpressed, that needs expression, that’s just sort of waiting to come out. I mean, that’s what it is. I would never compare us to David Bowie, but I always thought it was very – that last album he did was a very heroic piece of art. Like, I want to go out that way, right; like, “Wait, I’m not done. I’ve got so much more to say.”
And I think also, one thing that has reenergized the band is the idea that – in so many ways now, there’s a crisis in culture; GWAR feels like a way to address that, at least to some degree. We’re trying to do that. That’s what the new album tries to do. It’s funny because everybody says that, “[Ronald] Regan was so hateable [sic],” and you’d think there would be all kinds of really cool new punk rock coming out right now – there really isn’t [it seems he is alluding to the recent and current state of politics within the world]. Or if there is, I don’t know about it.
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We would like to thank Blothar for his time in talking with us! You can now order GWAR’s new album The New Dark Ages.