Advertisement 1

Q&A: Blothar dishes on why GWAR goes acoustic on Disc With No Name

It's hard to imagine noise monsters GWAR strumming acoustic guitars, but they do on a new EP.

Article content

The email advises me that Blothar will talk to you Monday.

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content

Apparently, Balsac the Jaws of Death, Jizmak Da Gusha, Pustulus Maximus and Beefcake the Mighty were cleaning up the mess at the GwarBar. You can never be too sure when you’re dealing with GWAR.

Since forming in Richmond, Va., in 1984, the band whose name may, or may not be, short for “God, what an awful racket” has combined rudimentary hard rock with an elaborate sci-fi mythology to make one of the most ridiculous rock-‘n’-roll fantasies ever. Neither the death of members, or the retiring and reinstating of characters, has stopped the band from hosing down generation after generation of fans with bucketloads of fake blood, semen and worse.

Article content

After founding member and lead singer Dave Brockie died of a heroin overdose in 2014, Blothar (a.k.a. Michael Bishop) became the lead singer. Bishop was the original Beefcake the Mighty bassist before leaving GWAR to earn his PhD in music and go on to lecture at the University of Virginia. Now firmly entrenched in his new post, he is fronting the group into its fourth decade.

Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

With its usual schedule of touring interrupted, the band has turned its energy into projects ranging from online performances to a new album and graphic novel project. But before those arrive later in the year, the combo has dropped the most extreme recording of its career. Titled the Disc With No Name, the new EP features four previously released songs: All are performed unplugged.

Blothar talked to Postmedia News about what it means for a group like GWAR to expose itself with nothing more than non-amplified instruments:

Q: Does the release of this new album mean that you’re going to follow ’70s arena rockers down the path of a little acoustic set mid-performance?

A: Absolutely not. We will not be getting all Joni Mitchell on everyone. The acoustic thing was an interesting diversion to see if certain songs would hold up in that format, whether it was I’ll Be Your Monster’s blues structure or I’m Gonna Kill You’s solo guitar origins. Beyond that, I don’t see GWAR taking a radical turn to folk music or anything.

Advertisement 4
Story continues below
Article content

Q: You have stated that 2021 could be the Year of the Ultimate Bohab. I have no idea what that means?

A: A Bohab is the ultimate GWAR fan who has an irrepressible interest in the band that becomes unseemly. This is the definition of geekery and nerdom to have an unquenchable interest in things that other people simply aren’t interested in. The name comes from GWAR lore based around a friend named Bob the Slob, who used to come around and join us in games of Dungeons & Dragons and the like. The song the Ultimate Bohab describes what these people are like. We think we are providing a lot for them this year with the new music, graphic novel and so on.

Q: Without any live shows to keep the Bohabs smiling, are you hoping that the signature Catoctin Creek Ragnarok Rye with hand-carved custom bottle toppers and Bud of Gods exclusive CBD product line does the job?

Advertisement 5
Story continues below
Article content

A: We decided to go down the road of vice, because why not? It began with the vape juice and continued on from there. The inconsistent nature of how music sells now meant that GWAR should branch out into things we like and we all like to get high and drink rye. We’ve also got the GWAR vs. Timecard game for three-to-five Bohabs to play as they enjoy other items.

Q: The collective of like-minded creatives that spawned GWAR clearly hit on an enduring idea. But there must have been some missteps along the way to the elaborate stage show you have now?

A: The poop cannon was definitely a trip down the wrong tunnel, which we discovered very quickly. We used a combination of oatmeal and other biological items to make the crap we were firing at the audience. When it wasn’t cleaned out of the mechanism properly one time, it proved pretty disgusting. That ended that.

Advertisement 6
Story continues below
Article content

Q: Did you ever think that you would still be going strong this many years later?

A: Look, there is nothing like GWAR out there and we know that the idea of the band has resonated in culture well beyond the immediate thing we do. You can see it reflected in cartoon bands such as Metalocalypse and Dethklok, and the creators will openly admit that. One good thing about the (COVID-19) pandemic is that we have been able to have time to go down the road of the other non-musical interests of the members. It’s very likely that you will see a GWAR movie in the future.

NOTE: GWAR Scumdogs 30th Anniversary Tour, Dec. 1, 7 p.m., Commodore Ballroom. Tickets: From $39.50. On sale June 18, 10 a.m. at livenation.com or ticketmaster.com.

sderdeyn@postmedia.com

twitter.com/stuartderdeyn

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

Latest National Stories
    News Near Tillsonburg
      This Week in Flyers