GWAR
If you’re gearing up for one of their shows, you might want to consider taking an umbrella.
GWAR: JEREMY SAFFER/PRESS
“This isn’t Kiss,
it isn’t Lordi.
It’s not merely
a theatrical
band… We tell
a story. It’s
a complete
entertainment
experience.”
Blöthar The Berserker previews a new invasion of planet Earth by the interplanetary Barbarian warriors, with some heavyweight music sountracking their battle cry.
You took the place of previous frontman Oderus Urungus in GWAR almost a decade ago. There were tales of a ‘battle to the death’.
[Laughs] It wasn’t a battle to the death. Oderus simply went on a long vacation, owing me a lot of yams, which is the currency that we use. He signed off. There was a Viking funeral. Whenever GWAR needs a new scum dog we just go to GWAR HQ in Antarctica where we store them, and we thaw one out. I woke up as the new spiritual leader and singer of GWAR. That was quite a revelation.
How has global warming affected the band’s base in Antarctica?
That’s how GWAR came to life. In the 1980s, all of the glam-metal bands that wore hairspray depleted the ozone layer. Things got warmer and warmer, eventually we thawed out. But now we’re like polar bears, sitting on a tiny little island of ice. For that reason most of us don’t live in Antarctica any more.