Culture
GWAR’s Blöthar the Berserker talks art, authenticity, and performance with WOUB Culture
By: Nicholas Kobe
Posted on:
This interview contains explicit language.
MANSFIELD, Ohio (WOUB) – GWAR is a legendary heavy metal performance art rock band with an unmatched sense of theatricality (and humor).
Vocalist Blöthar the Berserker talked to WOUB Culture’s Nicholas Kobe about exposing unassuming music festival audiences to the band’s infamously gory stagecraft; the group’s hopes to someday terrorize the world of “fine art,” and how agonizing a hypothetical GWAR Disneyland ride would be.
GWAR performs this weekend at INKcarceration 2023.
Listen to the conversation in the SoundCloud link embedded above, and read a transcript of it edited for clarity and length, below.
In one sentence, what is GWAR?
Blöthar:
GWAR is a theatrical heavy metal rock ‘n’ roll performance art rock band — so many words. But we’re also a group of intergalactic space aliens who were banished to the planet Earth. We were members of an elite fighting force in outer space, but we screwed up so many times that they sent us to this insignificant crap hole planet, where we quickly became rock stars because that’s what was the most available employment path to us. So that’s what we do. We hang out on earth and screw up and play rock music.
Nicholas Kobe:
As somebody that is from outer space, you guys have been on earth and making music here for, for quite a while. What’s something that keeps you intrigued with this planet?
Blöthar:
Well, definitely the human desire for self-destruction. I mean, we can barely keep up with humanity at this point! They’re just so bound and determined to destroy themselves and the planet at the same time. It’s intriguing to watch. We have certainly learned a lot from humans and their pathetic struggles over the years. That’s the most interesting thing about Earth to us — that, and drugs. We’re very interested in drugs. Our planet didn’t have drugs.
Nicholas Kobe:
What do you think is one of the most important lessons or things that really surprised you about Earth and humanity?
Blöthar:
Well, I think that what surprised me the most is that humans are absolutely delicious. We didn’t plan on that. They are the main food source for GWAR. They’re also incredibly gullible. They come to our concerts thinking that they’re going to be cool or something, even though our audience isn’t very cool. It looks to me like there’s just a sea of acne pus out there. Just a bunch of chlamydia ridden morons, bouncing around. They’re so desperate to identify with GWAR, and yet we view them as a food source, an industrial food source, like cows or horses in a dog food factory. I think also another thing that’s been a surprise is just the human desire and capacity for lies and untruths, truly amazing. Humans need stories in order to get through their everyday lives. It’s like the truth is too horrible. People who see the world as it is are labeled insane and put in asylums. All these things are very surprising to us.
Nicholas Kobe:
What do you think makes people so eager to identify with GWAR?
Blöthar:
I think GWAR appeals to outcasts. It appeals to people who look around themselves and say, “why am I here?” That is really our bread and butter. I think also GWAR has a sense of creative energy that appeals to some people who are interested in not only art, but in particular, low art, right? They’re interested in getting rid of the pretension of art, and in celebrating things that are actually fun – like comic books and horror movies and science fiction and comedy.
Nicholas Kobe:
I’m calling ahead of your performance at Inkcarceration 2023. When you play at festivals to crowds that may not be one hundred percent aware that they are going to be used – as you said, a food source – how do you think that differs from your normal shows, where everybody knows who you are?
Blöthar:
It’s really the absolute best situation for us to play, at a show like that. That’s always been the funnest way to see GWAR, and it’s the most fun shows for us to do. I will say this: no matter what, GWAR holds its own against some of the biggest names in the business when it comes to a festival lineup, right? I mean, people will come and watch GWAR because they know that they’re gonna see a spectacle, they know that something insane is going to happen. We just played a festival in Spain and it was nuts. Who else was on the bill? Lucinda Williams and The Pretenders – perfect for GWAR, really. We played at 2:30 a.m. in the morning or something like that. The breakfast line. It was as crowded as it had been for the Pretenders earlier! I mean, it was absolutely stuffed with people watching that show. You can always tell when an audience doesn’t know who we are when they stampede away from the stage the minute that we spray something on the audience – that’s always fun.
Nicholas Kobe:
They weren’t exactly ready to be in the splash zone for a festival?
Blöthar:
No. They really weren’t. We got a complaint from the festival organizers, like, “uh, do you warn people from the stage?” Yeah, that’s exactly what we do. “Can I have your attention, please? We’re going to spray something out of the aortic artery of this ‘victim’ that we brought to stage. You may want to remove yourself.” We’ve seen all kinds of things. We had a woman attempt to file a lawsuit against us because her daughter came to a GWAR show after she had just had her hair dyed blonde for her graduation. It got stained at the show, her mother claimed, permanently pink. I actually tried to help her. I said, “You could shave her head and then she could go to her graduation ceremony. Or you could just wash it a whole bunch of times. Get her dirty ass in the shower and wash it out because it comes out.” It was very funny because the tone of her communications were “I don’t understand why you have to do these things on stage because you’re a really good band. It’s like you don’t have enough confidence.”
Nicholas Kobe:
I think there’s a special type of irony of telling GWAR they’re not confident in who they are.
Blöthar:
It’s like telling Phil [Anselmo], “I don’t know why you’re such an angry young man like that. You’ve got a perfectly wonderful life and there should be a lot of joy. Why isn’t Pantera more about happiness and lighthearted celebration?”
“I think GWAR appeals to outcasts. It appeals to people who look around themselves and say, “why am I here?” That is really our bread and butter. I think also GWAR has a sense of creative energy that appeals to some people who are interested in not only art, but in particular, low art, right? They’re interested in getting rid of the pretension of art, and in celebrating things that are actually fun – like comic books and horror movies and science fiction and comedy.” – Blöthar the Berserker
Nicholas Kobe:
Going into your guys’ studio output, now that it’s been a few months since The New Dark Ages came out, how are you guys feeling about that project?
Blöthar:
Well, I mean, certainly glad that it’s over. <laugh> I mean, it was a difficult record to make, coming out of the pandemic. We’re very happy with the record. It turned out well, and it’s doing well. I mean, it’s one of the first GWAR albums to really have any presence on rock radio whatsoever. This band’s been together for what, like 35 years, and GWAR never had a song on active rock radio like ever. MTV obviously helped out a little bit in the beginning, but yeah, rock radio was not a thing. I think it really became a thing for heavy bands after GWAR had already sort of, uh, crested – in a sense – in the ’90s. Now, you know, we’re trying to grow GWAR, trying to bust out of that.
Nicholas Kobe:
Are there any other things beyond music that you guys are looking to expand to in the future?
Blöthar:
I always wonder what the right amount of “stuff” is. Clearly there needs to be a new standard for what’s “authentic” and what counts as “selling out,” because nobody’s making any money on anything except for stuff that isn’t music. I say all of that because our list of products is really growing. We sell liquor, we make rye whiskey, we make a really great cocktail called GWAR Smash that’s in a position right now where it might go national, because it’s such a great drink. It’s actually invented by Balsac the Jaws of Death. He’s a mixologist, or, you know, a drunk. We’ve got toys, we’ve got a comic book, we’re trying to expand into the world of film. We had some attempts at film earlier but back then we were calling them “long form videos.” We’re thinking of creating a full cinematic journey. That’s what we’re working on right now.
I’d love for GWAR to get a Funko – Pop! figure, which we don’t have yet. I think there’s something wrong with the guy who runs that. Apparently we upset him, unlike every other thing in the world – GWAR upsets him, so we’ll see. I think we should have a ride at Disneyland, is what I think. It would be distinguished by its extraordinary length, right? You get on the ride, it doesn’t end for several days.
Nicholas Kobe:
Every time you don’t think there’s something else that’s gonna be sprayed at you, get something sprayed at you.
Blöthar:
Maybe we’ll team up with the Meow Wolf people and make it happen. That’s the art group that does the installations. I think that GWAR’s next big territory: the art world. We’re trying to tap in on their self-loathing and destroy them as well.
Nicholas Kobe:
I think it’s a very logical next step for you guys. To the more immediate future – the 10th anniversary edition of Battle Maximus. What’s something that you’re really excited about for like, going back to that album?
Blöthar:
Well, <laugh>,on that record in particular, Oderus Urungus [lead vocalist until his death in 2014] had a really bad case of blabbermouth. There’s a lot of lyrics on the songs on that record. I guess this being, towards the end of his life – bless him – he was sort of on a tear, I think. He apparently would just stand in front of the microphone and shout things while the recording button was on. They’d sing over everything like the intro, the outro -he’d still be singing when they stopped the tape. It’s a challenging record to do for that reason. It’s got some of the coolest, GWAR tunes, especially the latter day GWAR tunes. There’s Tammy the Swine Queen on it, which is a GWAR song that nobody has heard yet. That’s Oderus’ last performance – it’s weird, it’s a funny tune, of course. I’m most excited though because the previous incarnation of the record didn’t really sound that great, and it’s been remixed and remastered, and I think it sounds really good. So I can’t wait.
Nicholas Kobe:
Are there any other parts of just the GWAR discography that you think have been underrated over the years?
Blöthar:
I think all our discography is underrated. If I had to pick one that was underrated, I’d pick We Kill Everything. People – especially GWAR fans – don’t like that record as much as they could. There’s this narrative about We Kill Everything being a disaster, and then the band “finding themselves again” when we put out Violence Has Arrived – as if finding ourselves meant finding heavy metal, which is simply not true.
GWAR started as a punk band playing heavy metal, so to “find ourselves” would be putting out a record that was a f*cking punk rock album, not a metal record. We Kill Everything is good because there’s no guitar leads on it. It’s just an interesting record. I like this band when the band is doing things that other people aren’t doing. I think in some ways that’s exactly why GWAR has struggled commercially: we don’t follow dictates of genre. People don’t reward originality. That’s not what they’re interested in. GWAR is a band that is unafraid to be original. We’re still that band, so I’m glad for that.
Nicholas Kobe:
Absolutely. A few more things: in your time in the band, what is the wildest thing you ever saw happen in the Slave Pit” [“Slave Pit” is the group of musicians, artists and other talent that makes up GWAR]
Blöthar:
In the Slave Pit? Well, the Slave Pit is actually kind of a boring place. It’s just a lot of sculptors and painters, huffing toluene and other dangerous chemicals and then walking around with headaches and yelling at each other. Actually – you know what? I’m gonna take it back. Sebastian Bach [of Skid Row] came to the Slave Pit, and he gave a great performance but he was an odd fellow. He insisted that we all do a shot. So he took a shot and then immediately puked on the table. Like back goes the booze and out comes the vomit, but he managed to just stand there like it was cool.
Nicholas Kobe:
Just one final question. What does the future of GWAR look like?
Blöthar:
Ooh, it’s limitless. I can assure you that it’s not going to end at a retirement trailer park in Florida on a shuffleboard court. That’s not what it’s gonna be. The future of GWAR is f*cking putting out another record that takes over the world and doing a great movie. Then maybe eventually the band will find a way to get off of the planet. We’re gonna go out in a blaze of glory – with all guns firing. We’d really like to make a leap so that more people know who this band is and what the band does and why we do it.