Whether it’s for the sounds of thrash metal or the bizarre onstage antics of a monstrous rock opera, thousands of adoring fans come to see GWAR, and if they’re lucky, get sprayed with gallons of fake blood.
This has been GWAR for the past 25 years: dressing up in over-the-top costumes and dousing its crowd in bodily fluids and body parts with rocking abandon. The show is as much of a thrill as it is an acquired taste, but after so many years, few can deny the band’s lasting presence in the underground metal scene.
After the release of its most recent album, Lust in Space, GWAR is on its 25th anniversary tour with an upcoming show tomorrow at the 9:30 Club.
Frontman Dave Brockie, often better known as Oderus Urungus, his alter ego in GWAR, has been the driving force behind the band since its inception in 1984. Though many don’t understand the hype surrounding GWAR, Brockie said he believes the band holds a great deal of influence in music despite those detractors.
“People just need to look at the society around them,” Brockie said. “GWAR are still regarded as the kings of underground metal.”
For this newest tour, GWAR has once again built a complex stage play, this time based on the story from the Lust in Space album. Every tour is different for GWAR. Like any band, the members will have new songs to play, but the crowd at a GWAR show gets a brand new storyline to follow with each successive year.
According to Brockie, GWAR decides on a theme, a story and characters before recording each album and it builds into a powerful visual and live musical experience. Due to this style, the question arises if GWAR is making music for the sake of making music or to simply supplement their stories. Brockie, however, thinks his creations go both ways.
“We are more of a theater act, but it really depends on the song,” Brockie explained. “Sometimes, we write songs just to be good music, good thrash metal. And sometimes, we write for the storyline.”
Music aside, GWAR’s theatrics have continually evolved, becoming more intricate and sometimes political. For this tour, GWAR has added a massive video projection screen behind the stage to help generate the alien atmosphere that defines the show’s story.
Even as they reinvent the specific devices of their stage show, Brockie and company are sticking with their classic costumes and personas. Originally, the band that would become GWAR didn’t use costumes. But upon meeting avant-garde artist Hunter Jackson, the creature suits were made. These characters have become the faces of the band, and the spray-painted latex monster masks a vision of the band’s legendary status.
The most surprising aspect of GWAR’s history is the immense number of lineup changes the band has gone through. Until the last two tours, GWAR had rarely gone a year without a lineup change. Only a small core of members have stuck around for the duration of the band’s existence, and yet, somehow, it’s hard to tell anything has changed.
“It’s a pain in the ass to indoctrinate new players,” Brockie said. “But again, we are more of theater act, so we have understudies. The show must go on.”
As unorthodox as the idea may be for a metal band, this mindset has worked out for GWAR. Its style remains original purely because of its ever-growing insanity. Brockie promised to bring the insanity full force tomorrow.
Based out of Richmond, Va., GWAR has a long history playing shows in the Washington area. Brockie said playing in Washington is a huge event that draws sizeable crowds year after year. Brockie said he loves being in Washingtonbecause he enjoys the fan support and being close to his beloved Redskins. As a native of Fairfax, Va., Brockie has a stake in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia community, even if some of the situations his band has gotten itself into don’t show it.
When the band first formed in the 1980s under the name Death Piggy, its blood and guts style of stage antics got the band blacklisted from playing in Washington venues for nearly four years. However, when the band could no longer be ignored, GWAR found its way back into area venues. As Brockie explained, the band simply picks up more steam as their legions of fans grow every year.
“Our demographic is gigantic,” Brockie said. “Every day, we sign autographs for kids as young as 10 and 12, because their parents think they’re finally old enough to come see the show.”
The existence of GWAR is a puzzle. Big, conceptual shock-rock bands are rarely both true to their musical integrity and successful, but GWAR somehow keeps expanding every year without changing its values.
“We don’t exist in the regular form of bands,” Brockie said. “It took a long time for people to catch up and see GWAR can play good metal and put on a great show.”
Brockie said he sees the achievement of his life’s work as an example of his band’s many layers: GWAR can be music, theater, violence and hilarity.
GWAR will play the 9:30 Club tomorrow. Doors open at 7 p.m., and tickets cost $20.
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