Gwar: Bare Bones Blood

05/07/02 5:30pm

by Keith Carman (CHARTattack)

Violence Has Arrived. A most befitting title to Gwar's latest full-length album given that this time around, singer Oderous Urungus and crew have reverted back to their angrier days. Feeling the need to "get back to five beasts and a bunch of heavy music," the Gwar show has become quite streamlined this time around. Emitting a bevy of bodily functions into the telephone (you think I'm kidding!), Urungus fills ChartAttack in on what's been going down at the Slave Pit (Gwar's Antarctic home) in reaction to this back-to-basics approach to the Blood Drive 2002 tour.

ChartAttack: I read somewhere that Violence Has Arrived is a more serious album for Gwar.
Oderous: Who the hell wrote that? First and foremost, we're a humourous band. Even more so when we try to take ourselves seriously, 'cause how can you take this shit seriously? I'd say that the album is heavier and not so blatant poo-poo humour. More sophisticated musically. This is our ninth album and the last couple were more experimental and punk. We felt a desire to get back to the metal roots of Gwar. I assure you all that we're by no means any less ridiculous or hilarious than before. We don't take ourselves — or anyone else — seriously.

This seems like the heaviest album since 1988's Scumdogs Of The Universe.
We wanted this to be the heaviest we've ever made. We're not serious, just pissed off! We're not just lying around smoking crack all day. We're actually paying attention to how we write our material now.

There's also no mention of regular members such as the Sexecutioner, Slymenstra Hymen or Sleazy P. Martini on the new album. Why?
Another change with this album was to eliminate the extra characters. As much as people love 'em, we wanted to bring more of a focus back to the band — force a focus onto the band and how we kill people. We've still got plenty of victims, but we wanted a show without 8,000 people on stage every five seconds — less than 25 people on the goddamned tour bus! This is a chance to concentrate on blood and heavy metal, no super elaborate storyline or diverse tangents. We want to focus and pummel and maim. This is just another revolution on the wheel of Gwar. Next time will be different, but for now you get the five members of Gwar, their devoted slaves and the poor hapless human fucks that get in our way. And Gor-Gor (their pet dinosaur) still comes and eats everything. It's bad ass. My favourite Gwar show ever.

How so?
In the past, there's so many fuckin' people and story twists and turns that no one really understands. Then, in the end a couple of giant rubber monsters come out and collide into each other and collapse into the barricade. This one is very streamlined and hateful. Whatever it is, it doesn't matter! It's GWAR!

The posters have been saying that the new Gwar blood is stain-free.
Oh that's not true. I assure you your clothing will be wrecked. You want to get your nice white shirt shit all over!

How long can Gwar go on for? Did Gwar expect to exceed 15 years as a band?
I had no idea it would turn into this lumbering juggernaut that goes on and on. The never-ending plateau that is our career (belches). Gwar is an immortal band that will go on forever. We're breeding replacements for ourselves. The clone hives down at the Slave Pit. We're mutating a whole generation of replacements.

The last time Chart talked to Gwar, you advised us to do gross things to our pregnant intern...
Ah yes. While using babies as rubbers are nice, I don't think there will be any dead baby rubber fucking going on during this tour. Maybe backstage, but it takes two hours to put everything in bloody boxes and back on the truck. Then the other hour is scrubbing filth off your body. By the time you're ready to party all the girls have left!