Ah, GWAR. You would think after twenty-seven years, the over-the-top alien costumes, the blood spurting and the faux-celebrity intestine pulling would get old: but it doesn’t. It just gets more awesome and extreme with each passing tour.
Before their show at the 9:30 Club last week, I caught up with lead singer Oderus Urungus. While he relaxed on the commode, we discussed the origins of GWAR, the season finale of Breaking Bad, his fourteen appearances on FOX News, and how badly the Redskins are messing up their football season this year.
Shortly after our chat, GWAR took the stage, and the real fun began.
In preparation for the excessive blood spurting that was sure to occur, the 9:30 Club stage and sound equipment were covered in white sheets. This conveyed the feeling that we were all about to watch a metal show in a morgue, which frankly merely added to the already gory ambience.
As the band began to play, it became very clear that GWAR shows are not merely just concerts, but in fact metal theater. Or rather, metal musicals. Songs were sung and guitars thrashed hard, but in between there was a certain script to be followed, as Oderus told the audience and the band about their cozy new “apartment” on-stage. Anyone who didn’t like it or wanted to “kick us out” promptly had their head sawed off, naturally. We were there to party!
A “housewarming gift” was also presented, in the form of “Snooki” from The Jersey Shore. GWAR and their “slaves” tore her apart—literally—and intestines and blood shot as if from a Super Soaker.
With this kind of over-the-top performance, nothing the band did could really be ill-received, even when they goofed up. Oderus often flubbed his lines and introduced one song then began to play another; but none of this really mattered, as the audience continued to rock out wholeheartedly.
Unlike at other concerts, what is important when going to a GWAR show is not that you know their song lyrics, that you listen to them regularly, or that you are even into metal music at all. But rather that you like to rock, and you like to rock hard.
Photos by Dave Barnhouser, 13th Hour Photography
