Oderus Urungus, née Dave Brockie, is the lead singer
of GWAR, the heavy metal band supposedly comprised of ancient monster
warriors from outer space. For nearly 25 years, GWAR has been infamous
for its over-the-top theatrical concerts, which combine intelligent
satire with scatological messes and tuneful thrash metal. GWAR will
descend upon the New Oasis in Sparks on Nov. 20.
What happened 25 years ago? How did GWAR come to be?
Well, everybody knows, but for the uninitiated—I suppose
there’s maybe a couple people out there—we’ve been on
the planet for millions and millions of years, but it wasn’t
until 25 years ago that the overuse of hairspray and other carbon
omissions began global warming, which de-thawed GWAR in our temple.
Which is in Antarctica, right?
Which is in Antarctica, and we were discovered there by our
soon-to-become manager, Mr. Sleazy P. Martini, the inventor of crack
cocaine. He immediately [burps] got us all fucked up on that shit, and
enslaved us into becoming a rock ’n’ roll band, and
it’s been a bloody trail ever since.
And you have a new album, Lust in Space?
Well, you know, most of GWAR’s records basically just tell the
stories of our lives. Lately, we’ve been in outer space, flying
around on a captured Scumdog warship. We went back to check out all our
favorite bars but found out that our intergalactic asshole, cosmic
nemesis Cardinal Syn is trying to make fucking outer space into, like,
a gigantic Branson. So it’s completely horrible. Not only has he
closed all of our favorite strip clubs, he’s managed to eliminate
crack cocaine. We had to come back to Earth because it’s the only
place left in the fucking universe that has crack and also strip
clubs.
I wanted to ask you about the scene in that movie Empire
Records when the guy eats pot brownies and watches a GWAR video
…
He gets all whacked out! Yeah, I remember that … We were
hanging out with Liv Tyler, that stupid bitch, Steven Tyler’s
daughter—Liv Tyler tried to buy pot off us!
Did you have some to sell her?
Yeah, we smoked weed with her!
What is she like stoned?
Pretty much the same as she is unstoned—insipid. She was
talking a lot about getting her lips even more pumped up with collagen.
She swore by it.
Now, what would happen if someone actually came to one of your
concerts stoned?
Oh, God, that’s a requirement! You have to be stoned! We blow
pot on people when they come through the doors just to make sure they
are that way. We hand out free malt liquor and handguns, as well.
… GWAR, all of them, are renowned potheads. In fact, one of the
most insidious legends about GWAR is that they’re not really from
outer space at all, but are a bunch of pot-smoking, D&D-playing art
school dropouts.
Is that true?
We completely deny everything about it, but it is, of course,
completely true.
So what planet has the best pot?
Well, right now, Earth has the best pot. In fact, Earth has the only
pot. Cardinal Syn has stamped out pot as well as crack. Anything fun in
outer space is pretty much gone now, unless your idea of fun is going
to Branson and shopping all day, and then you go eat at the Waffle Hut,
and it’s back to the hotel.
Well, thanks for taking some time to talk …
I just want to say that GWAR was born when we were on pot, GWAR is
fueled by pot, and GWAR will love pot forever.