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| This Is GWAR poster |
One of few music acts which can honestly claim to do something unique, in spite of latter day imitations, the interplanetary warrior heavy metal band known as GWAR is a phenomenon once seen, never forgotten. Since its inception in 1984, it has had 31 human members, and its spectacular performance art and mischievous media presence – which also makes room for serious points to be made about satire and censorship – has assured it of a big reputation. But how well does the public at large know the real GWAR? As Scott Barber’s documentary This Is GWAR, telling the band’s story, prepares for its home entertainment release, I spoke to backing vocalist Bob Gorman (better known as Bonesnapper) and drummer Brad Roberts (Jizmak Da Gusha) about why they feel that now is the time to put it all on record.
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| New GWAR album The New Dark Ages |
“Well, you know, I've been involved a long time,” says Bob. “I'm not an original member but I’ve been involved since like, ’98, and I've always been very much into the history. I did a coffee table book about six years ago. People approached us about this then, and people have been approaching us for a long time. The right time was with the right director, Scott. And he approached us.”
“Also, we knew it would take a long time for somebody really be able to grasp the entirety of our career,” adds Brad. “It probably took them four years to actually get everything they needed to actually put it together.”
It’s a vast history, I agree. It's really hard to know where to start. What were their expectations when the project began?
“We've had a lot of tragedy, but we wanted to have a positive outlook that what we do,” says Bob. “We love it. We didn’t want to make it look sad. And we also didn't want to have us misrepresented, and we didn't really want to compromise Scott's vision. We wanted him to make the movie he wanted to make as long as it wasn't that GWAR died with Oderus or we’re pathetic, you know? We said to Scott ‘You're the director, we’re the subjects, do your magic and will be part of it.’ He impressed me as just a kind person who would give us a fair shake.”
Film seems like a natural extension of GWAR’s use of lots of different art forms, I suggest, and Brad nods.
“I think it was important for us to finally, in our characters, break that fourth wall and explain to all the fans – old and new ones – this is a group of guys that did something this way and it's pretty unique. And I've always been proud to be part of it. So I thought it was a good story to tell and a lot of other people did, because there were multiple documentary production companies that wanted to cover the broad story in here. We just settled on Scott.”
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| American Must Be Destroyed by GWAR |
The wealth of material available to Scott was thanks to Bob, they explain Brad calls him ‘the GWARchivist’.
“I knew it was important,” Bob says. ”I've been either saving it or going back and getting it from other people. You know, people had different stacks, and I knew it was important to go and get copies, to keep a master archive. I was the point person and that's why we worked out something with Scott where I would allow him to use that if we could just say ‘Don't make a movie that embarrasses us.” He laughs.
They’ve mentioned not wanting it to be depressing, but inevitably there are parts which go back over old conflicts within the band. Was that difficult to do? Did they feel fairly represented?
“Yeah, I think so,” says Bob. “I mean, I think we all spoke pretty honestly about how we felt about things. And you know, it helps that it's a third party doing that. We can all speak to Scott. He brought out a lot of honesty. Everyone was speaking from the heart, and it made it easier because he wasn't involved in it. I think the old members felt the same way too.”
“It's been really great going back over some of that stuff,” says Brad. “It was a little bit tough for us to watch, you know, but Scott did a good job with the human element, and that's what we needed. As GWAR was only known to the masses as a crazy band of outer space monsters, we thought it was really important to get to the human side, and Scott did a great job of it.”
So will there be another movie about the outer space monsters and their perspective?
“Always working on it. Hopefully!” says Bob, and Brad nods.
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| The Blood Of Gods by GWAR |
“Absolutely. That's the goal. A big Star Wars type of story telling GWAR’s mythos.”
Bob wanted a film which would reach out to new audiences, he explains. “I think I think my main goal, when I was first taking to Scott, was, our fans are incredibly loyal to us. What I wanted to do, and what Scott did, was show everybody that there's something interesting about us and gain us new fans, so we can keep going. I think that's it. People that don't know anything about GWAR, I've watched reviews online, they're like crying and saying, ‘I can't believe that it's true.’ So he did a great job.”
I tell him that I think the power of the film comes from the fact that it does get to that human story, but it's such a big story. And so many different things have happened to the band throughout the years, so did they all have individual things that they were keen to see represented in the film? Because obviously, there wasn't room to address everything.
“I like his approach,” says Brad, “because he just took the chronology of the 30 years, and he tried to touch on as much as he could. So all the things that happened in each era of GWAR , to get you to the next step of where GWAR went the next decade. There's probably 100,000 stories within each year of GWAR that you could tell, but he managed to streamline it. I think it really helps the narrative to get the sense of GWAR, like, ‘How did they do it?’ and ‘Here’s how many years it took.’”
“I think that the one disappointment, maybe, with some of the older members or people in general is that he ran out of time to talk to everyone,” says Bob. “The credits have everybody that's ever been a longtime member of GWAR, but he didn't get an interview with Mike Bonner or Dave Musel or Scott Krahl. That was him making his decision as the director. He got what he wanted to tell the story. I think, if anything, we would have wanted to get some more ex members, but it's just the way the way it happened.”
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| Violence Has Arrived by GWAR |
Directors usually tell me, when that kind of thing happens, that they'd like to make a mini series, I note. Should there be a GWAR mini series at some point?
“That's what some people really wanted to do, and Shudder is being really cool about being open for more commitment,” Bob responds. “So the more people talk about that, as demand builds up...I thought it'd be great to do something like the SNL series where each era had one hour and it was either a four or a six hour series.”
Perceptions of GWAR and the kind of performance art involved have changed a lot over the years. Has that changed their relationship with their audiences?
“Yes, very much so,” says Bob. “You know, I think this documentary does, people's misconceptions about us have always been our downfall, where they think that we're something we're not. And then when they see us, they were like, ‘Oh, we had no idea.’ It's just, it has many layers, and some aren’t for everyone. So the more people find out about us, the more people's perception changes. I mean, we're a very unique thing, but what we're doing is trying to do something that we would like, and we know there's a lot of other weirdos out there that like the same exact stuff that we like, once they see it.”
We discuss the censorship they’ve had to contend with, and he says that it’s changed over the years.
“When we had a smaller audience we could be a little cruder. No one that I am aware of wants to do something for stupidity’s sake. It’s like Mad Magazine or Heavy Metal, you know, we're making fun of everyone equally, we're pointing out everyone's faults. We're like South Park, and they get away with it. And you know, you have to be clever. You can't just do something that's violent, stupid, and say ‘Oh, that's what we do.’ You have to think about it. And it's a challenge now, because of the way the world has changed. Yeah, we're making fun of people, but we're doing it in a way just to say, like, ‘Hey, we're all we're all fallible, and we all we should be able to make fun of ourselves.’ So, you know, we kill Trump and Biden. We killed Obama, you know, we killed every president since we started killing. I say it's a cathartic Wicker Man thing.”
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| Scumdogs Of The Universe by GWAR |
I suggest that because all this is going on, sometimes people overlook how good the music is.
“We're definitely doing some things now to concentrate on the music,” says Brad. “You know, what with our new record, The New Dark Ages. But we've always been a serious musical group. We write stuff on the topics that we're going to do on stage with monsters and other characters but I think it's really easy to lose sight of what the band is playing when you're looking at the aesthetic of GWAR, that overwhelming vision. Stimulating as it is, it's very easy for somebody to not pay attention to the music, but I don't think we'd have been here this long if the music was an afterthought to that side of things. They’re steaming full speed down the road at the same time.”
With such a strong act and now the documentary as well, it seems likely that GWAR will go on for many, many years to come. But how about the two of them – are they committed to being in this for as long as they can?
“I don't think we have a choice!” Brad laughs. “GWAR’s the kind of thing where like, we got this really cool thing when we were younger and we thought, okay, I'll do this for a minute, but then we realised really soon that the sum was greater than the parts. We we joke about our company we called the Slave Pit because we’re slaves to the art that we're making and it has taken hold up a big part of our lives. Even at our age, it's still so cool to do, so why give that up?”
“As hard as it is, GWAR is just so much better than anything else,” says Bob.
This Is GWAR will be out on Blu-ray, DVD and digital on Monday 24 October.
