Gwar

Genres:	Comedy • Heavy Metal • Music Videos & Concerts • Pop / Rock • Television
Descriptive "tags":	thrash metal • metal • heavy metal • punk • thrash • shock rock
Decades Active:	1980s • 1990s • 2000s
Links online:	Fan Page • MusicMoz • MySpace • Official Homepage • Wikipedia

Biography

This theatrical shock-rock heavy metal quintet emerged from Richmond, Virginia, USA. Assuming bizarre pseudonyms, they comprised Oderus Urungus (vocals), Balsac, The Jaws Of Death (guitar), Flattus Maximus (guitar), Beefcake The Mighty (Mike Bishop; bass) and Nippleus Erectus (drums). They are primarily renowned for an outrageous live show that involves the band adorning themselves in hideous papier mâché masks and wielding blood-splattered torture implements, with set-pieces including the feigned buggery of a priest with a crucifix. Consequently, their UK tour ground to a halt after just three dates owing to the resulting moral panic. Taken to court in the USA over allegedly displaying a penis as a stage prop (the band suggested, bizarrely, that it was some form of fish), it came as little surprise to learn that the origins of GWAR (apparently, ‘God What an Awful Racket’) lie in an art school collective. The music, which is no more than...

Read the Full Biography of Gwar