The Berserker Blothar of GWAR

MetalAsylum.net's Jack Mangan somehow survived his August 2020 encounter with GWAR's "lead howler:" The Berserker Blothar. Here is the harrowing transcript of that meeting.

JACK MANGAN: Thanks so much for taking a few minutes to answer some questions for MetalAsylum.net! Please don’t kill me. Please introduce yourself, tell us what you do for GWAR, and say how long you’ve been with the band.

BLOTHAR: I'm not going to kill you. Relax. My name is The Berserker Blothar. I have been singing for GWAR for six years now. Before that, I played bass in the band for several years in a different corporeal form as Beefkake the Mighty.

JACK: Congratulations on 30 years of “Scumdogs of the Universe.” The album is a bona fide Metal classic. Please let fans know what kinds of cool merchandise is being released to celebrate the anniversary.

BLOTHAR: We have a remixed and remastered version of that record coming out. It will be available as a standalone release, or as a vinyl box set which includes the record on 180 gram blood red and white opaque vinyl, a cassette of some demos and rare tracks from when we were doing pre-production for the record, a 40 page booklet with photos and posters etc, a vinyl slipmat, a huge 3x4 poster of the album cover image, reproductions of All Access passes from the tour for the record, real 8x10 publicity stills of the band, stickers, a death certificate, all kinds of stuff, all in a nice display box. Later, we are releasing the stand alone version, so you can just buy the music, buy a copy of the vinyl etc. We DO have some cool shows planned, they are not announced yet, but there is some cool stuff coming from GWAR in the upcoming weeks and months.

JACK: Do you have any personal favorite songs - - or even moments, laughs, or deaths - - from “Scumdogs?” And are there any in particular that seem to be fan favorites?

I love the song Maggots, and I always loved the song King Queen, it is a cool tune. Slaughterama is hilarious, and I always loved playing Sexecutioner. That song is tight, and heavy as fuck. Fans like Sick of You, the dumbest song we ever wrote lol.

JACK: “Scumdogs” is a great set of music. Tell about some of GWAR’s other musical highlights from across your career. What are some songs you recommend to the GWAR uninitiated - - from “Hell-O” up to “The Blood of Gods” and beyond?

BLOTHAR: I always loved This Toilet Earth. It was a self-produced record, and we hadn't ever done that before, so that was fun. On Hell-o I think "AEIOU" is the classic old GWAR, first wave punk stuff. On Scumdogs, I would say Salamanizer was the band really trying to be innovative, putting together some wide influences and making some hard rock/metal/ punk, even rap stylings. On American Must Be Destroyed, I think the title track is pretty fun, very different vibe or us. On This Toilet Earth, I always loved Sonderkommando. That was heavy shit. GWAR as a Richmond band. Then there are more punk and even the metal years, a lot of records. The band never stopped trying to mix metal with punk in interesting ways. On Blood of Gods, I love Viking Death Machine and El Presidente.

JACK: GWAR concerts are the stuff of legend. Talk a little bit about how the live show has evolved over the past 30-35 years. I.e., what’s changed in the props, performances, skits, the crowds, venues, etc.

BLOTHAR: Well, we started out with a bunch of shitty papier-mache and Karo syrup, and now we have shitty latex and fancy stage blood. We have always told stories with our shows and we still do that. The props have evolved and are more durable, but the aesthetic is the same; crazy ass overblown, cartoonish stuff. The venues are bigger, the people are further away, but there is still that great feeling when a crowd has never seen the majesty of GWAR and have no idea what to expect.

JACK: I know it’s been 6 years now, but I want to offer my condolences on the loss of your friend. Dave Brockie, aka Oderus Urungus, was one of the great voices and personalities in Metal, even without his humor. Where do you still see his imprint on the new things GWAR are doing?

BLOTHAR: Well thank you for the kind words, human scum. He is in everything we do. We carry on as Oderus had us do. We can never stop singing the songs he helped write, never stop using the styles of visual art and aesthetics of costuming he used. Oderus is still everywhere in what we do.

JACK: Can you touch a bit on the process for creating the stage props and costumes? Some of them are quite elaborate. Is it all done by the band members? Or band members and friends and family? Do you hire out for help?

BLOTHAR: We have people in our band who are visual artists. They make the props and costumes. While they are not musicians, we think of the people who build the props and costumes as members of the band. This is a key difference in GWAR and other "shock rock" acts.

JACK: Are there any GWAR characters from the past who we might see again in the future, with new or original players in the role?

BLOTHAR: I think all of them will show up at GWAR shows in the future!!! And maybe sooner than people think.

JACK: As gods of the Earth who’ve been here for millennia and who’ve driven a great deal of human history - - is 2020 GWAR’s fault?

BLOTHAR: Hell no! This is all the doing of humanity. GWAR are just anxious to get it over with so we can get back to killing you and not sitting on the sidelines in toilet paper forts watching you kill yourselves!

JACK: Assuming Earth has some kind of a future, tell us about GWAR’s plans for a follow-up to 2017’s “The Blood of Gods.” Is there a new album in the works?

BLOTHAR: We are working on a new record that will be out late next year. Hell yes.

JACK: How can GWAR fans connect with you during lockdown/quarantine/the plague, beyond their DVDs and albums?

BLOTHAR: We will have upcoming live streaming events, super strange drive-in shows, 7-inch singles, an acoustic EP, new comic books, new GWAR themed products, all kinds of stuff. Plus we have the new show "GWAR Undead from Antarctica," once a month on Sundays. GWARbar is open with limited seating and carry-out food. Come get drunk by yourself and eat some heart attack inducing intergalactic junk food! GWAR are not going anywhere. We will be back.

Official website: Official website: https://gwar.net/