“The Blood of Gods Tour” continues on into Australia, as your masters and supreme overlords take their one of a kind carnival of blood-drenched death and destruction Down Under. The last time GWAR visited Australia in 2014, they upset the Australian public with the controversial and media-hyped beheading of an effigy of then-Prime Minister, Tony Abbott. The body count will be even higher when GWAR returns to Australia in April of 2018 for more heavy metal carnage. Mark your calendars or leave the country. We chatted to Beefcake The Mighty ahead of the tour to find out what the fans can expect.
Going into an interview with any member of Gwar was never going to be easy or straight forward as a lot of interviews can be and so you prepare yourself for the unexpected as much as possible. As with most of the interviews I do these days, I very rarely do a lot of prep work before hand unless it’s with a band I have little knowledge about. There is something to be said about the element of surprise and the more natural conversations that one can have instead of being a fairly middle of the road bullet point type of chat which 9 times out of 10 ends up being an average read at best. Sure I have a few key points that need to be addressed but it’s not all pre-written and ready to go like a script and I very rarely even look at the notes during a conversation anyway unless I have a complete brainfreeze. The more I do this over the years the less I’m interested in not only conducting those kinds of interviews but also reading and watching those types of conversations.
However every once in a while I meet my match in improvised interviews and Beefcake The Mighty definitely threw some curveballs at me which at the time was hilariously uncomfortable but reflecting now it was a hell of a lot more fun than if I had completely tried to stay on a script. It wouldn’t have worked and Beefcake The Mighty would have made sure of it as he played me in only the way he does. We start our conversation with the upcoming Australia tour which will be the first time since Soundwave 2014 and of note, was the last time we would see Gwar with original frontman Dave Brockie, otherwise known as Oderus Urungus. Beefcake the Mighty, in his own way seemed genuinely pleased to be returning to Australia.
“That’s right, we’re excited! Except for the flight [laughs].” Yes that notoriously long flight to Australia which stretches out to 12 plus hours and more. So how does Beefcake deal with long travel like that? “Drugs”, he says with a firm stance. “Yeah I do drugs! And Bloody Mary’s!”
It was 4 years ago that Gwar were last in Australia for what was to be the second last Soundwave Festival ever. Gwar were fairly early on in the day surprisingly but many people rocked up to see the monsters of metal tear it up and see what they had in store for us. For those that may remember, it was a set filled with controversey, most notably for the beheading of an effigy in the likeness of then Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot. Of course the metal fans had a good laugh about it but anyone outside of the metal community who either didn’t know who Gwar were or who prefer their music to be more conservative, took offense to it as word spread around the media about the show.
“They’ve gotten used to it over here but it was nice to see people getting their panties in a bunch“, says Beefcake. “That makes it more worthwhile to me, I hope everybody freaks out and has a hissy fit. I like seeing all those conservatives just whine about how we murdered the Queen!”
On what they plan this time around on the upcoming tour, Beefcake says he isn’t sure yet exactly. “I’m not sure until we get there, I’ll probably just go off on everybody. I think this time I’m going to have a sword fight with a sword fish with Bindi Irwin. She’s going to use a stingray”.
Now that actually would ruffle a few feathers which Beefcake merely laughed it off but it wouldn’t surprise me if they pulled it off! All jokes aside though, Gwar can get away with almost anything in Australia as there is a reputation among Aussies that people here can take a joke and engage in all kinds of pisstakes which matches the band’s mantra. “Yeah I love it over there“, Beefcake comments but continues to say, “It reminds me of America except people are driving on the wrong side of the road“. I couldn’t leave that one alone so I responded by saying ‘that depends on your perspective, that some might say you were driving on the wrong side of the road’. Beefcake throws it back, “Numbers don’t lie, I’m right [laughs]“.
We move the conversation onto their latest album “The Blood Of Gods” which was released in October last year, the first without original frontman Oderus Urungus who sadly passed away in 2014. It was received really well with both critics and fans praising the album from a band who has had an astounding career making music that mocks life itself. “Getting great feedback, really couldn’t ask for anything more“, says Beefcake when asked what the response to the new songs has been like. “I think that people really like it and it did really well in the charts and a lot of people were surprised that we’re still hanging in there.”
And hanging in there they do. Gwar have been shredding as the freaks from outer space since the mid 1980’s with numerous lineup changes, controversies and even deaths but still with the kind of success that has gained a cult following that most would dream of. When asked what’s the motivation after all these years, getting a real job keeps Gwar going. “Well I have to say that if we didn’t do what we’re doing, then we would have to get real jobs and that sucks.” So what’s the alternative? “I would probably be doing gay porn“.
Beefcake goes on to tell us that they have been really focusing on the newer material on tour right now with the majority of “The Blood Of Gods” making the set. “All of them except one on the last tour so I think 10 or 11 songs. We play old songs, new songs. Whatever we feel like we throw in there. We play the songs that we can remember.”
Apparently Gwar doesn’t rehearse a whole lot either and if they do, it’s usually filled with other recreational activity. At least that’s what the bass god himself says who claims he doesn’t need to practice. “I don’t need to rehearse, I’m perfect. We don’t rehearse, we just get together and shoot up, drink up and beat up people. And then we’ll strap on a guitar and see what happens.”
Going back to Gwar’s legacy, I made the mistake of asking Beefcake on who he considers to be his biggest influence. Heavy metal has always been deemed satanic by certain people but now we have proof. “Probably Lucifer is my biggest influence although I taught him a lot. You have to remember that all of us are millions of years old, we’ve been around. We’ve been all through outer space and we’ve been doing a lot of time travel lately so I think we influenced the world more than the world influenced us. We are the originators of human beings, you are the bastard offspring of eight.”
And we thank them for it! So that being said, it must feel great to be an influence on all bands rather than the other way around. “I don’t really have any feelings, I’m devoid of them,” says Beefcake. “If they want to worship us or copy us, whatever, they’re never going to be us.”
On that note we decided to end things there but not before Beefcake gave one very important message to the Aussie fans. “Keep that vegemite shit away from me, I don’t like that.” I can’t say I disagree with him on that!
GWAR April 2018 Australia Tour Dates
Tuesday 24th April – Brisbane, Eatons Hill
Thursday 26th April – Sydney, Metro
Friday 27th April – Melbourne, 170 Russell
Sunday 29th April – Adelaide, HQ
Tickets from: http://davidroywilliams.com/tours/gwar/
