Bloody GWAR saves world from toilet in show

Fire! Arson! Mass Destruction! And that was just outside. On the most notoriously evil night of the year those lovable hugable scumdogs of the universe collectively known as GWAR disobeyed curfew laws, broke fire codes and showcased the sickest display of talent since Leann Rimes. Packed with blood, guts and destruction GWAR opened for the legendary punk band The Misfits Saturday night at Harpo's for their annual Halloween Party.

After countless glam metal videos and numerous "Harpo's Halloween Contests" for tickets to the upcoming Overkill concert, GWAR hit the stage 40 minutes after a violent set by openers Murphys Law. Covered head to toe in latex, vocalist Oderous Urungus, guitarists Balsac the Jaws of Death, Flattus Maximus, bassist Beafcake the Mighty, drummer Jizmak and a handful of slaves including the fire breathing Slymenstra Hymen and Scroda Moon elevated shock rock to a new level with a "metal" opera of the end of the world.

The show began with two explorers on an expedition in Antarctica who find an ancient tablet with a prophecy of destruction if broken. GWAR emerged on stage, decapitated the explorers and broke the tablet before the first song was finished. The pieces were sucked into various dimensions of the universe leaving GWAR to find them. To recover the pieces of the broken tablet GWAR used intergalactic guide Scroda Moon to help.

"Scroda uses the power of his inter-dimensional portal potty to bring forth the different pieces of the tablet," said Hunter Jackson, founding member of GWAR and human form of Scroda. "Each tablet has a guardian like the undead corpse of Elvis Presley or Marilyn Manson and GWAR has to kill them to recover the pieces."

The actual portal potty is a foul mouthed toilet with a Brooklyn accent that loves when GWAR plunges it. But all went wrong when Slymenstra flushed her used sanitary napkin down the potty causing it to spew out the master of the universe. After an intense bloody battle with the master, GWAR finished victorious ending the show with gallons of spew.

GWAR played various songs from records spanning their 12 year career. Crowd favorites like "Salaminizer" and "Maggots," off of their breakthrough album "Scumdogs of the Universe," whirled the crowd through a fit of rage almost as violent as GWAR peeling the skin off of shock rocker Marilyn Manson and jumping rope with Elvis' intestines. Most of the material showcased in their hour long set was taken from their recent release "We Kill Everything."

"Baby Raper," "Jiggle the Handle" and "Tune from da Moon" highlighted GWAR's talent for sick lyrics and heavy riffs. "I think this record (We Kill Everything) is our best record since 'Scumdogs' and the fans' response has been great." Jackson said .

In addition to the on-stage mayhem they perform nightly on stages all across America, GWAR has set their sights on a more recognizable form of entertainment, professional wrestling. Jackson's latest aspiration is a a slot on a Monday Night Raw.

"One way the fans can help GWAR is to contact WWF, ECW and WCW and tell them to put GWAR in the ring and ask to show them on television." This idea started out when VH1 did a segment on GWAR for their hit show "Where are they now?" The show featured footage of Technodestructo (Jackson) fighting Oderous at a local event in Cleveland last year. Most of the bloody battles that takes place on stage are choreographed like most wrestling matches.

For fans that want to be closer to GWAR action than viewing their slaughter in concert Demonblade games have just released the official GWAR miniatures role playing game. Called "Rumble in Antarctica" now every GWAR fan can play with their favorite scumdog in the comfort of their own home. "The object of the game is GWAR is fighting amongst itself in Antarctica and their using their slaves as soldiers." Jackson explains "We wanted to make a GWAR miniatures game for a long time but we were waiting for a company with an existing reputation to distribute it."

In addition to the GWAR board game GWAR will be auctioning off old props and costumes on the internet. "Were gonna have to move our shop to a different location so we have to get rid of some of our crap."

Instead of keeping it in the closet Jackson says "Latex has a tendency to decay and we can't use it in shows anymore so were offering it to our fans."

Devils night might have earned a bad reputation for the city of Detroit, but GWAR proved that killing monsters and flushing giant toilets is far better than running around setting fires.

11-01-99