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It makes a certain amount of sense that Boston's Theater District will be visited upon by one of rock's most theatrical groups, GWAR — their grotesque spattering of body fluids amidst the lumpen fury of their heavy-metal racket falls right in line with the 19th-century Grand Guignol tradition of horror theater that is both graphic and amoral. But don't spew that high-falutin' nonsense to the monsters of GWAR or they'll rip your arm off and beat you with it. After all, we aren't talking about a motley crew of Richmond, Virginia, art students who built gigantic rubber suits and developed a touring metal institution that is still going strong 28 years later. No, GWAR is a team of interplanetary warriors, descended from aliens stranded in Antarctica, hellbent on the enslavement of the human race. And I most definitely spoke to Oderus Urungus, the murderous crew's vicious and cruel leader, and not Dave Brockie, musician, comedian, and satirist extraordinaire. No, Brockie was clearly killed long ago by the sadistically well-hung warlord who answered my call when I rang him to talk about the band's Return of the World Maggot Tour that brings along fellow thrashers Municipal Waste and Ghoul for a night of noise, terror, and flying offal at the Wilbur Theatre.SO ARE YOU GUYS READY TO ASSAULT OUR THEATER DISTRICT? WILL THIS BE A CLASSY, THEATRE-WITH-R-BEFORE-E GWAR? Well, GWAR is a theatrical outfit; sure, there might be some entrails being thrown around and gallons of guts sluiced across the floor or thrown right into the fans' laps. But you know, we belong in a theatrical setting. [Adopts Maggie Smith accent.] It's naughty theater, you know? Naughty theater, darling.
IS IT TRUE THAT YOU HAVE TONED DOWN THE POLITICAL SATIRE OF YOUR SET FOR THIS TOUR? Completely untrue! Although last year, we were so disgusted by the amount of attention that the Republican presidential candidates were getting, and by the fact that they are, in general, so repulsive, so repellent, that we couldn't see giving them any more attention. So we decided to ignore them completely in hopes that they would just curl up and die. Unfortunately, this strategy seems to have backfired a bit, and the motherfuckers bred like rabbits. So our new strategy is to get them all in one room and BOOM!, just drop the fucking hammer.
DO YOU THINK THAT AMERICAN SOCIETY — CLAMORING FOR BLOOD, AND WITH RISING HOSTILITY — IS BECOMING MORE ACCEPTING OF THE GWAR MESSAGE? Well, I still think that, despite our attempts to make it more palatable for the human race, baby rape is every bit as unpopular now as it ever has been — despite the success of Chris Hansen's To Catch a Predator. But seriously, we remain at the forefront of the soft, wretched underbelly of this movement that we are a part of, whatever you want to call it. And all we know is that this band is every bit as disgusting and non-commercial as we have ever been, and our sensational lack of financial success is proof of that.
