My introduction to the Scumdogs of the Universe and seeing them live.
Back in 1990 I came across a band and album that would eventually change my life and outlook on the way that things could be.
That band of course was the immortal GWAR and the album was that bands second release: Scumdogs of the Universe.

On the cassette cover stood five grotesque monsters brandishing outrageously oversized and bloodstained weapons. Clad in armor that Warhammer Orcs would find impractical they dominated the cover under the bands name, rendered to look like cartoonish blood. The band stood on what I now know is the bleak, fissured landscape of Antarctica, the location of the bands fictional home (they really hail from Richmond, Virginia) but what, for the longest time, I thought was a sunny beach in front of a lake or sea.
Equally bizarre were the creatures names, Oderus Urungus: lead singer. Balsac the Jaws of Death: guitarist. Flattus Maximus: another guitarist. Beefcake the Mighty: Bass. And last but certainly not least was Jizmak the Gusher: Drummer.
Monsters playing metal? What more could a young comic book enthusiast and metalhead want from a band? I think their film "Skulhedface", filmed by the band to accompany the album "This Toilet Earth" best sums it up in this piece of dialogue:
Mr. Big: Mr.Martini, I must congratulate You on creating such an... innovated concept.
Glomco Executive: Yes, Barbarians from Outer Space playing Heavy Metal, joining your Comic book Nerds and Metal Heads together under one Product Banner. Your Demographics were right on Target!
Sleazy P. Martini: Hey, Asshole, Demo whatevers had nothin' to do with it. GWAR is for real Man!
Mr. Big: Come come now Mr. Martini, we're not your pimply faced Teenage Fans.
Sleazy P. Martini: ...and this ain't yer typical poser Band whipped up by a bunch of D&D playing Art School Flunkies! I... had to go to the ends of the Earth to find GWAR...
The album wasn't mine. I borrowed it from a classmate in my metalworking class. I quickly copied it and spent hours, then years, followed by decades, listening to it.
GWAR is a concept that probably never should have worked. A bunch of guys in monster costumes, playing heavy metal and spraying down their audience with gallons of fake blood and other fluids while dismembering varied victims and fighting various enemies? The band was a totally Gonzo concept that thirty years later is still touring the continent and putting out new albums.
GWAR is in many ways a satirical band, encompassing the decadence and depravity of the 80's metal scene, through Glomco roasting the corporations that exploited bands and musicians to their own end and over time satirizing politics, politicians, news and just about anything else they please.
But the way to experience them is in all their glory, live onstage, a grand guignol spectacle that I doubt many bands could ever hope to reproduce.
I didn't get to see the band until I was well into my twenties and I was fortunate enough to see them with Clayton and Sean when they appeared at the Pyramid Cabaret in downtown Winnipeg.
As I recall the location was packed to capacity. My first impression of the band as they made their way to the stage was the way that they dominated the room. These five band members in their battle armor. They seemed superhuman in height. In reality Dave Brockie, who performs as Oderus Urungus stood at about 6'7". At least that's how tall he seemed to me.
The show was everything I could have hoped. The band showed their social satire killing caricatures of the various politicians and villians in the news at that time. My love for the band was firm as they left the stage and the venue began playing "Beat it" by Michael Jackson while the bands slaves hosed down the people on the floor with the "Biledriver", a tripod mounted water cannon.
After the show we decided to hang around for a bit and I noticed with some amusement that the band, out of costume, was milling around packing up gear. One harried looking stage manager was wandering around amongst the chaos shouting "Has anyone seen Dave?". That was interesting. Where was the singer?
I looked over towards the stage and, yes, there he was. I'm talking about the slave of his Lordship Oderus, the late, great, Dave Brockie. I immediately ran over and said (I might have shouted) "Dave Brockie?" thrusting out my hand as I dove over the railing that seperated us. He turned with a look of fear on his face and went "yeah?".
"Great show man!"
Any stories about his copious drug use was immediately confirmed. his pupils were dilated to the point of being black. But after realizing that he wasn't under attack from this bald headed, goateed gorilla, he was affable and willing to talk not only with us but other fans that had stuck around. If my love for the band was firm following the show, after talking with Dave Brockie my love was cemented. He was a true gentleman and showed a great fondness for his fans.
It was a terrible blow when on March 24, 2014 I found out that he had died, later confirmed as a heroin overdose, in his home in Richmond.
While the band could have folded and died they have instead soldiered on with the original Beefcake the Mighty, Michael Bishop, donning new armor as Blothar the Berzerker and taking over the lead singing duties of the band.
Their first album post-Oderus was a solid thrash-metal offering called the Blood of Gods and confirmed, via a line in "Fuck this Place" "We ain't done yet man...".
And neither am I...
That band of course was the immortal GWAR and the album was that bands second release: Scumdogs of the Universe.

Equally bizarre were the creatures names, Oderus Urungus: lead singer. Balsac the Jaws of Death: guitarist. Flattus Maximus: another guitarist. Beefcake the Mighty: Bass. And last but certainly not least was Jizmak the Gusher: Drummer.
Monsters playing metal? What more could a young comic book enthusiast and metalhead want from a band? I think their film "Skulhedface", filmed by the band to accompany the album "This Toilet Earth" best sums it up in this piece of dialogue:
Mr. Big: Mr.Martini, I must congratulate You on creating such an... innovated concept.
Glomco Executive: Yes, Barbarians from Outer Space playing Heavy Metal, joining your Comic book Nerds and Metal Heads together under one Product Banner. Your Demographics were right on Target!
Sleazy P. Martini: Hey, Asshole, Demo whatevers had nothin' to do with it. GWAR is for real Man!
Mr. Big: Come come now Mr. Martini, we're not your pimply faced Teenage Fans.
Sleazy P. Martini: ...and this ain't yer typical poser Band whipped up by a bunch of D&D playing Art School Flunkies! I... had to go to the ends of the Earth to find GWAR...
The album wasn't mine. I borrowed it from a classmate in my metalworking class. I quickly copied it and spent hours, then years, followed by decades, listening to it.
GWAR is a concept that probably never should have worked. A bunch of guys in monster costumes, playing heavy metal and spraying down their audience with gallons of fake blood and other fluids while dismembering varied victims and fighting various enemies? The band was a totally Gonzo concept that thirty years later is still touring the continent and putting out new albums.
GWAR is in many ways a satirical band, encompassing the decadence and depravity of the 80's metal scene, through Glomco roasting the corporations that exploited bands and musicians to their own end and over time satirizing politics, politicians, news and just about anything else they please.
But the way to experience them is in all their glory, live onstage, a grand guignol spectacle that I doubt many bands could ever hope to reproduce.
I didn't get to see the band until I was well into my twenties and I was fortunate enough to see them with Clayton and Sean when they appeared at the Pyramid Cabaret in downtown Winnipeg.
As I recall the location was packed to capacity. My first impression of the band as they made their way to the stage was the way that they dominated the room. These five band members in their battle armor. They seemed superhuman in height. In reality Dave Brockie, who performs as Oderus Urungus stood at about 6'7". At least that's how tall he seemed to me.
The show was everything I could have hoped. The band showed their social satire killing caricatures of the various politicians and villians in the news at that time. My love for the band was firm as they left the stage and the venue began playing "Beat it" by Michael Jackson while the bands slaves hosed down the people on the floor with the "Biledriver", a tripod mounted water cannon.
After the show we decided to hang around for a bit and I noticed with some amusement that the band, out of costume, was milling around packing up gear. One harried looking stage manager was wandering around amongst the chaos shouting "Has anyone seen Dave?". That was interesting. Where was the singer?
I looked over towards the stage and, yes, there he was. I'm talking about the slave of his Lordship Oderus, the late, great, Dave Brockie. I immediately ran over and said (I might have shouted) "Dave Brockie?" thrusting out my hand as I dove over the railing that seperated us. He turned with a look of fear on his face and went "yeah?".
"Great show man!"
Any stories about his copious drug use was immediately confirmed. his pupils were dilated to the point of being black. But after realizing that he wasn't under attack from this bald headed, goateed gorilla, he was affable and willing to talk not only with us but other fans that had stuck around. If my love for the band was firm following the show, after talking with Dave Brockie my love was cemented. He was a true gentleman and showed a great fondness for his fans.
It was a terrible blow when on March 24, 2014 I found out that he had died, later confirmed as a heroin overdose, in his home in Richmond.
While the band could have folded and died they have instead soldiered on with the original Beefcake the Mighty, Michael Bishop, donning new armor as Blothar the Berzerker and taking over the lead singing duties of the band.
Their first album post-Oderus was a solid thrash-metal offering called the Blood of Gods and confirmed, via a line in "Fuck this Place" "We ain't done yet man...".
And neither am I...
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