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Hello , My Name is Michael
AN EATERY , BAR , PREMIER LIVE MUSIC VENUE , AND EVENT SPACE
6
SAT , JUN 04
BLAZE YA DEAD HOMIE KING KLICK
( JOHNNY RITCHER , CHUCKY CHUCK , OBNOXIOUS ) & MORE
WED , JUN 15
KING ISO C-MOB TAEBO THE TRUTH NOVATORE KRAZED SOCIETY MOPPY RAMM
MON , JUN 20 TAJ FARRANT
FRI & SAT , JUN 24-25
BILMURI
ENROSE WHEN WE WAS KIDS
SUN , JUL 17
PUDDLE
OF MUDD THE OUTFIT SELFLESS PIPE SUNVOLUME
SAT , AUG 06
THE ORIGINAL
WAILERS
www . thewcsocialclub . com ★ facebook . com / TheWCSocialClub / illinoisentertainer . com june 2022
SAT , JUN 11
PSYCLON NINE SEVEN FACTOR OUR FRANKENSTEIN GRIMM
SAT , JUN 18
CONSUME THE DIVIDE
THE FRED DURST EXPLOSION EXTRACTION POINT ZERO SIGNAL TR & F
THU , JUN 23 THE BREATHING PROCESS
REAPING ASMODEIA THE BEHEST OF SERPENTS
FRI , JUL 01
TRAPT
WRECKED WUNDERLICH MONROE MOON RULES APPLY
FRI , AUG 05
DEVIN THE DUDE LEBOWSKI JOEY CHILDZ
SAT , AUG 13
THE PORK TORNADOES
THE BUZZ WORTHYS
W
Micheal Bishop of GWAR
hen conducting business in an unfamiliar new universe like Earth , it ’ s always a good idea for an invading alien to have a human thrall . Thus , announces bassist / vocalist Michael Bishop , with a barely audible ironic chortle , he will be speaking on behalf of misanthropic GWAR front-fiend Blothar the Berserker today in our interview , doing his terrestrial best , he adds , to stay out of Altered-Beast Berserker mode . “ The human thrall of Blothar was a college professor ,” the Richmond , VA-based avatar explains for the layman in a discussion of GWAR ’ s latest The New Darkness manifesto , a real Nero-fiddlingidly-while-Rome-burns affair , featuring self-explanatory anthems like “ Completely Fucked ,” “ New Dark Age ,” and “ The Beast Will Eat Itself .” “ And he taught ethnomusicology — it ’ s the study of music , but sort of done as a cultural critique .” But Blothar , who hails from a parallel world dubbed Scumdoggia , believes wholeheartedly that humankind , growing increasingly ignorant and polarized by being spoon-fed ‘ alternative facts ,’ will soon be at war with itself as it hurtles headlong into oblivion .
But GWAR isn ’ t here to help , like the fabled ancient astronauts — they ’ re bringing their own instruments and joining Nero ’ s doom-and-gloom band . “ The march toward extinction has accelerated ,” they say . “ And if anything , GWAR has always been glad to help humans along that path !” Replete , of course , with outrageous stage props and costumes ( picture Maurice Sendak ’ s “ Where the Wild Things Are ,” but on interstellar crack ). Blothar doesn ’ t necessarily need to explain himself ; He has an empire to oversee , including a recently reopened GWARbar in Richmond ( now mit Biergarten !), the annual GWAR-B-Q , and even a new graphic novel , GWAR in the Duoverse of Absurdity . But he favors us with a chat anyway .
IE : Years ago , in concert , you guys played a song called “ Have You Seen Me ,” complete with giant dancing milk cartons splashed with local missing children ’ s faces . And I think there were even little skeleton-packed kids ’ coffins that came floating down , but it sort of implied that you — in your Beefcake the Mighty mode back then — were single-handedly responsible for all those disappearances . BLOTHAR THE BERSERKER / HUMAN THRALL : That ’ s right ! And that ’ s what GWAR is — cajones Raw cajones , all the time . We were having fun . And we always liked the idea of the dancing milk cartons — that was a fun little thing . And yeah , we used to bring out , uhh , dead kids .
IE : Naturally , you ’ ve probably run afoul of the PC police from time to time . BLOTHAR : Oh , of course ! Absolutely ! We had our shows shut down in Charlotte , NC , and our singer was arrested . And at the time , our singer was Oderous , so Oderous was arrested . In Athens , GA , the chief of police just happened to be there , working security , and he was like , “ You can ’ t do this ! Stop it !” So he shut it down . And GWAR , for a while there , we were very good clients of the ACLU — they kept coming to our rescue and fending off the legal problems we got into . And the one in Charlotte was very interesting because at the time — and this was a long time ago , during the early ‘ 90s — and Jesse Helms was still really the political boss down there , and he had been for what seemed like generations . He was an old fucker . And there was a sense that they wanted to make sure that nothing like that ever happened in Charlotte , NC , but of course , once that old fuck died , then the economy of Charlotte really took off . But before then , he was making sure everything was as backward-looking as possible , so he sent his stormtroopers to the show that we did . They showed up , and in the back of the club , you could watch them file in — it was really like a movie or something , Continued on page 8