Balsac the Jaws of Death of the heavy metal band GWAR performs at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC on Wednesday, December 29, 2010.
GWAR’s Bloody Tour of Horror stopped in Washington, DC to play the 9:30 Club this past Wednesday. Joined on the tour by The Casualties, Infernaeon, and Mobile DeathCamp, this was the second to last date on their tour. The group will finish their tour in Norfolk, Virginia on Thursday, December 30.
The groups history dates back to 1984 when it was formed at Virginia Commenwealth University. Reading through the groups history, if it weren’t for Davie Brockie’s curiosity and Hunter Jackson’s willingness, GWAR may not exist today.
“GWAR was the result of two separate projects that eventually combined into one. Dave Brockie was the vocalist for a punk band named Death Piggy that often staged mini-plays and used crude props to punctuate their often ridiculous music. Bands would occasionally practice in a room at the Richmond Dairy, a deserted bottling plant that had been taken over by hippies. The hippies rented out interior areas to various artists and musicians. It was at the Richmond Dairy that Death Piggy met Hunter Jackson (Techno Destructo) and Chuck Varga (Sexecutioner), both attendees of Virginia Commonwealth University who had set up “The Slave Pit”, a production space for Scumdogs of the Universe, a movie they intended to make. Jackson would create props for Death Piggy to use on stage. One day, completely on a whim, Dave asked Hunter if he could borrow the costumes made for “Scumdogs of the Universe”; the idea was for audiences to be excited and thrilled to finally see Death Piggy take the stage, after witnessing a barbaric band, supposedly from Antarctica, playing nonsense songs while sacrificing fake animals (in reality, it was actually Death Piggy in Hunter and Chuck’s costumes, essentially opening the show for themselves). They would call this elaborate joke group, “GWAAARRRGGHHLLLGH”. Show after show, Death Piggy started noticing a staggering trend at their shows–more and more people were coming to see GWAAARRRGGHHLLLGH and leaving immediately after, not staying for the headlining Death Piggy. After a few more refinements, as well as shortening the band’s name (after growing tired of writing all the letters on flyers), Death Piggy was slowly being eclipsed, and later was fully absorbed into the new focus–GWAR.” -Wikipedia. Gwar’s Wikipedia Page Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwar.
Today, the group continues to benefit from a very loyal following. Many of their loyal followers show up to their shows with white t-shirts on so they can leave with “GWAR marks”. The group is known for spraying the crowds at their shows with fake blood and body fluids leaving the fans in the first few rows of the show drenched.
More Photos:
GWAR, 9:30 Club 2010 – Images by Anthony Washington
