GWAR is a Virginian punk/metal band. The reason why they are deserving of a FUQ the likes of this is that, in fact, they make a pretty impressive racket while at the same time touring with the most awesome stage-show in the business today. But let's start at the beginning, shan't we?

In the seventies (1970's that is) there was a performer named Alice Cooper who really gave rock-n-roll a kick in the ass when he combined music and theatrics in his concerts. During his shows he did a little magic, showed a little blood and finished it all by chopping his own head off. Take Alice's show, shoot it up with crack and you get an idea of what a GWAR show is like. Instead of a mere one decapitation at the end, however, you're rather more likely to see five - and that's during the first song! Masturbating onto the audience, acts of bestiality and a human meat-grinder are all things you'll likely see at a GWAR concert. So if that kind of shit offends you, then you'd better stop reading right now.

Still here? Good!

There have been varying theories about where the name GWAR came from, but the following is the true one. When the members of GWAR first broke free from the iceberg they'd been imprisoned in (read: when they had to think up a name), they let go of a horrific scream, "GWARRRRRRRRR," which was later shortened to become GWAR and the band's name. A slightly varying explanation is that Dave once shouted "We are GWWAARRGGHHLLL" or something.

Just to confuse us and possibly piss a few people off, they seem to come up with different explanations all the time. Sometimes fans think of explanations for themselves. Some of them include the following.

There is a theory that in fact it was derived from "God What A Racket" (kind of like "We Are Sexual Perverts" for WASP). It is said that, once, GWAR admitted that they took the name from a comic book, where it stood for "Gay Women Against Rape." There is a report of a "Watchmen" graphics novel from 1986 in which it appears. In the movie "Phallus In Wonderland" there is a scene where a bunch of people are protesting GWAR. In this scene somebody is holding a sign which reads "Gay Women Against Rape", which further supports this theory.

'GWAR', incidentally, is a genuine word in the Welsh language, where it means "nape of the neck". Also, Lord Byron wrote a poem called THE GIAOUR, which is an Arabic word for 'infidel' or 'unbeliever'. It is pronounced like "gwar", and it was written in 1813. These instances have NOTHING to do with the actual origin of the band name, but were spotted by GWAR fans and are included here as illustrative examples, or perchance to indicate some subliminally trivial significance never intended by GWAR themselves.

The Slave Pit is a building in Virginia where some members of GWAR live. It is the place where they conceive their stage antics, create their videos and ply their artful trade. It also houses a recording studio, practice room, kitchen, offices, and computers.

The following bit, written by Mikey, captured it in a detailed way:

"The Slave Pit is a large warehouse kind of building in Richmond. The upstairs is the offices for the band and downstairs near the entrance is the practice room which can be seen on the middle pages of the "Carnival of Chaos" liner notes. There's another room (the main room I guess) which has a TV, table, sinks, refrigerator and all that kind of stuff. Through that room is the first workshop where most of "Skulhedface" and "Phallus in Wonderland" were filmed. A large corner of the room is painted blue for the chroma key sequences. In this room a lot of the larger stuff like Gor-Gor and the backdrops get made. From here you can go up to the rooms where the props and costumes are stored. Also from here you can go to the lofts where a few of the members (Dave Brockie, Dave Musel and Matt Maguire) live. Through this room is a smaller shop where Maguire and Gorman make a lot (if not most) of the props. Here you can find Bobby's tape collection and tons and tons (or gallons and gallons) of liquid latex. The drying room is back here, too, for setting the molds. Outside is a large yard. There's also a place to play basketball (the cover of the "RAWGWAR" Slave Pit single tape). Don has a shop out on the far side of the yard too. At the very back of the whole compound are practice spaces for other bands. I know Kepone practices there, but I'm not sure if anyone else does. Oh yeah, and they have big guard dogs too."

The following was purloined from Balsac's September 1999 "Mind Control Monthly":

The Slave Pit is the compound where GWAR's artists and musicians create the spectacles that have earned GWAR a place in Rock and Roll history. The actual Pit has moved twice in GWAR's 15 year history. All three Slave Pit's have been in Richmond VA (everyone knows that GWAR lives in Antarctica, but we are speaking now of reality of the Slave Pit and not the mythology of GWAR). The original Slave Pit was also know as The Dairy, a milk bottle-shaped building in down town Richmond. In the Fall 1987, The Slave Pit moved to 801 W Broad St, an old brothel, located across the street from the than infamous Rockitz club. Four years later, in 1991, The Pit moved to its present location, a 3 building compound just North of downtown. This is where both "Phallus in Wonderland" and "SkulHedFace" were filmed. In 1992 GWAR, for tax reason, became a business and Slave Pit Incorporated was born.

The band are at the moment looking for another place to put the Slave Pit. They have already moved out quite a bit.

In the beginning there was a band called Death Piggy (more about them later), a small-time punk band. Death Piggy was practicing in a room at the infamous Richmond Dairy, a vast deserted bottling plant that hippies had taken over and in which they rented out vast interior areas to a motley assortment of artists and musicians. Hunter Jackson and Chuck Varga, two VCU attendees, had set up the Slave Pit to serve as the production space for a movie they wanted to make, called "Scumdogs of the Universe". As fate would have it, Death Piggy ended up wearing some of Jackson's and Varga's costumes (Hunter made Dave a spewing dick for a Death Piggy show), opening up for themselves under the GWAR moniker. Everyone fuckin' loved it, so Death Piggy died a quick death while from the decaying corpse was born the band supreme, GWAR. Like an alternative story would have it, GWAR started as a tribute to Wendy O. Williams (for which Death Piggy were headlining), who had just appeared naked in Playboy. Hunter Jackson made Dave Brockie a squirting penis out of a squeezy ketchup bottle. It was so obvious on stage that the audience cleared from in front of the stage leaving Dave to climax on the empty floor.

"Billions and billions of years ago, darkness was all that existed. Then The Master, ruler of the universe, created the planets and everything in them. But soon The Master became bored of this and created death, destruction and war. He enjoyed watching the peons die but soon even that became boring, he himself wanted to kill. So he began slaughtering the humanoids that littered the planets face, but that too lost its fun. He needed more of a challenge, so he created God-like creatures with whom he could do battle. But soon there were too many of these creatures, and he had to be rid of them. He conjured up all his power and created the most powerful he could, GWAR was formed. This elite fighting force was called The Scumdogs of the Universe. The Master used them to destroy all of his enemies. Millions of years and millions of battles later, GWAR became more powerful and craved even more power. Thinking that they could take over The Master's throne, GWAR attacked him and the greatest of all battles began. The carnage lasted a billion years before The Master created the ultimate weapon - the Death Pod. The pod swallowed GWAR up and delivered them to The Master.

"Ahhhh, foolish Scumdogs", The Master laughed. After thinking about what their punishment should be, he finally decided: GWAR shall be banished to a miserable mudball planet called Earth...

The Earth rumbled when the mighty Death Pod crashed into its surface. Shaken and confused, GWAR crawled out and looked around. Thinking they could have a nice little planet once its cleared off, they destroyed the dinosaurs. Afterwards they created Stonehenge so they could play croquet, and weren't having that bad of a time. The Master looked down upon this and frowned, what kind of punishment is this? So to stop the nonsense he imprisoned GWAR in an iceberg on the frozen continent of Antarctica.

Millions of years later: 1980ish. Glam rock was at its peak, groups like Poison and Whitesnake were dominating the airwaves. They inspired a whole slew of new "hair spray" bands. But little did they know, all of that hair spray put a hole in the ozone - right above Antarctica! Soon the unfiltered gamma rays melted the iceberg and GWAR was free.

Meanwhile, Sleazy P. Martini was fleeing the country on drug charges, flying over the former tomb of GWAR. He picked them up and brought them back to America. He taught them how to use instruments and they learned the language from watching midget wrestling and MTV. Soon GWAR was known as the greatest band in the Universe...

Unsatisfied with being worshipped by humans, GWAR still wishes to take revenge on The Master. They discovered a way. If GWAR could summon the World Maggot, they could ride it back to the center of the universe and finally defeat The Master. The World Maggot is a large maggot that lives in the center of the Earth, the only way to wake it is to slaughter millions of innocent people. So, taking advantage of their newfound fame, GWAR puts on shows to which their fans flock. They murder and mutilate these fans, show after show, until enough blood is spilled to wake the maggot."

(More of this history is required)

The following is an alphabetical list of members past and present of GWAR, or people who have to do with the band in some or other capacity of the musical side of things.

Genna ANDERSON Danny BLACK David Murray BROCKIE Michael DERKS Ben EUBANKS Tim HERMAN Ethan ISENBERG Pete LUCHTER Colette MILLER Casey ORR Cory SMOOT Jim THOMPSON Scott WOLFE Joe ANNARUMA Zach BLAIR Heather BROOM Steve DOUGLAS Todd EVANS Lisa HARRELSON Hunter JACKSON Matt MAGUIRE Rob MOSBY Greg OTTINGER Daniell/Danyell STAMPE ULA Russ BAHORSKY Chris BOPST Ron CURRY Don DRAKULICH Liz FAIRBAIRN Tim HARRIS Scott KRAHL Melanie MANDL Dave MUSEL Brad ROBERTS STRETCH Charles "Chuck" VARGA Michael BISHOP Mike BONNER Mike DELANEY Mike DUNN Chris FLYNN Bob GORMAN Peter Austin LEE Robert MARGOULEFF Chris ORANGER Dewey ROWELL Sean SUMNER Barry WARD

I can see them in concert - hey, so can you! But if you don't feel like getting your clothes fucked up with red and green blood (as well as red, green and blue semen), you can watch GWAR in the safety of your own home. Please refer to the video information in the GWARography section.

For the latest tour information, check out the tour dates on the official GWAR site (www.gwar.net).