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Information on this wiki is taken from a mixture of Genius and Wikipedia. Some paraphrased, most not. Credit goes to the original people who found the information and wrote it out.

## **GWAR**

Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc.

Gwar is mainly identified by their grotesque and unique costumes. The bands entire concept revolves around an elaborate science fiction-themed mythology, which has the band playing characters that are interplanetary alien warriors (usually collective referred to as the “Scumdogs of the Universe”). The lore, characters, etc, the basis for all of the band's albums, live shows and media. Gwar is also known for their extremely explicit and over-the-top violent, sexual, scatologoical humor, usually having to do with a multitude of controversial subjects, gaining them their own various controversies throughout the years.  Gwar has attracted both acclaim and controversy for its music and stage shows, the latter of which notoriously showcase enactments of graphic violence that result in the audience being sprayed with many fake bodily fluids. Such theatrical shows regularly leads Gwar to be labeled a "shock rock" band by the media.

Since their formation, Gwar has released 15 studio albums, three live albums, and numerous singles among other recordings, and has sold over 820,000 records in the United States. Fueled largely by their wild stage shows, Gwar experienced brief mainstream notoriety during the first half of the 1990s, receiving regular airplay on MTV as well as frequent in-character guest appearances on daytime talk shows, satirizing the topics of censorship and media violence. Though the band's mainstream popularity declined by the end of the 1990s, Gwar has retained a dedicated fan following and they’re still pretty popular among the metal community. The band's extensive videography consists of both live recordings and long-form feature films, most notably 1992's Phallus in Wonderland, which earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Long Form Music Video. (They were also nominated for Best Metal Performance in 1996 for their song “S.F.W.”)

Gwar has also expanded its brand into other areas such as books, comic books, board games, alcohol, and much more.

## *Band Formation*

GWAR is the result of two different projects combined into one. Dave Brockie was the vocalist and bassist for a punk band named Death Piggy that staged mini-plays and used crude props to punctuate its 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. At Richmond Dairy, Dave Brockie had met Hunter Jackson and Chuck Varga, both of which attended Virginia Commonwealth University at the time. They intended to make a movie entitled “Scumdogs of the Universe”, and they had set up “The Slave Pit” as a production space to make the movie. Originally, Hunter Jackson created props for Death Piggy to use on stage. The idea of GWAR was from Dave Brockie, who had an idea to use the costumes from the Scumdogs of the Universe movie on stage and open up for his band Death Piggy as this barbaric band from Antartica, sacrificing animals and playing nonsensical songs. The name of the joke group was “Gwaaarrrgghhlllgh”. The members of Death Piggy began noticing that more people were coming to see Gwaaarrrgghhlllgh and leaving immediately after the set, instead of staying for the actual show, which was Death Piggy. After several refinements, including shortening the band's name, Death Piggy morphed into just being GWAR.

## *Member History*

    The first known line-up for Gwar consisted of Ben Eubanks (vocals), Dave Brockie (guitar), Steve Douglas (guitar), Chris Bopst (bass guitar), Jim Thomson (drums) and Hunter Jackson. However, this line-up was short-lived and would suffer multiple changes in the following months, with Ben Eubanks quitting after just one or two shows and being replaced by Joe Annaruma, who went on to record several demo tracks with the band. Joe Annaruma soon quit and was replaced by Dave Brockie. The band solidified into a line-up consisting of Jackson, Don Drakulich, Varga, Mike Delaney, Mike Bonner, Scott Krahl, Dave Musel and Brockie. Mike Delaney left in 1987. Dewey Rowell (Flattus Maximus), Michael Bishop (Beefcake the Mighty) and Rob Mosby (Nippleus Erectus) were recruited in 1987, along with Steve Douglas (BalSac the Jaws O’ Death), who rejoined the band after having previously left. Danielle Stampe (alias: Slymenstra Hymen) joined in 1988 as the first full-time female member of Gwar for the first U.S. tour supporting Gwar's debut album Hell-O and toured consistently with the band until 2000. Before Slymenstra, the band has also recruited, and lost, three other female members: The Temptress, Heather Broome (1986); Amazina, Colette Miller (1986–87); and Gwar Woman, Lisa Harrelson (1987–88).

However, the band's line-up underwent further changes before 1990. In 1988, the Slave Pit saw the joining of Bob Gorman, a young, new artist who would help with the art design and fabrication aspects of the band. One year later, in 1989, Rob Mobsy left the band and was replaced by Pete Luchter, who also quit to be replaced temporarily by Jim Thompson, who had been in the band prior to the release of Hell-O!. Thompson later quit and was replaced by Brad Roberts, who has since portrayed Jizmak Da Gusha.

In August of 1990, guitarist Michael Derks daughter was born, which resulted in him taking a short break from the band. This led to his live appearances to be replaced by Barry ‘D’live’ from the band Rich Kids on LSD. He took the place of BalSac during Gwar’s 1991 European tour.

The band suffered further line-up changes during this Scumdogs of the Universe era, with Dewey Rowell leaving the band in 1991 and not being replaced until 1992 by Pete Lee, after the recording of their 3rd album. After recording for their 4th album was completed, bassist Mike Bishop left the band. He was replaced by Casey Orr, from the band Rigor Mortis.