Gwar

GWAR is an American heavy metal band from Richmond, Virginia, formed in 1984 from the intersection of the local punk scene and an art-school experimental film project. Vocalist Dave Brockie, performing as the intergalactic warlord Oderus Urungus, co-founded the band after his punk outfit Death Piggy merged creative visions with filmmaker Hunter Jackson, whose concept for a film called Scumdogs of the Universe became the mythology underpinning everything GWAR would become. Each member adopted a costumed alien warrior character, and their live show became a theatrical spectacle involving gallons of fake blood, elaborate props, and the mock dismemberment of celebrity and political figures onstage. Their debut album Hell-O was released in 1988 on Metal Blade Records, launching a discography that grew to over a dozen studio albums across four decades. GWAR received Grammy nominations in 1993 for Best Long-Form Music Video and in 1996 for Best Metal Performance. Brockie died of a heroin overdose on March 23, 2014, at age 50. The surviving members continued, recruiting Mike Bishop as vocalist under the character Blothar the Berserker. The annual GWAR-B-Q festival, held at Hadad's Lake in Richmond from 2009 to 2016, became a beloved destination event hosting bands including Clutch, Down, and The Dickies, and at the 2014 edition Brockie's Oderus Urungus costume was given a Viking funeral on the lake. Wayne Dennon photographed GWAR as part of an archive that spans metal's most theatrically committed acts.