Gwar’s Oderus Urungus is one of those characters who truly needs no introduction. You’ve seen the band’s crazy antics both in their legendary music videos and live show for 25 years, an anniversary they are celebrating on August 18 with the release of Lust In Space, their first album since returning to Metal Blade Records.
Oderus took some time out of his crack-cocaine-filled schedule to talk to Metal Insider about the anniversary, the return to Metal Blade, Michael Jackson and President Obama.
You’re celebrating your 25th anniversary with Gwar this year. Doing anything special?
We have proclaimed a two year long celebration for the human race to bow down in utter subservience and recognize our supremacy over all on this planet. A traditional one year long anniversary simply wasn’t long enough, so we are going to set out on the most bone crushing tour we have ever gone on. We will be pummeling the cities of the human race one after one until we have reduced you to groveling submission. Now I know I say this every time we put out a new record, but I really mean it this time. Twenty-five years of underground dominance from Gwar is going to explode, and Gwar’s finally going to get the international recognition we so sorely and truly deserve. Posers like Lordi will be floating into the fire and everyone will hail Gwar as masters of this planet.
So you still have a feud going with Lordi then?
I don’t know if it’s a feud so much as a completely one sided slap-around affair. I mean I did have his head on a stick at one point. I think we won. It’s just getting the rest of the human race to understand that. I mean if you don’t understand that Gwar rules and Lordi sucks… When you see Oderus standing there with Lordi’s head on a stick, spitting blood everywhere, then I don’t really know what else I can do!
Why not do a 3 year celebration?
I can’t count that high!
What do you think the secret has been to your longevity?
Well the fact that I’m immortal is one of the things that’s working for me. I can’t be killed. Saw my head off, it’ll grow back. Plus my incredible access to the finest quality narcotics. Sleazy keeps me so high all the time, I wouldn’t even know if I was dead.
Besides that, Gwar has consistently given the world the most incredibly awesome stage performance in the history of this planet. We’ve always set the bar as far as live shananigans are concerned. And I really don’t know another band out there that fights an 18-foot tall tyrannosaurus-rex every night. I think Gwar goes that extra mile to prove to the humans that we are indeed supreme, even to the point of consuming the entire audience.
Has our new president made his way to any live shows yet?
Yes, he has appeared with Gwar on the tour we did last year and his head was rudely ripped off. We did allow him to grow it back. We understand that the humans seem to like Obama. So we’re willing to let him remain in power for a while. But he has agreed to come out with us on our next tour where he shall be eviscerated nightly.
I wanted to thank you for taking some time out from watching the big Michael Jackson tribute at the Staples Center today.
I was very disturbed that I was not invited to do my own little tribute to Michael Jackson. After all, he is from outer space just like us, and he’s graced the stage with Gwar many times. I will tell you right now, that Michael wanted me to be there at the ceremony. He faked his death and returned to outer space, and he will be appearing with us on our next tour.
You’re returning to Metal Blade Records with this 25th anniversary. How did that come about? How do you feel about it?
We’re very, very happy. I don’t know why the hell we signed with another record label for a while. I think I was confused, I thought it was a Metal Blade contract. And I don’t really write that well anyway. So, we ended up with DRT for a while and that was just too much for them to bear. The entire label exploded and the company headquarters burned down. It was just as easy as Sleazy calling up [Metal Blade boss] Brian Slagel and saying, “Hey the boys want back on the greatest label in metal history.” Gwar is back where they belong on Metal Blade. Two of the biggest forces in metal music have allied once again. No other label could possibly even begin to understand how to deal with Gwar and support us in the way that we really need. It’s an unholy combination and it’s going to fucking rock.
What can we expect from the new record?
Well Lust in Space is a chronicle of Gwar’s epic adventure. We finally manage to escape Earth, get back to outer space and when we got there, we found out that it sucked. So we had to return to Earth because this is the only planet with crack cocaine. We had many adventures in outer space and they’re all chronicled on the record. I have to say, it is the most epic metal record that we have ever done. We’ve done many records, we’ve piddled around with all kinds of different styles and genres. With Violence Has Arrived in 2001, we firmly re-embraced our metallic roots. And that began our rise to prominence again. The last few records have been getting heavier and heavier and the new one is the heaviest yet. The human race will scream with delight as they hear the hideous sounds of Gwar, the most insane metal band in history.
