GWAR @ The Electric Factory.

Text and images by Jimmy Viola.

“Fuck you death, you’re an asshole,” bellowed Gwar frontman Oderus Urungus, and with that, swung a broad sword with both hands at the head of a stage hand dressed as the grim reaper, severing the costume’s head to reveal a prosthetic stump that hosed the audience with a jet of bright red blood as they roared with ravenous delight.

After 27 years, the costumed shock-rockers have perfected their explosive style of crude humor and gore-drenched theatrics, and their performance on Saturday night at the Electric Factory exemplified the sights and sounds that the band has become notorious.

The only missing piece was guitarist Corey Smoot, who was found dead on the band’s tour bus on November 3 during their tour of North America. Smoot had performed as the dreadlocked and triceratops shoulder pad-wearing alien Flattus Maximus since 2003. Following his untimely death, Urungus, known as Dave Brockie out of costume, says the band chose to continue their tour to honor Smoot’s memory and cope with his sudden passing among fans. So kicking off the show by summarily slaughtering the visage of death reminded audiences that the show must go on.

Now performing as a four piece, Gwar was neither less explosive nor blood splattered. Their remaining guitarist Balzak the Jaws of Death gamely handled the rhythm and lead parts while bassist Beefcake the Mighty provided the low-end support and backing vocals. Three songs in, Gwar broke into “Jager-monsta” and summoned to the stage the song’s namesake, a deer-headed skeleton that squirted Jagermeister blood upon its inevitable decapitation and dismemberment.

This scene would repeat itself throughout the night, as a ghastly gallery of fiends, monsters, and Snookie impersonators would be introduced and ripped apart within minutes by Gwar and their slaves, who wore ass-less codpieces and bondage masks to assist in the bloodbath.

For “KZ Necromancer,” the song’s inspiration appeared dressed as a green-skinned Nazi scientist in a lab coat who, Urungus explained, had been busy experimenting on stem cells for the United States government. The Necromancer marched around stage and hurled a bucket of “radioactive waste” into the crowd, giving the Nazi salute as he was disemboweled by GWAR’s turtle bodyguard.

Musically, the band played a tight set. Songs like “Bring Back the Bomb” and the mosh pit anthem “Let Us Slay” electrified the crowd, despite being performed with minimal mayhem on stage. For Gwar, minimal theatrics means wheeling a shopping cart-mounted cannon around the stage to keep the audience soaked in – what else — fake blood.

After Gwar ended the their encore with “Sick of You,” Corey Smoot’s customized Schecter guitar was placed on stage and enshrined in the spotlight as Sinatra’s “My Way” played over the speaker system. Urungus appeared on stage to sing the last line of the song, and the remaining spectators cheered for a final time. Then they trailed out into an unusually warm November night, the hundreds of pink blood-stained tee shirts they wore a remnant of the carnage.

* GWAR has Philly connections: Joe Annaruma, formerly known as Joey Slutman, was GWAR’s frontman during the early era of the group. He lives in Philly and performs around the region with his current band, Man is Doomed. We spoke with Annaruma in the summer issue of JUMP. Find the story here.