Interviews

Blothar the Berzerker of GWAR Interview

Published

8 years ago

September 23, 2018

Blothar the Berzerker of GWAR

Interviewed by: George Archibald
Photos by: Josh Drespling

The intergalactic war machine known as GWAR has been terrorizing Earth for several decades, and fell upon Mr. Smalls Theater in Pittsburgh PA on September 14^th. The battalion of grotesque aliens have been touring relentlessly in support of their latest album, The Blood of Gods.

The mighty Blothar the Berserker has taken over the helm of these Scumdogs,with the common mission to bath fans and foes alike in blood with every song churning from the gears of their death machine.

I was able to communicate with Blothar before his campaign of decimation fell on Mr. Smalls and left behind nothing but rubble and gore.

GA: I must say, your antlers are looking mighty and majestic, can you tell me what planet you hail from, and how you came to join the ranks of GWAR?

BB: Well ,I am from The World of Mist, which is like a Viking Valhalla. I joined GWAR after Oderus passed away. There are a bunch of Scumdogs still frozen in Antarctica in this big cave, and periodically they can be thawed out and if needed be put back in on ice. Originally, I was from outer space like the rest of GWAR and banished to Earth with the other Scumdogs. The great purge of the incompetent, and unmanageable. When Oderus passed, I knew about it. In my slumber we sort of dream but are aware of what is going on. Sensing that need, I thawed out and came back to join the band again.

GA: GWAR has been decimating the United States for many, many, years; what do we the inhabitants of Pittsburgh owe the honor of your visit today?

BB: Are we in Pittsburgh? We are here to do another rock show and kill people, that is what GWAR does. Millvale is always on the list, we always have fun here, and its nice to desecrate this former house of God (referring to the venue, Mr. Smalls Theater used to be a church.) It is a small theater with very little distance between you and the audience.

GA: GWAR originally were a punk rock styled band, but have branched into metal and other genres. What do you think of the human bands that play the same style of music you have adopted?

BB: I don’t listen to a lot of metal, I listen to a lot of old shit because I am old.

(Josh Dresping, Publisher of EmpireExtreme.com): How old is the music?

BB: Fifty million years!! GWAR was a punk band, and it still is closer to punk than metal, at least in its performance aspect. Certainly, the ethos behind everything is closer to punk than any of the idiocies associated with metal. I admire bands like Watain, and their commitment to an idiotic notion of authenticity.

JD: So, no tour with Steel Panther?

BB: Steel Panther is funny. Steel Panther is different. Steel Panther is one of us. They approach the music with a sense of humor. I think that’s the key thing, even in punk. When GWAR started in punk, punk turned into this sort of pough faced contemptuous sincerity. You know a sense of seriousness that we were trying to upend, and metal is just way worse at that. That is what really bums me out about it. I really like the music. I like pretty much everything I hear that is associated with metal. Most of it is good, but there is some nu stuff out there I don’t like very much. I enjoy most of it, but the lyrics, the ideas surrounding it… it’s good to find people that are thoughtful occasionally, making the music. You do find that but by that. they are associated with something that is very puerile. I don’t know any other way to describe it, the sense of taking yourself seriously. In GWAR, what we do is the same thing we did with punk, challenge that notion of being serious.

GA: The list of celebrities and public figures GWAR has ceremonially executed is quite vast, is there any one left, or anyone who GWAR has on their hit list?

BB: There are a lot of people that deserve to die, there’s no question about that. We always find somebody new. We’ve been killing Trump night after night after night, and he turns out to be literally indestructible. It really restores your faith in the absurd, that he manages to maintain. We kill him pretty much every night; rip his guts out, smack him around, and still he comes back. As GWAR, we have killed a lot of people. I think we are going to kill the members of Widespread Panic next. The bass player offered up their crowd in his stead. I think I’ll take him out just because he’s fat, and I’m fat, and there can only be one fat dude.

GA: What do you do with the bodies and skulls of these celebrities after GWAR has their way with them?

BB: Just like everyone else, they become fodder and gristle for the GWAR machine that continues throughout space and time. Often their corpses are left hanging in the back of a dusty old studio in Richmond, Virginia. Which is kind of a fun place to walk around, because its just full of… oh there’s Jon Benet Ramsey with a big fucking dick up her butt, and the bloated corpse of Elvis. I don’t think we’ve killed Elvis. I mean there’s Sleezy (Martini) that’s kind of a cross; he looks like Elvis and acts like Colonel Parker. We’ve killed a lot of folks, and a lot of the time they kind of pile up, to the point where we have a space issue. We need to get some more storage.

GA: As an Interplanetary Warrior, what are your thoughts on peace?

BB: Peace? I don’t know this word. Peace…peas? I like peas. Hmm… peace, piece of what? What is so funny about peace, love and understanding? Peace is desirable even for GWAR, but ultimately not possible. We’ve decided to you know… if you can’t keep the blood off your hands, then you might as well shower in it.

JD: What if you ran across the “space force” in your travels?

BB: We welcome the space force. I hope that it is an army of cloned Trumps, that becomes the space force. Like Stormtroopers, where their helmets look like his hair. It would be great. We need a space force what else would we do with our money; not give it out to people that don’t have enough, it would be better to just burn it. Also, this would help us, as we are trying to find our way towards other planets. We pretend that they want these places to be habitable but in reality, we just want Earth to be disposable. If humankind manages to terraform other planets, I would be all for it, because then we would have somewhere else to put our trash.

There is this theory we have been trying to introduce; that what if there was a civilization that was more advance than there is now on this planet ages ago. We are trying to work that into the mythos, the Old Ones. It is sort of what Lovecraft was obsessed with. This idea of this sort of race of beings that managed to disappear somehow. They were always just hideously corrupt, and vile, we will be singing about it tonight.

GA: As the band’s vocalist do you do any warm up techniques or pre-show rituals to get stage ready?

BB: I masturbate languidly, until it’s time to go. Most of the day actually, my life is consumed by pornography and masturbation. No… I do vocal warm ups mostly by screaming at Beefcake the Mighty. I hate Beefcake the Mighty.

JD: Does he scream back?

BB: No, he’s too fat.

GA: GWAR’s last release was 2017’s The Blood of Gods, is the band currently working on new songs?

BB: Yes, we have songs that we are working on. There’s certainly a lot of material that wasn’t on that record, that was generated, and has yet to flow to the top. So, for sure, we just have to buckle down and do it. I think after the fall touring cycle we are going to go into a serious writing phase.

GA: Following up with that, what is next for GWAR after this touring death campaign?

BB: That’s what we are going to do, sit around and try to write more stupid music. Hopefully it will happen, our writing process involves a lot of Whip-its. A lot of Whip-its, and we sit around and ‘down’ each other ideas. No, No, No, I don’t like that, there’s a lot of that … No, No, not a lot of Yes. Yes, it’s too bad we can’t be a lot more like Yes. I do like Yes. Yes you, I like Yes.

GA: What does a berserker do in his downtime?

BB: Let’s see, I already talked about porn and masturbation. Umm… I like to fish. I fish a lot.

JD: Like with a rod and a reel?

BB: With a rod and reel yea, or you know noodling. I noodle for sharks. I go out, get in a little boat, and ride around. You see another boat, you board it forcefully, take it and tow it behind your own boat. Find enough, and you can have a train of boats, all their fishing shit, give me that shit.

GA: Where can people keep up do date with GWAR, and support the band by offering tribute or purchasing merchandise online?

BB: We have GWAR.net, we also have our presence on Indiemerch, where you can buy all kinds of stuff. We have our comic book, which if you can get it, get it, because there is a finite amount of them out there. We also have our GWAR book, a shit ton of t-shirts, and a lot of trinkets. We also have GWAR bar and there is merchandise for the bar as well. GWAR Bar stuff is actually funner to have. I like the GWAR Bar stuff. GWAR Bar is a fun place, and it has great food, and a lot of slutty chicks running around, it’s just how it is.

JD: Will there ever be another GWAR BBQ?

BB: I don’t know, depends on how much money we decide to waste. We are looking into a closed-in facility that has their own camping and such. If we can come to some sort of agreement with the people who run it, maybe. The Hadad’s Lake, the guy who ran it passed away, and it was complicated running things there because of the infrastructure. We had to pay for the facility, toilets, and security, for a turn key place. We are talking to people out of Richmond, and we are hoping it won’t be like before, where we killed ourselves. We have a lot more money now, and we need to get rid of that.

About Author

George Archibald

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Interviews

EIHWAR COME TO BALTIMORE TO BRING THE VIKING WAR TRANCE

Published

6 days ago

August 20, 2026

Ron

IVE BEEN SUPER EXCITED ABOUT THE UPCOMING TOUR FOR EIHWAR. I FOUND THEM ON THE INTERNET AND THEY BLEW ME AWAY WITH THEIR VIKING/FOLK/PAGAN MUSIC MIXED WITH ELECTRONIC. EIHWAR WILL BE COMING TO THE RECHER IN TOWNSON MARYLAND ON AUGUST 30TH. EMPIRE EXTREME GOT TO ASK THE DUO A FEW QUESTIONS BEFORE THE SHOW.

ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT DOING YOUR FIRST AMERICAN TOUR? ANY AMERICAN THINGS OR PLACES YOU WANT TO EXPLORE?

ASRUNN: For now, I have to admit I’m still completely stunned. I’m not excited or imagining it yet at all. Right now, I feel like I’m about to go to a country that only exists in TV shows, so I’m still kind of wading through disbelief.

Once I’m actually there, though, I’ll probably start talking way too fast and way too loud, and I’ll want to go way too everywhere.

HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN VIKING WAR TRANCE AS A GENRE OF MUSIC?

MARK: Viking War Trance is basically what happens when you mix Nordic folk influences, tribal rhythms, electronic music and something much more primitive and aggressive. We wanted music that makes you want to dance, fight and enter some kind of trance at the same time. So instead of trying to fit into an existing genre, we just called it Viking War Trance. And about the word “war”: it’s not a war against others, but a war against ourselves. Against our rigidity, our limiting beliefs, our fears. Victory is letting go.

WHAT CAN FANS EXPECT WHEN SEEING THE BAND LIVE?

MARK: Our concerts are much more physical than people sometimes expect from listening to the albums. We want people to dance, scream, jump, crowd surf and completely lose themselves for an hour. It’s somewhere between a concert, a rave and a pagan ritual, but with a lot of joy. “Joyful chaos” is the word that Asrunn often use.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE PLAYING HELLFEST AND WACKEN?

ASRUNN: It’s basically spending an entire hour on stage thinking, “Seriously, what the hell am I doing here? This makes absolutely no sense,” and then, the second it’s over, thinking, “Fuck, that was WAY TOO SHORT!”, hahahahaha!

In reality, it’s a mix of intense concentration and this explosion of joy inside when we manage to bring such a huge crowd into our madness with us. It’s as if, all of a sudden, we’re no longer men and women, but one human tribe, united by joy and raw energy.

HOW DO YOU FEEL THAT YOUR STYLE OF VIKING MUSIC AND IMAGE DIFFERS FROM OTHER VIKING AND FOLK METAL?

MARK: What sets us apart from folk metal is simply that we’re not metal. We don’t use distorted guitars or acoustic drums. As for pagan folk, I think the differences are pretty obvious too. Most pagan bands take a fairly ceremonial approach, resulting in atmospheric, ambient music. Some of them are even very serious. From our point of view, seriousness is a symptom of bad digestion. We prefer to fool around.

As for the peace you find in atmospheric ritual music, we don’t know much about it. Asrunn, our leader, is nothing like a priestess in a linen dress singing with butterflies in the forest. She’s living anger. Our music is joyful and brutal, primitive techno made to dance to until the end of the night.

The biggest difference is also, and perhaps above all, harmonic, in the musicological sense. With ancient instruments, it’s difficult to modulate frequently or to play every note in every octave. We use machines, and that gives us much more freedom to create melodies and chord progressions that evolve constantly and are far more pop-oriented than ancient instruments would normally allow.

DREAM TOUR: YOU CAN GO ON TOUR WITH ANY 2 OTHER BANDS, WHO DO YOU CHOOSE?

ASRUNN: MmmmdzgebhfugzFDBZueisfg that’s WAY too hard to choooooose HAAAAA! I’d say……….. NIN and… well, Sofia Isella, lately. She’s tooooooo good to be true.

MARK: The Prodigy and Peter Gabriel

FAVORITE GAME OF THRONES CHARACTER?

MARK: Don’t know, but I like the soundtrack.

ASRUNN: Bree Van De Kamp.

IF YOU COULD RESURRECT ONE HISTORIC VIKING WHO WOULD IT BE?

MARK: Honestly, my memories from that time aren’t clear enough for me to really know. But I was very fond of the monk Eadwig of Durham, and I’d be curious — and happy — to see him again.

ASRUNN: Lagertha, to prove to Mark that he’s wrong when he says she had bigger boobs than me.

IF YOU HAVEN’T BOUGHT UR TICKETS YET GET THEM HERE

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH KURT DEIMER

Published

4 months ago

May 8, 2026

Ron

EMPIRE EXTREME GOT TO INTERVIEW KURT DEIMER ABOUT THE NEW ALBUM “A GROG IS BORN” HIM WORKING WITH GEOFF TATE AND JOSH TODD AND BEING KILLED BY MICHAEL MEYERS AND HORROR MOVIES

About Author

Ron

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Empire Interviews

Inferious—Interview

Published

4 months ago

May 5, 2026

Josh Drespling

by Josh Drespling

I was at Preserving Underground to cover Filth and Resistor. I was all set with my photo pass and cameras at the ready. And then this young band exploded onto the stage. No grand entrance, no intro music, no flashy lights—just a wall of noise from the first guitar chord and a guttural growl that seemed to come from somewhere below the floorboards. I was blown away. Thoroughly impressed.

This band was Inferious, out of Dayton, Ohio. If you look up the word “inferious,” most dictionaries will tell you it means something low-status, submissive, or fit for sacrifice. But this Ohio metalcore outfit Inferious has spent the last several years proving that definition couldn’t be more wrong. Tonight in the basement of a converted church, Inferious delivered raw, sweat-soaked fury to all who were smart enough to show up early.

Before their set was even half over, I made up my mind that I had to talk to them and let our readers know about this band. Here is how it went:

Empire: This was the first time I have ever seen you guys. I’ve heard your name before but never had the chance to listen. The show tonight was freaking awesome. I loved it from the first few notes. The vocals and the guitar tone just hit ya right in the chest.

Since I am a new fan, can you give me the nickel tour of how you came together and I understand you are from Dayton, Ohio.

Shaun O’Shaughnessy – Guitarist: I live in Dayton, and the original band members all formed in Dayton, but it was kind of a collage of multiple band folks. People from the southwest Ohio area. Gabe [McQueen – vocals] and I were there at the beginning, and then through some line-up changes, this is our current and most solid touring line-up so far with Cody and Kyle. They also are from the area and have been in several bands. So they were always in the same circles, at the same shows, talking to the same people. It all worked out one day.

Empire: Given that, it seems like there is a healthy music scene in Dayton. Are there any good clubs, any fields to play in?

Shaun: It’s hard to say Dayton, Ohio, specifically so much as just southwest Ohio because of the way that Dayton, Columbus, and Cincinnati form like a little triangle. You’re only an hour apart from each other. So we can get into that larger music scene pretty easily. So Dayton itself has venues, but the whole collective area has stuff. There’s some house venues, like Gnome House, there’s Bob’s, but then Cincinnati has Madison Live, and Design Collective [DSGN CLLCTV] was doing shows for a while, but I think they got in trouble.
Cody: Yeah, it some code stuff.

Empire: I think there are a couple decent places in Akron, and even across the border is Huntington, WV?

Shaun: Yeah, that area still does have sick stuff. It’s just farther away from our personal local scene. Cleveland is kind of separate from us too.

Cody: That’s not necessarily our scene, but there is such a good underground local scene from the Huntington / Athens / Charleston area. Shout to Feverwar.

Shaun: We were just at the Grog Shop [outside Cleveland].

Cody: We were at the New Foundry not too long ago.

Empire: Oh, yeah, like upstairs?

Shaun: No, it is Foundry’s new location.

Empire: I’ve not been there.

Shaun: It looks basically like the old one, but it’s new.

Empire: You mentioned the Grog Shop. Were you guys there with Filth and Resistor?

Shaun: Yeah, we’ve been on tour with Filth and Resistor. The first half of the tour had Two-Piece on it; we missed them, but now Mono’s [Monochromatic Black] on for the second half, and they’re homies.

Gabe and I toured with them in Inferious a couple years ago with band called AMTAE, and Monochromatic Black. So, those are long-time homies as well. So, we’ve known Tanya [Elizabeth (Beickert) – Vocals] and Eddie [DeCesare – Drums] for a long time, and Pierce [Akers – Guitar] is our new best friend as well.

Empire: So, it’s just like a big hang for you guys.

Shaun: Yeah, all the homies are back. We’ve toured with Filth before too; we were out with them on the Oceano tour, and then actually a year ago, I think like right now, like today a year ago, we toured with Filth also. So, it’s Filth and Oceano, and then Filth again.

So, it’s been fun to have a full circle of friend hangs, and every night’s been sick. The show turnouts have been amazing, and then just hanging out with all our friends has been amazing.

Empire: That’s part of what makes it fun. Whether you have 50 people or 1000, you have that camaraderie and shared experience.

Empire: So do you currently have an album out? Where do you guys stand with that?

Gabe: We have music out everywhere, on all music platforms: Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and YouTube Music. Shit, if you even got to rip that shit, YouTube to MP4, do it, man!

Shaun: We got your back. We got three full lengths and an EP. We are working on a new EP with a label we’re signed to that we’ll announce here soon, but that’s going to be really exciting stuff, and just stoked to be able to get that out soon.

Empire: Cool. So don’t say the label name, but your deal is in place, and then the new album in the fall, winter, spring?

Shaun: Yeah, the EP should be coming out sometime this year, if all the schedules align and everything, but that’s in the works.

Empire: Cool. Filth tour, what’s after that?

Shaun: Finishing up the EP. Record release cycle, and then hopefully touring in support of that. Whether it’s co-headlining with somebody or doing some more support stuff, we’re down for whatever. Hopefully we can fill up the rest of the year.

You know, touring is hard financially, so while we’re able to still make ends meet on the road, it’s hard to pay all the bills, so we’ve got to go home, stack our bread back up, and then be ready to go back out again.

Empire: I understand. Is this your first time in Pittsburgh?

Shaun: We’ve actually played Preserving. This is at least the fifth time.

We played the DIY room, we played this room, this orientation, we played this room when it was facing the other direction. AJ, the owner, has been good to us. He is a rad dude.

Empire: AJ is great.

Shaun: The record shop and merch store upstairs is sick, I just bought a shirt, a Never Ending Game shirt, because we have to do a laundry soon, and I bought a shirt to extend one more day to get through.

Empire: Anything you guys want to add, anything going on? Shameless plugs?

Shaun: This has been a kind of sick tour, because I think we’ve all got to see family members. Gabe’s dad dropped him off, so we got to see Gabe’s dad. We got to go get breakfast with my mom and some family, I saw my aunt. Cody’s mom let us stay at her crib, and we got to hang out with her and his family. Kyle’s family came out last night and hung out, and that was pretty sick, so it’s been a good time.

Empire: Kyle hasn’t said anything, so tell me about your family coming out and seeing the show.

Kyle: I mean, it was my sister’s first time seeing us live.

Empire: What did she have to say? I mean, I’m sure she knew the style.

Kyle: Oh, yeah, she’s conditioned to it.

Empire: She’s not like a Britney Spears fan at a hardcore show?

Kyle: No, no, she’s by far not a normie, but close to it.

Empire: Thank you, gentlemen. That’s all I have today. Appreciate it, and thanks for the show. It was great; loved it.

Shaun: See you next time.

Before that night at Preserving Underground, I’ll be honest: Inferious was just a name on a show flyer. Another opening band before the acts I actually came to see.

That’s the thing about this level of heavy music. The headliners get the lights, the longer set, and the crowd that’s already warmed up. But the openers? They get twenty-five minutes, a soundcheck that barely counts, and a room full of people who are mostly looking at their phones. Inferious didn’t just overcome that. They incinerated it.

What struck me most, sitting down with Shaun, Gabe, Cody, and Kyle after the show, was how unpretentious they were. No egos. No rock-star posturing. Just four guys from southwest Ohio who’ve been grinding in the same circles, playing the same basement venues, and slowly building something real. They talked about the small venues with the same reverence other bands reserve for stadiums. They shouted out Feverwar. They bought merch from the shop upstairs to make it through one more day on the road.

That’s the part you don’t see from the crowd. The financial grind. The van trouble. The “stack our bread back up” reality of modern touring. And yet, here they were—genuinely stoked to have seen family members at shows, genuinely grateful for AJ at Preserving keeping the doors open for underground bands, and genuinely excited about an upcoming EP they couldn’t even name the label for yet.

Inferious may have a name that suggests something low-status, something sacrificial. But after watching them level a converted church in New Kensington, and after listening to them talk about their scene with the easy confidence of people who have nothing to prove, I think the definition needs an update.

Check them out on all the streaming platforms. Catch them when they roll through your town on the next tour. And for the love of God, show up early.

You never know which opening band is going to blow your doors off.

About Author

Josh Drespling

Josh is the Publisher and creator of Empire Extreme and it’s sister publication Kingdom Extreme Magazine. He is an accomplished writer, photographer and graphic designer. He is always conjuring up new ideas and has a amazing passion for the music industry and all the things that surround it.

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