GWAR’s Blothar responds to Dave Grohl saying he almost joined the band before joining Nirvana
Blothar's alter ego Michael Bishop has nothing but nice things to say about the Foo Fighters frontman
Music Features GWAR
In a new interview with Rolling Stone’s Brian Hiatt to promote his upcoming memoir The Storyteller, Dave Grohl talked about almost joining GWAR right before becoming Nirvana’s drummer. But current GWAR lead singer, Blothar The Berserker (whose real name is Michael Bishop), jokes to Consequence that Grohl remembers it “ALL wrong.”
“He used to hang around the track with all the other young punks jacked on gak. This is back before he lost all his teeth. We hired him and then called him back immediately and fired him. He was in the band for around 7 and a half minutes. He was holding us back,” says Blothar.
But out of character, Bishop confirms that Grohl was in serious talks to join the band. “Our guitar player Dewey (Flattus Maximus) was booking shows in Richmond at the time, and we had all seen Dave play with his bands Dain Bramage and later on in Scream,” he says. “He was already one of the greatest, hardest hitting drummers I had ever seen. He still is. Dewey called and started the conversation with him about joining GWAR. I was stoked because I played bass at the time, and I would have loved to jam with him. Just think, he could have been working his ass off playing drums in a rubber monster suit all these years. Boy did he make the wrong choice.”
It all worked out for the best, since Jizmak Da Gusha (Brad Roberts) has been with the band since 1989, but it’s still fun to think about what Grohl as GWAR’s drummer would’ve been like.
Grohl has yet to reveal what his alter ego’s name would’ve been, and what his band outfit would’ve looked like. However, he did say that he designed a costume that didn’t fully cover his face and allowed his arms to be free so he could drum easily. We’ll learn if he discusses his time almost joining GWAR further in his memoir once it’s out on October 5.
98 Comments
This is why “Rape Me” is a rip off of “Pussy Planet.”
…which was a rip off of ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy’…which wasn’t a very good song at all!!!
Which is just a ripoff of Slutman City!
I didn’t realize anyone was still calling it “gak”.
GWAR is the only band that should ever be booked for Superbowl halftime shows.
GWAR is the only band that should ever be booked for Superbowl halftime shows.Hmmm, but could the blood still reach the spectators in a stadium?
Taking a nip slip and Prince’s phallic guitar to the next level in every possible way.
I am still convinced that Prince’s halftime show is the best ever, closely followed by Katie Perry’s, oddly enough. The background story on his performance is amazing. All the crew and set designers were sure that as he was going on during a downpour, he was gonna break an ankle (at best) because of his shoes or get electrocuted. I still remember watching it at my restaurant in Madison, WI (we had -zero- guests the entire game). I was the Exec Chef and my other managers and I just camped out in front of the biggest TV we had for the entire game. Couldn’t tell you who the teams were but Prince was one for the books.
And then just cancel all the football and make it all a huge GWAR show.
Or Reboot Mutant League Football and have them do the halftime show and game commentary.
They already did the first half, it came out in 2019https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/mutant-football-league/c2t1sfv91q3r?activetab=pivot:overviewtab#
Canceling the football game would mean we couldn’t feed the losing team to the worm.
Ha! Love it.
If you cancel the game, we can feed BOTH teams to the worm.
We could feed both teams to it?
There would be a lot more blood but slightly less concussions
Srsly, I was just about to say that the only problem with the plan is the football
Exactamundo.
So. Much. Blood.
…with Rammstein as an opening act.
Not before they give Weird Al a shot.
As well as any parade, military concert of presidential inauguration. Is there a poet laurete like position for bands, because that should be what Gwar is for the USA
Love it.
You……Should be a network executive.
If we could get a GWAR vs Weird Al Yankovic Super Bowl Halftime show I truly believe world peas would be accomplished in our lifetime immediately afterwards.
This is rather charming. So is their appearance in Empire Records. …is GWAR charming?
This scene is exactly the first thing into my head when GWAR comes up. Too funny!
They are GWARming.
Globally GWARming?
What do you even CALL the people in GWAR? “GWARmish”? “GWARmbats?” GWARmy bears?”
GWARmy beaars thrashing here and there any everywhere
Rip your head off swing it by your hair
They are the GWARmy BEARS! (freeze-frame)
“Throwing blood and urine into the audience isn’t enough. You guys gotta learn to play something.” One of Butthead’s best lines.
As charming as any band who wrote a song about sexually penetrating a paralyzed woman with a frozen piece of shit can be.
“why are you gluing quarters to the floor?”“Don’t question my art.”
It always blows my mind that Dave Grohl got his start playing in hardcore bands when he’s done nothing but pump out the blandest dad-rock imaginable for the last two and a half decades.
You must REALLY shit your pants over Pat Smear then.
Pat Smear just seems like he’s happy he’s getting paid while Dave Grohl is the one actively generating this pablum.
Most Dad rock was edgy when those guys were younger. Just like the edgy dudes now will be pudgy dads eventually.
I don’t think Foo Fighters were ever considered edgy lol
Nirvana, dude. Nirvana.
OP said “for the last two and a half decades” which is after Cobain died, they were referring to Foo Fighters
Maybe that’s the box the OP drew, doesn’t mean that Grohl didn’t start out in what was known as an edgy band. History goes back further than 25 years.
That is…OP’s point? Saying he “started in hardcore bands” could also be encompassing his time in the “edgier” Nirvana…it doesn’t change the fact that he’s made bland boring generic “rock” for the past 25 years, which is the bulk of his career.
“doesn’t mean that Grohl didn’t start out in what was known as an edgy band” ok, but no one said otherwise lol. OP said Grohl “got his start playing in [edgy] hardcore bands” but has been making “dad-rock” in his post-Nirvana career (the last two and a half decades). that’s obviously what we’re talking about lol
*whispering* Nirvana’s last album came out more than 2.5 decades ago…
I think he’s including the Foo Fighters – 25 years takes us back to 1996, which is very close to when the Foo Fighters formed in 1994. I guess he could have said 27 years and then avoided your confusion.Also he’s not wrong.
Heard of Nirvana?
Dumbest comment ever.
Well, pudgy at least.
Back when Stylus Magazine was a thing one of their writers did an article on the last great Dad Rock album, which they surmised was Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms”. I saw the point, and completely agreed back then, but also took minor offense as a college student in the mid-90’s and my go-to paper writing albums were that and the Beatles “Abbey Road”. Decent background noise that didn’t intrude on my writing/thought process.I am, however, fully convinced that the FF “There is Nothing Left to Lose” is now the last great Dad Rock album.
Time is linear.
Dave is about my age, within a couple years I think and I listened to a bunch of different music back then in high school. He grew up as kid in the 70’s listening to much the same stuff I did on the radio. Stuff like Queen, Gerry Rafferty, and ton more like that. In high school I was a listening to punk, metal, and classic rock. It is not surprising that his band is kind of mix of that. Plus, the older you get, it seems the more you mellow a little. If I had the choice between something like Motley Crue or Foo Fighters, it is going to be Foo Fighters all the way.
“ If I had the choice between something like Motley Crue or Foo Fighters, it is going to be Foo Fighters all the way.”
Why would those ever be the only choices?
“Pick one: either a bucket of warm diarrhea, or a bologna & cheese sandwich with yellow mustard. Choose wisely.”
Eh, those first two Foo Fighters albums are okay. Almost everything after them, however, is milquetoast radio-rock bullshit — but I don’t know why that would surprise anyone. Nothing that the surviving members of Nirvana could’ve done outside of the band was ever going to be likely to reach the heights of peak Nirvana. Not without Kurt. Dave (and Krist, I guess) are good musicians, but Kurt was always the backbone of that band.
Back during the Nirvana days there were always rumours that Dave wanted to write songs for the band but Kurt wouldn’t let him. At the time it made Kurt seem like an overly controlling asshole but now I listen to the Foo Fighters and I get it.
I loved Nirvana at the time and love them still, but Kurt *was* an overly controlling asshole, especially to Dave. He wanted to fire him for “being an unsubtle and unspontaneous musician” which is the kind of pretentious and controlling thing that Kurt would think and try to do, and yelling about that so that Dave could hear him was just Kurt being a jackass. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/my-time-with-kurt-cobain
Its also pretty well known that Dave was also the least partier of the group, having given off even pot but the time he joined Nirvana. It may be the first time in rock history where the drummer was the only one sober enough to actual play gigs.
“It may be the first time in rock history where the drummer was the only one sober enough to actual play gigs.”Or not to be replaced five times due to “mysterious” deaths. I’ll turn it up to 11 for you.
I know it’s a moving bar, but does anything softer than technical death metal qualify as “dad rock” now? Back in the day it was specifically flabby blues-lite soft-rock..
I (mostly) agree when it comes to Foo Fighters. But I will throw down with you over his drumming on Killing Joke’s second self-titled from 2003.
So edgy !
Foo Fighters is basically a meme now. It’s everything their marketing is built on. Glad Pat Smear is good shape though.
Buddy, you sound like you need a hug x
Beats getting a real job. But honestly young men are angrier and more aggressive than older men. If he stayed in a hardcore band until he was 50 that would honestly be sadder than him mellowing out. He’d be putting on more of an affectation.
I thought this was legit good.
If Foo Fighters are dad rock, i’ll take it anyday over the totally whiny crap that goes for rock these days. I’d like to take a sledgehammer to the Lumineers, Imagine Dragons, etc.. Just blech..
Tell me you don’t listen to music without telling me you don’t listen to music.
If I were in GWAR for seven and a half minutes it would be the crowning achievement of my life.
It would be written on my tombstone.
Or you know, cause of death.
I figure it being was killed me was heavily implied.
Implied, Nilus, or, implode?
It could be two things!
Nilus is the most GWAR name.
Guess we all got our own version of ‘7 Minutes In Heaven’
Dave Grohl would have been a perfect fit. He has a gross last name and face.
Crave Grule?
GWAR is the only major band that wears costumes like that right? I worked at Summer Slaughter Tour in 2012 (in Anaheim) and I swear on my life they played the show but the lineup doesn’t feature them.
Slipknot?
It wasn’t Slipknot but I just figured it out. It was A Band of Orcs which seem to play mostly California shows. http://www.abandoforcs.com/
more like band of Dorcs
Of the costumed bands, I recommend the child-friendly heavy metal band Hevisaurus.
2006 Eurovision winners Lordi?
American here with more on the Eurovision winners Lordi : I was in Finland watching the competition live when they won and going nuts with everyone else in Finland. Honestly it’s not that the song was so great – it was pretty standard fare – but it was such a refreshing departure from most of the garbage in the competition. Lordi’s win was mostly a rebellious backlash against the very idea of most Eurovision songs and the treacly nature of it all, and the song was just good enough and catchy enough that voters said “yeah, screw the system!”
The year they opened for Lamb of God and Ozzy at Ozzfest on the main stage (I believe it was ‘06 or ‘07, it was the year tickets were free), Lordi got booed off stage in Chicago during their second song (and they deserved it lol).
There’s also The Cybertronic Spree, which are different but the same? If you know what I mean?
The blue one waving the sword side stage makes it.If we’re adding lesser-known bands, I’d include Mac Sabbath and Galactic Empire.
“Out… of character”? Wha-What do you mean? Is GWAR n-not… real? *sniffle* Have… Have you been lying to me all these years, Mom and Dad?*runs into bedroom and slams the door, sobbing uncontrollably*
there there, we’ll get you tickets so you can get piss on you just like the old days, don’t be sad
GorGor Grohl!
God, I remember GWAR at City Gardens. Was not expecting to be slimed from above, and I wear glasses and had to drive home from Jersey. Good stuff, but I was more careful the next time.
GWAR was probably the best thing to come out of Richmond, VA and VCU.
I never knew Dave Grohl lost all his teeth from being jacked on gak
You must not have been paying attention.