This Is GWAR

GWAR is a heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984. Most are outcasts from art school where their heavy metal comic book style are dismissed. They don wild costumes of self-created comic characters while playing their music. This is a documentary detailing the parade of different members over the years as they gather a small loyal following. Sure, I remember GWAR back in the day. I remember seeing them on TV in the early 90's. It always felt like a gimmick, but I can see how people can fall in love as fans. I don't know these people and I'm not that invested in their stories. I do get the sense of joy and satisfaction of being in the band. It's the story of all indie bands who ride on stinky buses across the country and sleeping on the floor. The film is fine. It's charming in its sweet sincerity.

This was educational and I am a fan of the band but this should have been about 30 minutes shorter. I did like the interviews but a lot of the content seemed redundant.

If you love GWAR you'll love this documentary. I can't believe it's taken so long to get such a great road map of the legendary band. Makes me even more proud of being a Richmonder. Such an important band that can never be replicated! RIP Dave. MUST WATCH!!

How to describe GWAR? Barbarian, alien warriors coming to earth? A very underrated band, like Motörhead and Rose Tattoo once called from some people who have no idea of music the worst band in the world, when in fact GWAR is just like the other two bands mentioned musically brilliant with a great show and the favourite band of Beavis and Butt-Head, with even some Grammy nominations. For people living outside of the US it is hard to understand this whole freedom of speech or freedom to express in their performance and art problem, getting dropped by a record label, cuddlefish taken by police, not a big case as the 2 Live Crew ones loosing the first court case, but more importantly for music winning the second and third court case against Navarro. From a music documentary perspective not a top notch one like Searching for Sugar Man, but there is a lot to like and a lot to love about this music documentary, I am still giving it a 9/10. Arts and music are not always about money, keep loosing band members is difficult and they still keep going on and on, a very honest in depth documentary, it is just what they love to do, with a lot of passion, it is their life, at times very emotionally.

I've loved GWAR since I found out about them and bought Scumdogs of the Universe in the early 90s.

There concerts were always next level. Early in the 90s how the band functioned was a little more mysterious, you had to dig into fan forums and little personal web sites to learn anything about the actual band, unless you were lucky enough to catch Dave out of costume front of stage, or Hunter hanging out at the Merch table.

Really learning how this artists cooperative functioned and dysfunctioned, makes me appreciate GWAR even more.

A couple things that I would have liked to see a little more insight into were, when did the friction between Hunter and Dave really start?

What was Dave's mental state near his accidental overdose? Zach Blair stated that there were signs of decline in Dave's work ethic, over a decade before. I can only imagine the collision of being a high energy person like Dave Brockie, and living on the road for decades must wear on even the strongest people.

Absolutely a must watch if you care anything about musical and artistic counter culture.