GWAR singer Blöthar the Berserker detailed the melodic focus that informed their recent unplugged session with The AV Club, telling CNN, “The focus is more on harmony and more on melody than it is on rhythm and aggression, and the same thing is true for the voice.”
The metal band’s recent, home-recorded mini-set — part of the publication’s AVC Sessions: House Shows series — featured acoustic strums, hard rock belting, and plenty of stuffed animals. And that format, the Berserker said, allowed a different vantage point to survey their songs. “It has some depth, as far as harmonic progressions go,” he notes. “Most heavy metal does. Most hard rock does.”
The vocalist, calling GWAR the “all-time heavyweight champions” of AV Club’s cover song contest series, also detailed recording their acoustic renditions. “Of course, it being the pandemic, we couldn’t be anywhere near each other while we were doing it, which was just fine with us because we don’t like to be near other anyway,” he deadpanned. “And all of our albums are recorded by the telephone, and that’s why they sound so terrible.”
GWAR lead guitarist Pustulus Maximus recently spoke to CNN about his bandmates’ other pandemic-era activities. “I don’t care. Oh, you care. Well, I mean, they’re doing stuff I guess,” he said. “Working on music. I’m not going to learn any of it … I just think it’s a very opportune time to not have to talk to anyone.”
We also spoke with JiZMak Da Gusha, who had a thing or two to say about the Robert E. Lee monument that’s erected in Richmond, Virginia.
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