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animalfarm

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For those of you not in the know about GWAR:

 

Musical style

Originally, the group's musical style was largely influenced by punk rock and the band composed short, simple songs, which would evolve over the years into heavily hardcore-influenced crossover thrash, with Gwar's musical experimentation becoming present in Scumdogs of the Universe, America Must Be Destroyed and This Toilet Earth.

 

Later, this experimental sound would partially eclipse their heavy metal style and Gwar would become a chaotic blend of genres that would be most noticeable on Ragnarok and Carnival of Chaos (the latter showcasing the most variety in musical styles of any point in Gwar's career). 1999's We Kill Everything would present an unusual sound, but based largely on Gwar's Hell-O era sound, resulting in an album that the band dismisses as their worst.

 

Indeed, the band's rejection of We Kill Everything would drive them to return to their thrash metal sound with Violence Has Arrived, which would later evolve into a more technical form of thrash, present in War Party , Beyond Hell, and now Lust in Space.

 

Stage performance

The band's characteristic costumes are generally made of foam latex, styrofoam, and hardened rubber. The costumes cover very little, with the rest of their bodies accentuated with makeup. They further their production in concert by spraying their audiences with fluids. Most of the fluids are made of water and powdered food coloring which, for the most part, flakes off or washes out easily.

 

The thicker fluids are made from a clear seaweed extract called carrageenan which is also used in ice cream and milkshakes. Gwar does not use syrups or stage blood because they dry solid and can damage the band's costumes.

 

In concert, Gwar has been known occasionally to perform their encore without costumes.

 

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwar

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Q: What is meant by: "a more technical form of thrash"?

 

I've never actually listened to GWAR, but I'd guess that their abilities probably evolved over the years enabling them to write more complex songs with time and signature changes, more complex scales as well as speed and accuracy and overall style...as opposed to staight forward, balls-out punk based thrash. Dream Theater would be a technical type of metal. Just speed it up and grunt like an ape, and there you go.

 

Of course, I could be giving them entirely too much credit and the wiki entry could be embellished.

But thats what I think of when I hear the term 'technical' applied to rock/metal.

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So...we're talking transitions to 7/8, 5/4 and polyrythms? Somehow that seems difficult when you're wearing a 2-foot headdress and 50 lbs of foam and "hardened rubber" costumes.

 

But what do I know, I like pants with stretchy waists and slip on shoes...

 

PS - a better name for that GWAR guitar would be Flatulence Maximus... It's certainly the right shape for that name:

 

flatuenceguitar.jpg

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So...we're talking transitions to 7/8' date=' 5/4 and polyrythms? Somehow that seems difficult when you're wearing a 2-foot headdress and 50 lbs of foam and "hardened rubber" costumes.

 

But what do I know, I like pants with stretchy waists and slip on shoes...

 

PS - a better name for that GWAR guitar would be [b']Flatulence Maximus...[/b] It's certainly the right shape for that name:

 

 

Yeah. Somehow I doubt their thrash is all that technical.

Although I will freely admit that I have no idea what a polyrythm is.

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Yeah. Somehow I doubt their thrash is all that technical.

Although I will freely admit that I have no idea what a polyrythm is.

 

I'd wager a small amount that the band doesn't either.

 

Also, I thought the entire point of thrash was just making as much noise as possible, as fast as possible, while maybe following some kind of melody. Or is that grindcore? :-k Anyway, I just tend to lump them all together into 'crap metal.'

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I'd wager a small amount that the band doesn't either.

 

Also' date=' I thought the entire point of thrash was just making as much noise as possible, as fast as possible, while maybe following some kind of melody. Or is that grindcore? :-k Anyway, I just tend to lump them all together into 'crap metal.'[/quote']

 

Back in the 80's, thrash metal was the best metal. Nowadays metal is broken into so many categories and sub-genres that I dont think thrash exists anymore.

Sidenote: In the 80's, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica, etc. were considered thrash.

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I'm aware of what thrash used to be, but a while ago my friends dragged me to a show a local band put on (Human, for any Kiwis) and they are touted as 'Christchurch's legends of Thrash." After hearing their music, I can certifiably say there is one too many 'h's in that description. It was just a melange of sweep- and tremolo-picked noise.

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Although I will freely admit that I have no idea what a polyrythm is.

(From Wikipedia)

 

Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more independent rhythms. Polyrhythms can be distinguished from irrational rhythms, which can occur within the context of a single part; polyrhythms require at least two rhythms to be played concurrently, one of which is typically an irrational rhythm.

 

A simple example of a polyrhythm is 3 evenly-spaced notes against 2, with the 3-beat pattern being faster than the 2-beat pattern, so that they both take the same amount of time. Other simple polyrhythms are 5-2, 5-4, etc.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyrhythm

 

Something tells me that GWAR, if they are aware of polyrythms, are not using them extensively in their stage show.

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Hungry Cat, Awesome chart! Right on the money! And I was right - Thrash doesnt really exist anymore. Gone with the days of blown out Levis and jean vests over leather jackets. Good times.

 

brianh, ok, thanks. I had a feeling thats what it was. And I'm sure your are right about GWAR. They were never really known for their talent. I've known of the band for 20 years and have never heard a single song by them. I think that says it all.

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Well, here's your chance to be musically enriched by blood-squirting penguins:

 

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]

 

Here's one where they cut G.W.'s head off and he squirts blood on the audience for awhile:

 

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtRANf42vTA&feature=fvw[/YOUTUBE]

 

And here's a jazzy little number showing off their broad musical influences:

 

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]

 

Not saying I like this band at all, but they're tighter than I would have thought. They seem like they have a lot of fun being so completely off the charts of normal musical performance. And at least as far as their stage show goes, they make KISS, Bowie, Peter Gabriel, the NY Dolls, Sun RA, or any other "outrageously bizarre" stage show tour look like a county fair jug band. I find that mildly amusing.

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They copied the design from 60-70s Burns...........

There was a model called "steer" that looks similar

Peter

 

EDIT - Sorry' date=' missed your earlier post when you corrected "Steer" to "Scorpion"[/b']

Sorry, but you are mistaken.

 

The Burns Steer is indeed an ugly guitar, complete with that stupid headstock design I suspect you were thinking of:

 

burnssteer.jpg

 

 

But the Burns which is most like the guitar in question (in terms of body shape) is the equally repulsive Scorpion. According to the Burns website, these monstrosities first saw the light of day in 1979:

 

270913.jpg

 

 

The Steer often turns up in the hands of that tosser Billy Bragg. As an out-and-out lefty myself I suppose I should like this guy, but I don't - he's annoying.

 

billybragg.jpg

 

 

And Burns somehow always looked cooler in the hands of Hank B Marvin anyway...

 

Hank%20Marvin%20Burns%201967.jpg

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uh...hmmm. ok. That last one kinda creeped me out. I couldnt finish watching it.

They are pretty tight, albiet generic. Just not my thing these days.

Also, not a big fan of dudes running around in g-strings squirting goo on people.

 

At least now I can say that I dont like GWAR. But I'll give props where they are due. Their gimmick seems to be working for them.

Though, if I'm going to go to a show for outrageous gimmicks, I'd much rather see Lords of Acid.

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Brian NAILED it, IMHO: GWAR has always been about the show and the spectacle, held together under the thin pretense of being a rock band. Like he said, think of the Alice Cooper shows of the 70's and 80's ... the beheadings, the hangings, the giant dentist's drills, etc and you'll have an idea of what a GWAR show is about.

 

Sure, it's all done to music, and the band IS a lot tighter than you might think, but if you go to one of these shows to listen to a performance from a group of musicians, I'm afraid you will be a bit shocked/disappointed!

 

As for the guitar that started all of this ... MEH! I will, however own a Burns one day ... style and uber TWANG all in one package!

 

http://www.burnsguitars.com/index.php

 

...and made by serious men in white lab coats ... "just as if they were real musical instruments!"

 

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mls08C1ukHM[/YOUTUBE]

 

Jim

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