Calling all Bohab heads, worshippers of evil, and metal maniacs: Back from the depths of Hell, is the one and only GWAR, bringing with them a bloody weekend of murder, mayhem, debauchery and of course music for their annual GWAR B-Q.
Calling all Bohab heads, worshippers of evil, and metal maniacs: Back from the depths of Hell, is the one and only GWAR, bringing with them a bloody weekend of murder, mayhem, debauchery and of course music for their annual GWAR B-Q.
This year marks the 7th official festival at Hadad’s Lake and it’s guaranteed to leave your head spinning, and blood gushing with its eardrum-busting lineup, and three days of fun, beer, food, skateboarding, a new wrestling match featuring The Donald and Hillary, and the occasional human sacrifice, of course.
Sixteen bands round out this year’s main event on Saturday including Lamb of God, Occultist, Against Me, Brain Tentacles, and of course the one and only GWAR.
“We used the GWARB-Q as a vehicle to put some light on Richmond so the rest of the world can see it,” said GWAR drummer Jizmak Da Gusha/Brad Roberts. “We try to bring acts that are integral to the Richmond scene or bands that we’ve toured with before, so the lineup is really assembled where GWAR comes from.”
Roberts was instrumental in launching and organizing this popular and highly-attended festival, which began as a small backyard gathering among friends and up and coming musicians on Chamberlayne Avenue in the early 90s.
“It started out as basically our company party for the year, but the evolution was intentional, we’ve been around for a really long time, we’ve brought all kinds of bands up, the art and the music scene here is great and we want to put a microscope on it,” he said.
Matt Maguire (Mattron) said many of the bands that have played at the official GWAR B-Qs in the past started out at these parties.
“Lamb of God did play over at Chamberlayne when they were Burn the Priest before they got started. This will be the third time they’ve played the GWARBQ,” he said.
A year-long effort, the group said they wanted to pull people from all over, similar to bigger music festivals, and bringing bands that don’t normally stop here for a one-of-a-kind experience.
“A third of the patrons are destination- it’s a destination festival because of our international touring…,” Roberts said. “Richmond is kind of a small market for those bands this is an opportunity for people to see bands they wouldn’t typically see.”
All that hard work allowed GWAR B-Q to cement itself as one of Richmond’s most cherished, albeit depraved, festivals for metal heads and music lovers locally and beyond drawing nearly 4,000 people last year.
GWARB-Q 2016 will kick off Friday with a pre-party at The National with performances by 10 metal bands including Cannibal Corpse, Nile, After The Burial, and more from the Summer Slaughter Tour. If you make it out alive from GWAR B-Q, you can head to GWARbar Sunday for a recovery brunch and more performances more brain-busting bands.
“It worked out really well (last year) I wanted us to have a solid metal foundation so that way we could try to make Saturday more eclectic, have different types of bands there, we want to put light on different types of bands and make it well-rounded,” said GWAR member Jamison Land/Beefcake the Mighty.
Back this year is FBM Bike Co. who will be launching BMX bikes into the lake, along with a costume contest, the Wheels of Death skate park, and the messy Spew-O-Lympics.
New this year for you mere mortals, the slaves of GWAR have made it even more bad ass with a tattoo alley, a live mural painting, and a fight to the death for world domination, of course.
“Every year we do something to take care of the patrons and make sure they have fun,” Roberts said.
And Maguire said they’re looking forward to busting out all the crazy props stored in the Slave Pit.
“The GWAR B-Q usually gets the exclusive show,” he said. “We’re doing six of our spew tanks. Normally, at a regular GWAR show we do three, we do six 33 gallon tanks {at GWARB-Q} so that much fluid goes out in the crowd,” Maguire said.
And get ready to see some bloodshed because the newest and most exciting event will commmence during GWAR’s performance on the main stage, as the slaves, other bands and even some political candidate’s battle for world domination in the gnarliest wrestling match you’ve ever seen.
“We’re basically wrestling a lot of the politicians that are going up this year,” Maguire said. “They’ll be Hillary, they’ll be Trump. “We got Lamb Of God we got all these other bands that are going to bring it.”
“The real election is by death match at GWARB-Q between Hillary and Trump this year,” added Roberts.
Bristol-based Guilt Tattoo and River City Tattoo will be inking people up with official GWAR B-Q tattoos this year there and there will also be a GWAR PBR mural going up during the day for people to check out.
“By the end of the day it will be a finished living art piece.,” Maguire said. “It’s GWAR characters drinking PBR being party animals, there’s a big PBR monster drinking a person.”
And come thirsty, because GWAR is prepared to shove all sorts of fluids down your disgusting gullet including their own GWAR Oderus Ale, Texas Beach Bloody Marys, GWARB-Q sauce, crotch punch and new this year, Gwar’s own vodka, Artic Snow.
“It’s with James River Distillery, it’s going to be premiered at GWARB-Q,” said Roberts. “It’s really delicious.”
The 7th Annual GWARB-Q kicks off Friday Aug. 19 and runs through Sun. Aug. 21. Tickets are $60-$75.
You can find the full lineup for this year’s GWARB-Q here.
Full Weekend Schedule:
Friday Aug. 19th:
B4BQ: Bands from The National Summer Slaughter 2016 Tour
Doors Open: 1 pm
Saturday Aug. 20th:
Main GWAR-B-Q at Hadad’s Lake (7900 Osborne Turnpike)
10 am-7 pm. Bands: 10:30 am.
Sunday, Aug. 21st:
Morning After Chill, the Brutal Brunch
11 am-6 pm
Additional Info via GWAR B-Q site:
RAIN OR SHINE!
TICKETS NONREFUNDABLE!
LEGAL IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED FOR ADMITTANCE!
LEAVE PETS AT HOME! (don’t leave your pet in the car, asshole!)
LEAVE GLASS AT HOME!
LEAVE WEAPONS AT HOME!
LEAVE ALCOHOL AT HOME!
ITEMS AND PERSONS ARE SUBJECT TO SEARCH!
BACKPACKS AND COOLERS WILL BE CHECKED BY SECURITY!
CARPOOLING IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. SINGLE OCCUPANCY CARS WILL BE REDIRECTED TO SATELLITE PARKING AREAS!
