How best to describe GWAR? If you’ve never heard of the band before, it’s a 30-year-old thrash metal institution that delights in gory spectacle, fake blood, skimpy outfits (for men as well as women), and decapitated skinheads. Basically, imagine the punks from Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns but worse—and more fun, because it’s all for show. Now the show’s about to get a lot more interesting.
The first female member of the band since 2000’s dancer and occasional singer Sylmnestra Hymen (played by Danielle Stampe), Vulvatron will be joining newly reinstated 1988 lead singer Beefcake the Mighty on vocals after the recent death of their previous frontman, Davie “Oderus Urungus” Brockie. Played by Kim Dylla, this new character made her debut last week at Riot Fest in Chicago, and wore giant prosthetic breasts that shot what have been described as “geysers of blood” into the crowd. Yeah, it’s that kind of show.
As Kim Kelly for Wondering Sound sees it, this is actually pretty huge step forward for women in the metal subgenre: “She occupies a powerful role. She’s nobody’s girlfriend, or groupie or background dancer; Vulvatron is in charge. She gets to be a monster instead of a princess, and that is immensely important for younger girls who are just starting to explore heavy metal.”
Vulvatron will perform again at the annual GWAR show at Harpos in Detroit, Michigan on November 22nd. In the meantime, she just launched a Facebook page where you can go and send her the appropriate amount of praise. Most of the response seems positive and surprisingly unsexist so far, which is actually sort of a shame. I’d love to see how this woman handles her haters.
(via Wandering Sound, image by Jose Calvo via Vulvatron on Facebook)
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