[Editor’s Note: I know we usually don’t cover music, but Brian asked if he could post a little something in honor of this tragic loss to the metal community. Thanks for reading.]
This past Sunday was the day before Halloween. This time of year is good for 3 things: Candy. An excuse to dress up and act like a fool. And Gwar at the Vogue Theater. As always, the show was a nonstop shit-fest of blood and semen being sloshed, splattered, shot, and ejaculated all over the crowd. And we loved every drop of it.
This is my second version of this write-up. The first went into tons of gory (Gwary?) details about the experience of the show, the costumes, the set list, the opening bands, and how scary it was having about $2000 worth of camera equipment around my neck while people and excretion flew directly at me the whole time. Then something terrible happened. Three days after the show at the Vogue, lead guitarist Cory Smoot, better known to fans as “Flattus Maximus,” was found dead in the band’s tour bus. The cause of death is still unconfirmed, but frontman Dave Brokie (Oderus Urungus) released a statement saying that they will retire the Flattus character and continue the tour while they grieve the loss of their brother.
Cory was 34 years old and an incredible guitarist. Incredible with a capital Badass. Seriously. You have all these newer heavy bands dropping their tuning down lower or playing on a 7-string guitar. No, Cory played a fucking 8-string. Count ’em, EIGHT. I hate playing guitar with as much as long sleeves on, let alone a huge grotesque costume featuring dinosaur heads for shoulder pads and reptile feet. But he shredded with the best of them, with his red menacing face and dark eyes staring into your soul. He might not have been the original Flattus Maximus, but he was inarguably the best. From 2002 to 2011, his role in Gwar is unforgettable.
There is a new hole in the heart of metal, and it is one that won’t be easily replaced. It’s a sad time for Gwar and their huge cult following of loyal fans… Flattus, you will be missed.
4 Comments
Hey thank you for posting these as I said before this show at the Vouge is kind of the last good memory I have with my wife and we didn’t really get any good pictures some blurry cellphone shit….Gwar is my favorite band and we had made it our new tradition 4 years running as long as Gwar comes to indy I will keep going…along with this I must ask may I share these photos with some friends on Facebook…I didn’t want to be an asshole and just do it so I figured I would ask as I’ve said this is the last good memory I really had with her and I was just wondering if maybe I could share some of the images of that incredible night with some of her many friends that miss her and show them the great times we’d been having together each year at the Gwar show…if I could It would mean alot to me if not I will just keep them tucked away in a folder somewhere as memories gone by…Thank you for risking life limb and camera equipment to capture that night…..
Glad you had a good time, and sure you can repost the pictures. If you can, post a direct link to the site or whatever or at least post them and credit the site. 🙂
After re-reading your comment, I think I may have missed something. Did something happen to your wife? If so I’m terribly sorry.
Yeah we made bad choices in her last days and she overdosed on Oct 31 around midnight I guess thats Nov. 1st…I found her unresponsive much like Flattus but we are yet to find what happened to him…it was too late for me to save her I was unable to resucitate her and she was gone the last real good memory I have with her is from that night at GWAR on the 30th we had made it our thing that we would keep going back to see them as long as they kept showing up…and now I guess its just gonna be me and my best friend Eric whom I also treated to GWAR with each passing year…we had troubles but alot of great times that I’ll never forget…thank you again for the pictures man I’ll make a link when I show them thanks alot dude…. my favorite time of year is now riddled with sorrow….take care and try to enjoy everyday you have man…