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Tuesday, April 7, 2015

GWAR! The Lost Dave Brockie Interview with Robert A. Mitchell


It was late December 2008 and I was living in Toronto preparing dinner when I received a call from a local promoter I knew. (People still used phones in those days) He asked, "Would you be interested in interviewing GWAR! tonight?" There was little hesitation when I said yes. I hung up and rushed through finishing making and eating dinner.

I then fired up my laptop and beginning working on questions. I prepared two sets of questions. The first was for the band in character and the second -- was in the unlikely event that I would interview the band themselves.

I headed out and to the Queen East streetcar that took me over to The Opera House. I got into the venue and met up with the promoter. The one stipulation I was told was that I would not be allowed to film the live show. The band was very protective of the live shows and was a source of income for the band selling DVDs. The show was great and a lot of fun. I shot images after the show of people walking past me covered in fake blood. It was such good footage I used it at the starting of the interview.

This one of my first "big" interviews and it was backstage after the show. The excitement increased when I learned I would be interview Dave Brockie outside of his on-stage character which was extremely rare. Being backstage was tamer then perhaps some would think. However there were a lot of crew loading out equipment, which at a GWAR! show is a lot. Plus there were several people hanging around who once they saw the camera tried to get their way in front of it. With the amount of experience I have gained since I would have controlled the room and interview a lot better.

As I write this it is still weird and difficult to talk of Dave Brockie, founder and former lead singer of the band in the past tense. He was funny, energetic and had a real passion for music and you can see that in the interview below.

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