Entertainment Weekly - October 20, 2017

SEXECUTIONER

ArtistCHUCK VARGA, one of the
founding members of the outra-
geous metal band, explains how
he makes himself look so, well,
grotesque.By Eric Renner Brown

Chuck Varga’s mild-mannered dis-
position contrasts sharply with his
onstage persona. He was a founding
member of the gaudy metal group
GWAR, which formed in 1984, and as the
intergalactic Sexecutioner, his job was
“making sure the blood goes in all the
right places.” Varga sang in the band and
created many of the group’s costumes: “I
describe it as a full-body stunt mat. It
gives me special powers. I have fallen off
stage five feet onto a concrete floor and
bounced like a Super Ball.” Here, he
breaks down his costume for EW.

MASK

“We’re supposed to look loud

and proud,” Varga says of his

facial gear. The rubber mouth-

piece “doesn’t look very real,”

but it lets him take a pummel-

ing: “Nobody can take a stage

punch like me.”

SUIT

Varga estimates he’s replaced

his costume 20 times. “If I’m

going to continue as the Sex-

ecutioner,” he says, “I’m going

to have to make it a little bit

bigger and badder—as much as

I’ve gotten over the years.”

SPIKES

The Sexecutioner’s spikes

exude both power and kink—

the character is “heavily into

S&M”—but they’re a harmless

mix of foam and latex. “They

don’t hurt anybody,” he says.

“It saves a lot of lawsuits!”

Photographed byMettie Ostrowski

on Oct. 1, 2017, in Brooklyn

GWAR are currently touring in support of their
new album,The Blood of Gods