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Michael Bishop | |
|---|---|
 Bishop as Blothar in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Beefcake the Mighty Blothar the Berserker |
| Born | September 7, 1968 Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. |
| Genres | Hard rock, shock rock, heavy metal, punk |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, bass |
| Years active | 1984–present |
| Member of | Gwar |
| Formerly of | Kepone |
| Website | gwar |
Michael Bryan "Mike" Bishop [1] (born September 7, 1968) is an American bassist and vocalist and a member of the heavy metal band Gwar.
He attended Thomas Dale High School in Chester, Virginia. Most notably, he was the bass guitarist and, after a 20-year hiatus, is currently the lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Gwar. [2] Bishop's first band was the Hopewell, VA-based hardcore outfit The Guilty. As a member of Gwar, he was the first to play the role of "Beefcake the Mighty". [3] The name of Beefcake was taken from Bishop's nickname during his punk years. Bishop was the bassist and lead vocalist for Kepone from 1991 through the band's breakup in 1997. [4] All three members of Kepone later performed together again as American Grizzly until that band's breakup in 2005. He played with the Misery Brothers, a country/soul band local to Charlottesville, Virginia from 2007 to 2009. [5] [6] [7]
Bishop earned a Ph.D. in music from the University of Virginia in 2012 and taught writing and topics in American music history at the university, specializing in popular music ethnography and performance studies. [8]
Since 2011, Kepone has reunited to play occasional shows, although it remains unknown if the band will create any new music. Outside of performing, Bishop:
In August 2014, Bishop, portraying the character Blothar, became the lead vocalist for Gwar, replacing Dave Brockie due to Brockie's death of a heroin overdose on March 23, 2014. Brockie had portrayed the role of Oderus Urungus since the band's 1984 inception.
Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia, in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists, and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. Since the death of frontman Dave Brockie in 2014, the collective has continued recording and performing without any of its founding artists or musicians.
Hell-O! is the debut album by Gwar. It was released in 1988, on Shimmy Disc Records. The album was produced by Kramer.
Scumdogs of the Universe is the second album by American satirical heavy metal band Gwar. The album is their first album on Metal Blade Records and was released on January 8, 1990. To date, it is the band's best-selling album.
This Toilet Earth is the fourth album released by heavy metal band Gwar. Released on March 29, 1994, this album was to be one of their oddest and most bittersweet albums. It was the first Gwar album to be censored, due to their gain in popularity as a result of MTV exposure. The music and artwork is almost cartoonish when compared to the previous albums, and the instrumentation had expanded to include horns that reinforce the goofiness. An instrumental version of the song "Jack the World" was also featured in the Beavis and Butt-Head video game for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
Ragnarök is the fifth album by the rock/heavy metal/punk band Gwar. It was released on October 24, 1995, on Metal Blade Records and contains the most varied vocal stylings of any Gwar album, with the majority of band members singing at least one track.
Beefcake the Mighty is the bass guitarist of the heavy metal band Gwar. The character appears as a stout humanoid, girded in Roman-style armor. He is usually portrayed wielding either an oversized Gladius sword or a large battle-axe. Since 2019, Beefcake has been portrayed by Casey Orr, one of several musicians to portray the character over the band's history.
Flattus Maximus is the name of a character and former guitarist in the American heavy metal band Gwar. He is known for his red face, white dreadlocks, dinosaur-head shoulder pads and reptile feet. The name "Flattus" is indicative of the character's signature flatulence. His speaking mannerisms suggest a childlike intelligence and naivety.
America Must Be Destroyed is American heavy metal band Gwar’s third album, released in 1992 as their second album on Metal Blade Records. The album’s lyrical content was inspired by controversy over obscenity charges against the band and an incident in Charlotte, North Carolina, in which frontman Dave Brockie’s prosthetic penile attachment, "The Cuttlefish of Cthulhu", was confiscated by police officers.
Carnival of Chaos is Gwar's sixth studio album, released on March 25, 1997, by Metal Blade Records.
We Kill Everything is the seventh album by Gwar, released on April 6, 1999, through Metal Blade Records.
Violence Has Arrived is the eighth studio album by the band Gwar. It was released on November 6, 2001, through Metal Blade Records.
War Party is the ninth studio album by the heavy metal band Gwar. It was released on October 26, 2004, being the band's first album in DRT Entertainment. In addition, this also marks the first studio album with Corey Smoot as Flattus Maximus and the first of two albums to feature Todd Evans as Beefcake The Mighty. The album was released to positive reviews.
David Murray Brockie was a Canadian-American musician, who was the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Gwar, in which he performed as Oderus Urungus. He performed as a bassist and lead singer in the bands Death Piggy, X-Cops, and the Dave Brockie Experience (DBX), and starred in the comedy horror TV sitcom Holliston as Oderus Urungus. Brockie died of a heroin overdose in 2014.
Slave Pit Inc. is the artist collective, production company and independent record label created for releasing projects by the heavy metal band Gwar and related side projects such as Mensrea and Locus Factor.
Bloody Pit of Horror is the twelfth studio album by Gwar. It was released on November 9, 2010, on Metal Blade Records.
Battle Maximus is the thirteenth studio album by American metal band Gwar. The album was released on September 17, 2013 through Metal Blade Records. The album was the first to feature new guitarist Brent Purgason, portraying the new character Pustulus Maximus, the first album to feature bassist Jamison Land, portraying longtime character, Beefcake the Mighty, and the last to feature vocalist Dave Brockie who portrayed Oderus Urungus, due to Brockie's death from a heroin overdose on March 23, 2014. The album was re-released September 1, 2023 as a special "10th Anniversary Edition". The re-release features completely new mixes of the album as well as the previously unreleased track "Tammy, the Swine Queen", which is the last song recorded by Dave Brockie before his death.
Blöthar the Berserker is the current lead vocalist and occasional bassist in the heavy metal band Gwar. He appears as a stout, pigface, horned goblin. During Gwar's appearance at the 2014 Chicago Riot Fest, the character debuted udders that spray fluid on the crowd, similar to the "Cuttlefish of Cthulu" penile attachment sported by previous Gwar vocalist, Oderus Urungus. Blöthar is usually portrayed wielding a wooden shield and battle-axe.
The Blood of Gods is the fourteenth album by thrash metal band Gwar. It was released on October 20, 2017 by Metal Blade Records. It is the band's first album without founding member Dave Brockie, who portrayed Oderus Urungus, due to his heroin overdose death on March 23, 2014. The album is also the first to feature Michael Bishop since 1999's We Kill Everything, portraying the newest character, lead singer Blöthar the Berserker, as opposed to his role as the original Beefcake the Mighty. It is the band's last album to feature Jamison Land as Beefcake before his departure in 2019 as well as the last to be released through Metal Blade.
Black Friday is a single by thrash metal band Gwar, that was issued on picture disc for Record Store Day Black Friday 2016. It is the first studio material released by the band since founding member and lead singer Dave Brockie died of a heroin overdose on March 23, 2014.
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