Gwar's Pustulus Maximus demystifies fear with humor

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? Though he denies such a human exists, Gwar axe man Pustulus Maximus is another alias used by former Cannabis Corpse guitarist Brent “Robert E. Legion” Purgasons. He first donned Pustulus’ pock-marked face and feet in 2012, replacing the late Cory “Flattus Maximus” Smoot. Pustulus and his intergalactic scumdog bandmates are on tour now celebrating the band’s 30th anniversary, which includes a Thanksgiving stop at the Masquerade. Crib Notes caught up with Purgason to talk about Gwar’s legacy of gore, brutality, and coping with real-word threats of violence.
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? How long have you been a member of Gwar?
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? I’m not too good at chronologically … I mean I’m good at chronic but not at anything chronologically ordered. Maybe three or four years at this point? I’m still the new puppy.
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? Character-wise, you are part of a lineage of guitarists, right?
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? Flattus and I are cousins. We are from different planets, but we have the same tribe — the Maximus clan.
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? And the Maximus clan happen to be really great guitar players?
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? All of the Maximuses are, but I was the first Maximus to be born with a guitar in my hand. Which wreaked a little bit of hell on my mother’s uterus when I came out. Tragically she died at childbirth.
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? Kind of like being born with combat boots on, but you took it a step further…
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? Right, but you know I quickly devoured her because I needed sustenance to develop into the scumdog I am today. Bless her soulless, lifeless body. It was a good meal.
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? Do you still eat people, or did you get that out of your system as a newborn?
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? Not typically because humans today eat so much crap that I try not to eat them. Everything they put into their body you are putting into yours. Humans are eating Burger King and McDonalds and Chic-fil-a and all of that stuff nowadays. You don’t want any of that crap in your body. So I try to shy away from eating humans nowadays.
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? ??? What did you eat on your planet then? I assume there was no Chic-fil-a or black Burger King Halloween burgers or anything like that.
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? On my planet and on Earth, I’m not a vegan but I eat vegan food. It’s mostly to just take it away from the actual vegans and vegetarians. Anything worth believing in is worth suffering for, so I try to make sure they starve. But you know, just the regular food groups: scat, blood, sausage, and teriyaki chicken.
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? Theatrics are obviously a big part of Gwar. When you came in, did you get to bring your own flair to the performance or is it laid out for you that you’re the guy with the chainsaw or bucket of fake blood?

? No, pretty much we just try to play these rock ’n’ roll concerts. Every time we play somebody is always trying to attack us. They keep coming back every night, so we don’t know what to do other than keep killing them. We are killing Kanye and Hillary and various other nefarious monsters and creatures. Every night we play, they keep coming back. I don’t know what it is. Maybe they are just obsessed with Gwar.
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? Are these people somehow reborn after the show, or are you guys maybe a little paranoid?
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? My rehab specialist said paranoia was an extension of my drug abuse, but I don’t believe what he says. I think it’s all a conspiracy anyway. I think he’s working against us. I quit rehab very, very quickly. I stayed maybe three days at the most. You can’t even do drugs in rehab. I don’t know where they come up with these fucking rules. When you want to get down, you don’t jump off a building to the front door. You take the steps. Baby steps, you know. I’m going from 40 grams a day to maybe 35 or 30. My dad didn’t raise no quitter, so I’ve got to keep doing what I’m doing.
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? You mentioned your therapist might be conspiring. Is he a lizard or something, or is he just not a fan of rock ’n’ roll?
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? Actually, now that you mention it, I think I might have saw his eyes change slightly. He might be one of those Annunaki blood-sucking reptile people from planet Nibiru. Planet X is always something to look out for.
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? Part of your whole appearance and character is acne. What is the origin of you being the guy with bad skin?
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? Well I was just born with a curse, covered with pustules and sweltering sores. Part of me picking up the guitar was that’s just something that takes the pain away. Whenever I have a guitar in my hands, I wouldn’t use the word happy or jovial to describe my mood. Let’s just say I’m less angry than I am without a guitar.
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? Were you inside playing guitar while the healthy kids were out playing? Were your caretakers at this point — your mother obviously wasn’t there because you ate her — like “don’t play with the other kids?”
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? I didn’t play with other children growing up. I actually dropped out of school in fourth grade because of recess because I don’t play. I’m serious.
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? With Gwar, there’s been a lot of member changes, but the band has been at it for 30 years. Do you see Gwar as a lasting thing? Is it going to be around for 50 years? I guess, the idea of Gwar is bigger than the sum of its parts?
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? All scumdogs, at least for the most part, we have this thing. I don’t know if it’s immortality, or if we just live for an insanely long amount of time. You know, I’m around like 3,000 years old. Oderus was much older than that. We have plenty of life left in us, and I don’t see us stopping anytime soon. If KISS can franchise their band to the point that they don’t do anything but sit back and make money… That seems like a retirement plan I can get into. I don’t think you have to worry about Gwar going anywhere. As long as there are politicians in this world that need to be killed, we will be paying the world a service and taking care of them for you. Plus humanity is a disease we are trying to cure.
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? Things are kind of devolving too, as another band famously observed.
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? We are devolving. That’s the other thing that’s grinding my gears right now. I know Alice Cooper did it back in the day, but beheading people at rock concerts is our thing. Now I hear there’s this group of religious extremists that are copying our style. That’s really fucked up. I don’t like that at all. Maybe we should send them a cease and desist or something. I thought we owned all the copyrights to public beheadings and things like that. That’s our style. That’s what we do. It's insane. It's infuriating. We've got to do something about this!
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? To be serious for a minute, does it ever weird you out thinking about some of the things that are going on in the world now, like actual beheadings?
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? I don’t think anyone is ever going to come after Gwar. We are terrifying. We are halfway immortal. I’ve been shot 36 times and never wrote a single rap song about it.
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? But I think we’ll be alright. You can only just live your life instead of thinking about the millions of things that can happen to you on a daily basis. You could die in a car wreck. Somebody could shit out of an airplane and it hit you walking down the street and kill you. You can’t let that stop you. You’ve got to have that pep in your step. Keep going forward. That's the Fox News generation for you. They want you to live your life in fear.
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? Gwar, Battlecross, Harvester, and Apothecary play the Masquerade on Wed., Nov. 25. $20. 7 p.m. 695 North Ave., 404-577-8178. www.masq.com.