Thanks to the magic of the internet, I managed to score an interview with GWAR's original Beefcake, Mike Bishop. He played on GWAR's 1st 4 records, often said to have been their high peak, and he can be seen in most videos and interview from this era.

Q. Have you ever written anything lyrically?

A. Yes, lots of stuff, if you mean for Gwar, I wrote most of the lyrics to Rock and Roll Never Felt So Good, Cool Place to Park, The Road Behind, and any thing I sang, like Fight or Eat Steel

Q. How long have you known Brockie, and were you involved in his life during the Death Piggy years

A. I've known Dave for 25 years or so. I often went to see Death Piggy, they were one of my favorite bands.

Q. Who were your musical influences, and who are the people that keep you interested in music to this day.

A. lots and lots and lots of stuff from Junior Parker to Charles Mingus etc. For rock stuff its basically most punk rock and post punk, I loved the Bad Brains, I loved weird shit like the Cramps, the Minutemen, X, lots of stuff. As far as today, I listen to and play lots of Country Swing, Bob Wills, Hank Williams, Buck Owens, and I play lots of blues and soul. The stuff I do now is more jazz oriented, mixing bebop and gypsy swing type shit with country music

Q. How long do you think GWAR will last under Brockie's leadership?

A. I have no idea, I don't think the band is exactly under Dave's leadership anymore. Matt pulls a lot of weight, which is odd. I don't really know him, but I sort of instinctively don't like him very much, never have. I think probably the band will keep going until they get too tired of it to continue. Maybe another album or so.

Q. Where are some of your favorite places or venues to play

A. I like the Vera in Gronignen Holland, i like playing in Europe, but in the US its Mississippi, Cleveland, Detroit, San Francisco, New Orleans

Q. Do you know what happened to Pete Lutcher, a.k.a Lee Beato?

A. I know what happened to him when we were playing together. He was a manic depressive and he lost his shit. Started just hanging out in his room and wouldn't come out. I don't know what he ever did after that.

Q. There are alot of guys you don't hear much about, like Rowell, Douglas, and Mobsy. Do you have any stories about them?

A. Loads. But I can't spit these out off hand. Mosby is a funny guy. He is a graphic artist these days. Dewey lives on the edge of drug addiction and ruin, coming in and out of recovery. Douglas was and I imagine still is an asshole. I don't know what he's doing.

Q. If you had a chance to live your GWAR years over, would you do anything diffrently?

A. I'd probably not quit the band like I did. I would have written more about my expereinces while I was doing it.

Q. Do you still have any pieces of your old Beefcake costume?

A. nooooo :(

Q. How did you go about joining GWAR? Were there any auditions or other things typical bands do?

A. I heard from Dewey Rowell that the band needed players. I auditioned, but it was really a shoe in. I just showed up and played through the songs and it was cool.

Q. What's your personal favorite GWAR record/song

A. I like This Toilet Earth, and my favorite song is SpaceKake

Q. Do you have any amps/effects you can reccomend to someone looking to mimic the thick, full, semi-distorted sound of your bass. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I mean like the bass breakdown to Bad, Bad Men

A. Well, I used a basic solid state head, the Seymour Duncan Bi-amp 8000, with Mesa Boogie cabinets. I ran the amp in mono, through an 18, and a full range cab with a 15, 2x10's, 2x5's and bullet driver. I used a Rat distortion pedal, but I was always able to dial in that sound with any pedal that wasn't too saturated. Just a tiny, tiny, like on 1, distortion. A lot of the sound had to do with the bass, which was a Steinberger XM2. I used the Precision pickups with a bit of a bass boost to make up for the loss of lows cut by the pedal. Also, you have to play hard to get that sound. Alot of the 'distortion' is my banging the shit out of it and it hitting the limiter circuit of the old Teletronix LA 2A, a kick ass compressor. Also, I used a Pultech eq to dial back in lows and cut out mud.

Q. What's your opinion on torrents/bootlegs/illegal downloads?

A. I don't give a shit. I think its fine. It helps in a way by giving more exposure.

Q. Were all the props GWAR brought on stage and the blood flying everywhere a little distracting or annoying? Did it ruin any good equitment?

A. YES, the blood and the props were a major deterrent to 'good' music. We were always having to recone soaked speakers, I had to use the Steinberger, a headless bass, because my tuning pegs kept getting caught in people's chains and getting knocked out of tune.

Q. Did you have any experiences with Jello Biafra on the set of Skullheadface? What do you think of all the lawsuits and shit the DK's are going through now?

A. Jello was one of my good friends and he still is. I think he went a bit overboard in trying to control the DK's music. He probably earned the backlash from his band mates who just wanted to make a bit of scratch while they still could.

Q. What was your most embarrasing moment on stage, of all the bands you've been with

A. I fell asleep during a Gwar show once, passed ut backstage while playing with a wireless.

Q. Where'd you get the skin thingy that you put on your bass to make it look like a slab of raw steak?

A. Liz Fairbairn, our old manager made that.

Q. Any tips on building up finger strength on the bass?

A. Just play. Play alot, all the time. I still play a lot, and I'm much better now than when I was in Gwar. I did also finger exercises sometimes. Just scales making sure to push down hard, but by far, the way I got good was by playing A LOT.