Tommy Meehan’s longtime dream was to be in a band that opened up for Gwar.
“I was a huge fan for a long, long time,” says the Los Angeles, California musician. “The first time I saw Gwar was at the Phoenix Theatre in 2001 … the Blood Drive tour. And I thought, ‘Wow, this is everything you would want in a rock band. The music, the theatrics … they have it all.”
Meehan, 38, has gone beyond the dream. Earlier this year, he replaced Brent Purgason, a.k.a. Pustulus Maximus, as the Richmond-based art metal collective’s lead guitarist, and he’s already infusing the Gwar world with new riffs, youthful enthusiasm and fresh verbal spew. As Grodius Maximus, Meehan will make his Richmond debut at the National on Saturday, Nov. 9. Not only that, he’ll pull double duty as another band of his, Squid Pisser, will open the show.
Meehan has greatly impressed Brad Roberts, a.k.a. Jismac Da Gusher, Gwar’s longtime drummer. “Tommy is young and has a million ideas. The rest of us are old Gen X-ers, our reference point is Iggy and the Stooges and his is, like, Slayer. So the level of musicianship is greatly advanced. Plus Tommy was a fan of Gwar and that kind of helps, too.”
In the band, he becomes one in a long line of guitarists — Purgason, Zach Blair, Pete Lee, Tim Harriss, Dewey Rowell and the late Cory Smoot — who have entered the ever-changing group’s roster to contribute under the “Maximus” surname. Juggling several music projects, Meehan clearly fits in with the hard-working Gwar aesthetic (which has its own side band, The X-Cops). He’s also a visual artist who has worked as an animator and composer for Warner Brothers’ Looney Tunes and the Cartoon Network.
“Tommy is Grodius Maximus, part of the clan that started with Flattus and then Pustulus, part of the same tribe,” says Margaret Rolicki, an artist and “slave” at the Slave Pit, Gwar’s workshop and rehearsal space in Scott’s Addition.
Meehan has given his input on how Grodius should look, she says. “His [latex] costume has a lot of dinosaur bone and fur-like stuff. It’s nice that they all have ideas about what they want it to look like but there’s the aesthetic aspect and then there’s whether it’s functional. They have to play their instruments in it, move around, go up ramps in the dark… it’s got to be spewproof, wearable, playable, functional.”
From football to Gwar
Performing in a heavy costume is no problem for Meehan, a former high school football star who played fullback, halfback, tight end and defensive tackle (he says he’s been training his whole life to be in Gwar). Surprisingly, his first musical heroes were 13-year-old ’90s hip-hoppers Kris Kross, a fact that he happily shares even when in character as Grodius. “‘Jump’ was so awesome,” he says. “I loved it. Admittedly, they didn’t have much guitar.”
Meehan first wanted to play the drums, and dabbled in the bass, but at some point, he convinced his father to buy him a guitar. But he’d only get it if he played football. He reneged on the deal and his dad took the axe away — that when he “started building my own guitars out of baseball bats and rubber bands” — before his dad gave it back.
The youngster also began writing and recording songs. “I found an answering machine by the dumpster and there was a built-in microphone and I just started making songs and multi-tracking with a boombox. Every [generation], the recording would get a little slower and I would have to re-tune.”
Meehan was a big Gwar fan before he ever saw them live. His first band in high school, the Brockley Tacos, was “very Gwar-inspired,” he says. “We had characters, and I was the fearless pumpkin warrior, with pumpkin shoulder pads. We even had our own comics and stuff. Everything I’ve ever done, Gwar has been in my head, not in a rip-off kind of way but more in terms of sensibilities.”
He even started a Gwar podcast with some of his buddies, “the GWARcast,” and made a public declaration that one of his main goals in life was to be in a band that toured with Gwar. “I said it out loud. So during the pandemic I created this band called Cancer Christ, and a year later we were being asked to tour with Gwar.” Cancer Christ’s act seemed a perfect match as it included snake people, baptisms in blood and a flamethrower.
Casey Orr, Gwar’s bass playing Beefcake the Mighty, recalls how Meehan entered the fold: “On that tour, Brent [Purgason], who was Pustulus Maximus, announced that he was leaving the band, amicably. But there was a sound check that Brent didn’t show for and Tommy said, ‘I know a couple of songs.’ He got up and played ‘Let us Slay’ and he nailed it.”
Later on the tour, Purgason talked Meehan into donning the Pustulus costume and going onstage. “He didn’t tell us,” Orr laughs. “Tommy comes out and … [shakes his head and exhales]. I mean, Tommy’s a fan but he’s more than that. He’s a very good musician, composer. And he’s got those LA connections and stuff, stuff we’re not really good at.”
Have riffs, will travel
Meehan arrived armed for bear — he was asked for three original songs at the audition, he gave them 15. He’s now contributing new licks for the band’s forthcoming album, slated to coincide with Gwar’s 40th anniversary tour next year.
“He has tons of riffs,” says Orr. “Which ones do we choose? It looks like Tommy is the main songwriter at this moment in time because he’s come to the table with so much stuff [he gives a Beefcake laugh]. Let’s exploit the new guy.”
Grodius joined just in time to help Gwar record its iconic cover of “I’m Just Ken” for the AV Club’s Undercover series online in July [which is closing in on 1 million views in only three months]. And his speedy fret work is already earning fan raves on the band’s current Stoned Age tour. Meehan’s playful approach to his character is influenced by the band’s late frontman, Dave “Oderus Urungus” Brockie, as well as current lead singer, Michael “Blóthar the Berserker” Bishop. But he has his own manic energy and sinister/goofy style.
Speaking as Grodius, he was asked by interviewer A.J. Good (at the House of Masks YouTube channel) about how his human slave, Tommy Meehan, approached his work now that the pair were finally in Gwar.
“I haven’t spent a lot of time with this Tommy character,” Maximus growled in full costume. “I see him skateboarding around going to yoga classes and all that hippie bullshit when he should be cleaning the semen out of my fishnets. I’m actually going to murder him later tonight, but (whispers) don’t tell him, okay?”
Gwar performs at The National on Saturday, Nov. 9 with Cancer Bats and Squid Pisser. The show starts at 8 p.m. All ages. https://www.thenationalva.com.
