GWAR Cancels European Tour

GWAR has canceled its previously announced European tour which was scheduled to kick off on January 11 on Antwerp, Belgium. The band said in a statement, "Ticket sales were slow so promoters started pulling the plug on shows. Finally we had so many blow-outs that we had no choice but to cancel the whole thing."

The group added, "We can't afford to pay to play Europe; after all, we aren't fucking tourists! But we are extremely disappointed this happened and very sorry for our fans over there, especially in light of recent events. I know everybody over there wanted to say goodbye to [late GWAR guitarist] Flattus [Maximus, a.k.a. Cory Smoot] in a way that only a GWAR show could provide, and we were really looking forward to sharing that with you guys.

"Hopefully all tickets will be refunded (please let us know if they are not).

"Again, we are really sorry this happened, but there was nothing we could do.

"[We are] very, very bummed... but GWAR still lives, and will return to reap a bloody vengeance too terrible to comprehend."

It was announced earlier in the month that GWAR guitarist Cory Smoot died from a coronary artery thrombosis brought about by his pre-existing coronary artery disease.

Cory, who had played the character of Flattus Maximus for over ten years, was discovered dead on the band's tour bus on November 3 of this year. He was 34 years old.

The band, which will continue as a four-piece until the current tour schedule is complete, has officially retired the character of Flattus Maximus, and has announced no plans regarding a new GWAR-tarist.

Brockie told the Daily News that he knew his friend definitely wasn't the hard-partying type who'd end up a heavy metal drug cliché.

"For a rock and roll musician to die on a bus on the way to a border crossing ... there was a real breath of relief that rippled through the metal community when we found out it was a normal death," he said.

Brockie and his bandmates returned to the stage — in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada — just 36 hours after Smoot's passing — because it kept their minds off the fact that Smoot's body was stuck in a morgue in North Dakota for almost a week, not being released to Cory's wife, Jamie, until the coroner fully examined the body.

"We went out there to do the soundcheck and it was just on," said Brockie of the Edmonton show. "All of a sudden, we had a new appreciation for everything.

"Because he's not here, we’re going to have do everything a million times better than we've ever done before. The audience wasn't just going to let us fail."

He added, "[Cory] will always be a part of our band. As I'm talking to you, I'm sitting here staring at a plaster cast of his head.

"In his short 34 years, he had a huge impact. It'll take a long time to get the credit he deserves, because he was wearing 40 pounds of rubber and makeup when he played."