RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – The surviving members of the Richmond-based metal band GWAR have plans to open GWARbar. GWAR guitarist, and local bartender, Mike Derks said the GWAR-themed restaurant will serve “intergalatic junk food.”
“I have a lot of foodie friends, but I also have adult friends who have a childish palate,” Derks said about the inspiration for his menu which he described as children’s food for grown ups. “Food you loved as a kid, but done really well.”
Band members are teaming up with Richmond restaurateur Travis Croxton (Rappahannock) to turn 217 Clay St. in Jackson Ward into GWARbar.
Demolition inside the building started Friday, Derks said. He hoped to have the restaurant opened for business later this year.
Derks started an Indiegogo site to help raise money to open the restaurant. The band produced a video that explains their vision better than this article ever could.
“The GWARbar will be a fun, unique restaurant in Richmond, Virginia that will change the dinning experience in much the same way that GWAR changed the concert going experience (well, maybe without quite as much mess),” the band posted online. “We have found the perfect building in Richmond’s historic Jackson Ward, but we need your help to transform it into a fantasy land of food and beverage that we know it can be. We need a budget to update almost every surface on the interior and exterior of the building, including bars, floors, walls, ceilings and bathrooms.”
The band has offered different gifts depending on how much you donate to the cause.
A $1 donation gets you a simple thank you, $50 a GWARbar t-shirt, $500 an invite to a pre-open party, $1,000 a seat at the bar, $2,500 your own drink and $10,000 a private party with GWAR.
