Dwarves

About

Also known as: Dwarves (The), The Dwarves

Few punk bands have caused as much chaos as the Dwarves, a Chicago born outfit whose live shows were notorious for self mutilation, on stage sex, hard drugs, and sets that sometimes lasted all of fifteen minutes before injury cut things short. Formed originally under the name Suburban Nightmare in the mid 1980s, they evolved from garage punk through a brutal hardcore phase before landing on an eclectic punk rock sound that mixes hardcore, surf rock, pop, hip hop, and rock and roll, all wrapped in deliberately shocking lyrics. Their guitarist HeWhoCannotBeNamed performs either in a jockstrap or fully nude, with only a Rey Mysterio wrestling mask for modesty. Their 1993 fake death stunt, in which they issued a press release claiming HeWhoCannotBeNamed had been stabbed to death in Philadelphia, was so convincing it got them dropped from Sub Pop. They bounced back with a run of records on Sympathy for the Record Industry, including the 2004 album The Dwarves Must Die, which pulled in guest appearances from Dexter Holland, Nick Oliveri, and Nash Kato. Core members Blag Dahlia and HeWhoCannotBeNamed have kept the band going through countless lineup changes, and recent releases like Terrorist of Love show they have not mellowed.