Lead singers are a different breed in general, but most of them don’t have horns, udders, four penises, and a sideways vagina lined with teeth. Blöthar the Berserker kinda has that lane to himself.

Blöthar is frontman for Gwar, the grotesquely costumed metal band infamous for their wild, fake-blood/fake-other-fluids-spewing stage show. What’s less known about Gwar is that the members of the band, who do interviews in-character, are smart-funny punk-rock dudes at heart. At least that’s how Blöthar came across during our recent phone interview.

Formed in 1984 in Richmond, Virginia, the band’s known for songs with titles like “Sick Of You” and “Saddam a Go-Go.” They name their albums stuff like “Scumdogs of the Universe,” “This Toilet Earth” and “Lust in Space.” Their most recent album is 2022′s “The New Dark Ages.”

In addition to Blöthar on vocals, Gwar’s current lineup features Pustulus Maximus and BälSäc the Jaws of Death, bassist Beefcake the Mighty and drummer Jizmak da Gusha. They’re currently out on the road for their “Age of Imbeciles Tour” with support acts including Cancer Christ and Negative Approach.

Gwar cofounder and longtime frontman Oderus Urungus (aka Dave Brockie) died in 2014 from a heroin overdose. Blöthar (aka Michael Bishop, who earlier in the band’s history portrayed bassist Beefcake the Mighty) took over on lead vocals around that time.

When we connect for our interview, Blöthar is in Cincinnati where Gwar has a show that night. Edited excerpts below.

Gwar’s known for their stage show. But what a Gwar recording session like?

Blöthar the Berserker: When we go into the studio, we’ve always said that we’d like to record over the telephone. [Laughs] Because we can’t stand being around each other. But the truth of the matter is, it’s always funny, because people wonder what we look like in the studio. Well, we look exactly like we look onstage. Yeah, we’re in there, in the studio, wearing our ridiculous outfits, trying to put headphones onto a big pair of snapping metal jaws is not the easiest thing in the world. But we manage, you know. Gwar manages to every time at least get some performance down. This last one, we recorded out in a field in Virginia somewhere, surrounded by goats, nighttime rituals and a donut truck.

What was the lyrical inspiration for the title track from Gwar’s most recent album, “The New Dark Ages”?

The times that we’re living in. I think what triggered the Dark Ages idea is what looks like this kind of return to superstition, like a turn away from science and rationality. They would rather believe fairy tales. And the Dark Ages was a time when, towards the medieval side, they were kind of replacing the idea of God with reason, like at the end of it. There was so much anxiety in the world about technology. It’s very familiar. It looks like a place we’ve been before.

I like the track “The Cutter” you all did with Lzzy Hale from Halestorm. Who’s another well-known musician Gwar’s always wanted to collaborate with?

We’ve always wanted to do something with Ice-T, and that hasn’t panned out so far. I personally always wanted to do something with Dolly Parton. I won’t say exactly what I would like to do with her, but I feel like she and I have a lot in common.

Kiss frontman Paul Stanley once referred to Gwar as Kiss’ illegitimate children, or something like that. Did your mom [have sex with] Paul Stanley?

[Laughs] I don’t know. Maybe my father did. Paul Stanley’s definitely a beautiful man, there’s no question, and he looks even more beautiful now.

What’s an artist you or the other members of Gwar like to listen to that might surprise people?

You know, Oderus was always a fan of Berle Ives. And Tom Jones is pretty rad. George Jones, all the Joneses. Donnie and Marie, the Osmonds.

What do you remember about the first Gwar show?

I think the very first Gwar show we ever did was at the old 930 Club in Washington, D.C. with [the band] Suicidal Tendencies. It was Gwar but at the time it was a band called Death Piggy, that the old singer, the slave [real identity in Gwar-speak) of Oderus, Dave Brockie, was in.

They get there and they’re going to play, and they asked Suicidal Tendencies if they could borrow their gear, and Suicidal Tendencies said no, and then they used it anyway when they left. [Laughs] I don’t know if you remember what the Suicidal Tendencies were like in 1985, but they were tough guys. It was kind of like walking up to a pitbull, and just smacking it right in the face. But they managed to survive that.

Gwar’s been nominated for two Grammys. The band ended up losing out to Annie Lennox for one of those, and Nine Inch Nails for the other. Have you ever considered taking matters into your own hands and traveling to Trent Reznor’s house and Annie Lennox’s house and just take these Grammys that are rightfully Gwar’s?

It’s not their fault. Trent Reznor is a great guy. Annie Lennox, wonderfully talented person. It’s the Grammy people that I blame. The head of the Grammys, what’s his name?

The gray-haired guy with the beard that always made that depressing speech during the Grammy Awards?

Charles Michael Greene [the now-former Grammys president]. What a turd.

Gwar does a live cover of AC/DC’s song “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)” with lots of fake blood involved. Have you ever heard back from Angus Young or any of the other AC/DC guys, as far was what they thought about that cover?

I was thrilled to hear Paul Stanley talk about the band, and Alice Cooper, we did one of his songs and he likes he likes the band. But we haven’t heard back from AC/DC. And the weird thing is the singer [of AC/DC] – not on that song [Bon Scott] – but Brian Johnson lives in Sarasota, Florida, which is where I live. People see him around town. I’ve never seen him, but I wish he’d call me up. I’d love to go over to his house and stare at his wife.

What’s next for Gwar?

We’re working on a film. We haven’t really announced the details of that, but Gwar’s working on a movie, and we’re working on a new record.

You mentioned Oderus [Gwar’s deceased singer] earlier. When do you feel his presence most onstage?

He’s always looming over us, judging us harshly and raining down his recriminations. But it’s weird. I’ll think about him at various times. The weirdest thing is when people show up to the concert dressed as Oderus, right. So suddenly you see him out in the crowd. It’s like, whoa, OK.

But on this tour, we always do a song that is for Oderus, “Immortal Corrupter,” which is a song that’s not about Oderus but is one of the lyrics that he would write with a lot of braggadocio and singing about himself. So that one’s that one’s fun. And I always feel like the crowd’s response to it, and we always mentioned Oderus when we do it

Have there been bands that have been scared to tour with Gwar?

It’s interesting. I have to give credit to the band Mudvayne, and they took Gwar out as an opener, and that’s something that people have been scared to do ever since … It’s almost like something happened. Because when we first started, we opened for the Butthole Surfers a few times, and then we opened for Danzig. We opened for Danzig’s very first shows, and it was completely awesome, and Danzig pulled it off fine. But then all of a sudden people would sort of be like, no, we don’t want to have Gwar as an opener for whatever reason. So just about every band is scared to have Gwar as an opener, which the exception of Danzig, Mudvayne and Lamb of God, maybe.

What’s the biggest misconception about Gwar?

I think that people have always sold Gwar short musically, and they continue to do that. I don’t know why. There’s a lot of bands that have come after us that managed to get away with having a stage performance, and that doesn’t make people say, Oh, look, they can’t play their instruments at all. But that’s definitely happened with Gwar. People who at various times believed that we’re just sort of, I don’t know, a track act [a band that mimes to prerecorded tracks].

We use tracks in the same way other bands use them, like if we have a horn section, then we don’t carry a horn section. We have the horns playing on a track, but all the instruments are live and all the singing’s live.

I think that’s the big one. And the other one is that people assign all of the credit to Gwar to Dave Brockie. And I love Brockie to death, we all do, but Gwar has always been the product of a lot of people’s work, and I don’t think Brockie would’ve ever said it was his, right. But fans do sometimes, because it’s simple and they’re — I don’t know, man — stupid and unable imagine complexity.

Gwar’s tour comes to Mars Music Hall in Huntsville, Alabama 7 p.m. October 22. Tickets are $30 and up (plus fees) via ticketmaster.com, and the Mars Box Office, address 700 Monroe Street. Complete tour dates can be found at gwar.net.