Cancer has claimed Chuck Varga, the GWAR founding member who stalked the band’s stages in the guise of Sexecutioner; the shock-rock heavy metal performer died Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, at 68. He lived in Brooklyn, N.Y.
GWAR bassist Casey Orr, who performs as Beefcake the Mighty, announced the death in a Facebook post. “Chuck Varga has left this earthly realm. He passed peacefully, his beloved wife Bambi holding his hand. He was one of a kind. As an artist, as a performer; as a scholar and a gentleman,” Orr wrote, adding that the world “is lesser for his leaving.”
Orr said in the same post that Varga was likely being “welcomed into Valhalla right now by Brockie and Smooty and all who went before.” Frontman Dave Brockie, who co-founded GWAR and performed as Oderus Urungus, and guitarist Cory Smoot, who played Flattus Maximus, both died before him. Brockie, who co-founded GWAR while attending Virginia Commonwealth University, died March 23, 2014, at 50.
“Legends never die. Hail Varga! Hail Sexicutioner!” Orr wrote in the post. He asked fans to raise a glass and tell stories about Varga.
Tributes From the Band
GWAR posted its own tribute on Instagram on Sept. 27, calling Varga an artist, a vocalist and “a brother to everyone in the band.” The band wrote: “There are some losses that hit harder than others. The world lost Chuck Varga a few days ago, and GWAR lost one of its own.”
His bandmates made the cancer diagnosis public in April by launching a nationwide blood donation campaign, with donors receiving a limited-edition shirt he designed. The band followed that in June with a fundraiser aimed at helping Varga and his wife cover medical, hospice and housing costs.
“Chuck Varga’s contributions to the Gwar and Slave Pit collective are enormous,” Bob Gorman, a GWAR member who plays Bonesnapper, said at the time of the June fundraiser. “The influence of his illustrations, character designs, performances, and artistic vision can still be felt throughout Gwar today.”
From Richmond to the Slave Pit
Varga was born in Virginia in 1958 and attended Virginia Commonwealth University in the early 1980s, striking up a friendship with fellow student Hunter Jackson. Jackson had set up a production space called the Slave Pit to make a science-fiction film, and the musicians, artists and filmmakers who gathered there — Varga among them — gave rise to GWAR, a band that formed in Richmond, Va., in 1985.
He performed with GWAR through the band’s breakthrough years, from the mid-1980s until 1997, and, according to the band, returned for stints from 2000 to 2002 and 2014 to 2017, retiring from the stage after GWAR’s Halloween Scumdog Reunion in 2021.
Grammy Nominations and Chart Runs
GWAR fused heavy metal with science fiction and Norse mythology, dressing in Kiss-style costumes taken to violent and grotesque extremes. The band was known for outlandish getups and intentionally offensive lyrics, and audiences around Richmond embraced the group as a local favorite before it built a national following. Varga designed characters and props for the band.
As the Sexecutioner, he sang lead on his signature songs, including “Sexecutioner” and “Ragnarok,” and he was part of eight major touring productions and co-authored two feature-length films, including the Grammy-nominated “Phallus in Wonderland.” He was also responsible for designing costumes, sets, props and comic book narratives for the Gwar universe.
GWAR’s debut album, “Hell-O,” arrived in 1988, and 1992’s “America Must Be Destroyed” cracked the Billboard 200. The band was nominated in 1993 for Best Long Form Music Video for “Phallus in Wonderland,” losing to Annie Lennox, and took a second Grammy nomination in 1996 for Best Metal Performance for the single “S.F.W.,” a category that went to Nine Inch Nails. The band’s 2013 release “Battle Maximus” peaked at No. 7 on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart.
Film, television and Broadway work drew Varga to New York City after he left the band in 1997. With fellow GWAR alumnus Don Drakulich, he co-founded the costume and set design company Hypereal Productions.
Varga is survived by his wife, Bambi. Complete information on other survivors was not immediately available. GWAR is scheduled to continue touring in October. The band has not announced whether Varga’s death will affect those performances.