September 22, 2025
THE DWARVES ARE (STILL) YOUNG AND GOOD LOOKING
Deep in the downtown dirt and grime of Montreal, Québec, somewhere on Ste-Catherine street, between the acrid smell of hard drugs being smoked and the every present displays of human despair and itinerant howling, lies Foufounes Électriques. It’s in this iconic venue that the Dwarves first played Montreal, on their second foray up north, back on June 13th, 1992.
The singer and leader of the band, Blag Dahlia aka Blag the Ripper aka Julius Seizure aka Ralph Champagne, is set to have a chat with me. I make my way through the venue’s front gates, protected by a sleepy looking young bouncer, who quite frankly looks like he belongs in a Monty Python skit, lazily protecting a castle.
See Also: Korn at Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa
Once inside, I take in the scene: xenomorphic steel appendages, artwork and the usual crowd of locals seated at the bar. I move on and head up the steep, metal edged stairs into the inner sanctum of the venue itself.
I immediately spot Blag, calmly setting up shop at the Dwarves merch table. This is a man known in the past for crashing through musicians and show goers alike, whacking unruly mosh pit peasants with his microphone and causing unpredictable mayhem as the leader of one of the most notorious punk bands in American history. However, it would soon become apparent that he’s also a chill, down to earth dude who has vastly evolved during his lengthy creative career. A career that is certainly too large to map in one sitting.
We head to a quiet spot, sit down on old, worn leather seating and I think to myself: I wonder how much sex has occurred on these old benches? My inner musings would have to wait.
This year, against all reason and logic, the Dwarves turn 40. And they look and sound better than ever. I ask Blag about this milestone and we begin our trip down memory lane.
“Can you imagine?” says Blag. “I mean, depending on how you reckon it, we’ve been around maybe even 42 years. Our first recording was from ‘83. So yeah, it’s been a long, strange trip! Back then, we were called Suburban Nightmares. I guess for the Dwarves, it has been exactly 40 years. Maybe we went by that name in ‘84… I just don’t know anymore! Maybe it was 85? Yeah…! In ‘85, we became the dwarves. So yeah, 40 years!”
The Dwarves Then and Now
We dig through his recollections of that era and particularly, the Montreal show in ‘92. At the time, the Dwarves were signed to SubPop, were on tour with friends the Supersuckers and had just released Thank heaven for little girls, not to mention the punk masterpiece Blood, Guts and Pussy, 2 years prior, in 1990.
“I absolutely remember coming here(Montreal) and thinking it was a great place and loving this town! The day after the show, we went to a breakfast place where the waitresses were bottomless and had- I mean, it was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen,” Blag recalls. As a Montreal native, I mention these places are now rare or non-existent.
Blag persists:”Is that still there, though? It’s really what Hooters should have been!”
After a moment’s hesitation, Blag remembers that it was the Supersuckers that played with them in Montreal, back in 1992. “Yeah, we toured a lot with them, had a lot of fun with them. I still see Eddie(Spaghetti). He’s just a great dude.”
The Dwarves had been around for many years at that point, and new bands with similar energy were emerging; bands like the SuperSuckers and Zeke. “We used to make fun of the Super Suckers and call them Dwarves Junior. And then when Zeke came along, we made fun of them and called them Dwarves, the Third.
Blag continues: “But both of those bands went on to really make their own styles and do things in a very cool way. But we were younger then and liked to make fun of everybody. As soon as those bands came up, it was like: OH, you’re doing us’, you know.” Suddenly breaking off onto a memory exit lane, Blag says: “But yeah, that’s two great bands right there. And wow, that’s right. I do remember that now! Because Vadge Moore and Dan Bolton kind of had a “disgusting off”. He(Dan) was the original guitar player and the rhythm guitar player in the Super Suckers. They would… yeah, they would sort of have a disgusting off; who could drink more, who could fuck more unattractive people…etc
Vadge Moore, the former Dwarves drummer, released the book “My Life with the Dwarves” in 2022. The book reveals much of the band’s wild history, expressed through the lens of Vadge’s personal philosophies and obsessions, yet only hints, as Blag would tell me, at the depth of Vadge’s depravity:
“Vag is such a hilarious character. I love him so much. My take on reading that book…(trails off) I wrote the introduction to the first one, and then he did a second one. I guess, the second one was his life after the dwarves. Honestly, what I know of the man, he only really scratched the surface. He kind of hinted at a lot of things, but he didn’t really. I mean, yeah, he is one of the craziest dudes I know.
When asked if the book doesn’t do reality justice, Blag elaborates: “Yeah, exactly. That’s what I mean. It’s like, people have to kind of “tamp it down”. Whatever the situation is, they can’t narc themselves out, you know? I think like after Vag is dead, the real stories can be told, you know what I mean? Maybe somebody should assassinate him like Charlie Kirk, right? And then we’ll know the real story. He’ll be sainted. He’ll be a satanic saint at that point.
Returning to the topic of touring in their younger days, he states: “As the leader of a real group of misfits, you know, I was always “trying to keep things “on the road” and under control.”
Since their inception in ‘85, the Dwarves have had to deal with a constant barrage of challenges, both personal and professional. Famously fueled by sex, drugs and rock n’ roll, the miracle of their enduring, self-destructive existence was a testament to their fortitude and perhaps, to Blag’s ability to orchestrate the mad symphony they were, as a group. Line-up changes, both expected and unexpected were common, as Blag would explain:
“Yeah, I mean. I always say we’ve been breaking up since 1985. There were a lot of changes. Every once in a while, there was somebody that hated us or hated the band and quit, or whatever. But usually, it was just life kind of coming in. I mean, a lot of those tours were subsistence level. When you finally got home, you’d be homeless and broke.”
“You really had to fight to be in a band then, versus now, you know. You just had to fight to try and make some money and a lot of feelings got hurt and a lot of shit happened. I always kind of saw my job as a sort of “ringmaster”. I would bring together these crazy people. HeWhoCannotBeNamed was a kook. And Nick Oliveri; I’m still hanging out with him a bit, you know?”
HeWhoCannotBeNamed, the original guitarist for the DWARVES, who famously died in the early nineties was mysteriously resurrected following occult rituals only known to the members of his band, was not part of the current lineup. Also absent, was mainstay DWARVES element Nick Oliveri, their longtime bassist and founding member of Kyuss and Mondo Generator.
“Nick Oliveri, he’s been playing with me since the early 90s, when we took Kyuss on their first tour. He started playing with me after that. And so I always had a bunch of really crazy people in the band and I related to that. And I did crazy shit too, you know, but it was just more like, I always had one foot on the brake pedal, trying to keep it steady. Trying to keep shit from just falling off the rails and destructing.” I asked Blag to elaborate on how he and Nick, who was playing in Kyuss at the time, came to meet: “When we were recording Thank heaven for little girls, we met Kyuss in…(thinks)… Madison, Wisconsin. And we didn’t know who they were; we just went in… it was like some guys from California and as it turned out, they were big Dwarves fans. So we went to a hotel and partied and went nuts and you know, the “TV is out the window” kind of shit. And it was especially funny back then, because we had no money to pay for that! You hear about Motley Crew, Guns… Like they would trash places but the label would pay for it or the management, you know. Dwarves and Kyuss, we just get thrown out of places!”
I ask Blag if he can give me more details on Nick’s inability to travel to Canada, however he prefers not to get into that subject, stating that hopefully, in the future, Nick will be able to join the band on a trip up north. But as mentioned earlier, the band is no stranger to shuffling the line-up when needed, and has many surprise cards shoved down in its tight, leather pants.
For tonight’s show, Blag reached deep and pulled out 2 very special cards from the dirty pack of Dwarves: veteran desert shredder Mike Pygmie of Mondo Generator on guitar, and a mysterious, oddball bassist called Private Watchers from Cleveland. Suddenly, appearing out of nowhere, Private Watchers skulks nearby, muttering to himself. Blag leans in and whispers:
“That’s Private Watchers…he used to do high level, private security for Midnight.” Private Watchers disappears into the dressing area. My heart rate slows, ever so slightly. Blag, unfazed by the ghoulish bassist’s presence, goes on to explain that Watchers, Pygmie and their drummer Snupac aka Gabriel Perez, were also the very same Dwarves line-up that toured Australia last year, in 2024. I ask him about Snupac’s origin in the band, and what a story it is!
“He’s been in the band for about five, six years, but he’s been a friend of ours since he was a little kid. You know, we met him when he was 12 years old?! We were playing the main stage at Punk Rock Bowling and he was right in front of me, singing along to every word; little guy there with his mom.”
Blag continues: “And so I pulled him up on stage and he sang, you know, three songs from “Blood, Guts…” perfectly! I said, shit man, you’re a genius, you know. So over the years, he would stop by, we’d see him at shows out there in Arizona. And then, he hit me up about, oh, it must be six, seven years ago now, and was like: “Hey man, I think I can play drums for you guys!” And of course I was like: “dude, you know what a picky bastard I am.” It’s like, we have this great memory, let’s not fuck it up, you know!”
“But he insisted and I’m glad he did because when he came in and played, he was great.
And then it was like: fuck, all right, we got it. We got a drummer. But yeah, we’ve known him most of his life.” It seems Snupac got a wee bit high one night at a party, and tried to request some Snoop Dog and Tupac from a DJ… but got the names mixed up. He would never be the same. And that’s how he decided to name himself Snupac.
The Dwarves are one-of-a-kind
Despite the ups and downs, the band member switch-ups and the fast paced, rock n’ roll lifestyle, there was always a persistent evolution in the Dwarves style. Musically promiscuous, Blag quickly hops onto the train tracks of Time and fires up the locomotive, rolling us through the band’s diverse base of inspirations:
“So at first, we were like a 60s garage band,” Blag says. “Although I was going to punk shows all the time and seeing early era stuff, that was our big influence.”
“The first record was called Horror Stories, and it was very 60s garage. Now most of those tracks or all of those tracks, are on a record called Lick It. At the time, you know, that whole garage scene of people were very much into like: “Hey, man, do you have the original Vox teardrop guitar, you know…or do you have the original paisley tie? Do you have the original Beatle booth?”
“And I was just like, you people are fucking lame.”
As Blag describes a geeky sounding, gear obsessed scene that had little to do with where the Dwarves were headed, he explains how punk bands like The Misfits, Black Flag and Minor Threat left a lasting impression on him.
“So we kind of had our 60s, garage and kind of retro period trying to be like the Cramps or whatever and then we kind of went like Misfits, around 1988-1989,” Blag explains, as we break down a bit of history and the musical origins of the Dwarves.
“60s garage music, I heard it with my ears, but punk rock I could feel in my stomach. It gave me a different physical feeling to go out and play it.”
Going back to the Dwarves album timeline, Blag says: “During that initial period, it was more like noise rock: Free Cocaine and and you know, Tooling for a Warm Tea Bag and those records. And then we did Blood Guts and Pussy. And then came our kind of hardcore period, where we sounded a lot like Misfits, Earth AD, or were trying to.”
“That was when thrash people kind of discovered us. That was also when punk people finally got that we were a punk band. We kind of did it in a back-ass-ward way.”
The Dwarves are young and good looking
The 2 next albums, Thank Heaven for Little Girls and Sugarfix, respectively released in 1991 and 1993, would mark the end of their SubPop era. “Sub Pop had gotten us back in the pre-grunge days,” Blag explains, “and then, got rid of us. We didn’t really fit into the grunge mold.”
Elaborating, Blag goes on to explain: “I mean we were kind of the token punk band of that scene. All of those bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Mud Honey, they all came from punk bands and they all watched punk bands. But then they made a genre that came to be called grunge. It was more mid-tempo and kind of had a different approach.”
Having a “different kind of approach” is what defined the Dwarves creatively, over time. It’s why, he explained, he was a fan of GG Allin and anyone who stood out from the pack of derivative bands that would copy successful bands, create records and eventually, disappear. Despite the comings and goings of bands being part of the very nature of rock n’ roll, the Dwarves have always remained creatively consistent. In the 90s, meeting producer Erin Valentine would take them to new places musically, as Blag explained:
“Part of what made the records good was in the mid 90s, was due to me meeting Eric Valentine, who was not a big producer yet. He was just a guy with a studio. It was a studio in Redwood City, CA that I think was called “hunk of shit” or something. It didn’t have an official name and Eric was not a big star in the production world yet. But I sat down with him, and after three days, I remember thinking to myself: this guy’s like Mozart. Stick with this guy.”
Eric would go on to supply a lot of what was needed musically, Blag explained, for what would become the Dwarves’ most successful release, The Dwarves Are Young and Good Looking. “The first thing Eric did was recording the overdubs, editing and then mixing Young and Good Looking, which came to be the Dwarves biggest record. There’s a couple of co-writes, but that one I largely wrote myself. I was really determined to show everybody what I was capable of. Because, what had happened was that Green Day and the Offspring and such bands had gotten very big doing what came to be called “pop punk”. And I said, shit, man, I’ve been doing a form of that all along and I’d like to hear my music, but with some background vocals and some cool shit.”
Speaking further about the details behind the production of …Young and Good Looking, Blag says: “I brought in Spike(Slawson) who is, you know, from Me First and the Gimme Gimmies and he sang back up on that and really gave it a different edge. We put some heavy metal guitars in there, which was different from what the pop punk bands ever did. But it was really Eric’s mix. There just wasn’t a record that good and that complete, in that genre, until “…Young and Good Looking” came out.”
“And that was when Epitaph signed us.”
On with the show
The DWARVES’ bass player, PRIVATE WATCHERS, ominously towers over the room. The set is about to begin.
Vacuum sealed stockings suck at his face, enveloping his shades and giving him a dead and dangerous presence. He wears a sleeveless shirt, illustrated with the state of Texas and the word ‘’TEXAN’’, centrally positioned, in large letters. A smokescreen to his true identity.
The Dwarves are about to tear up the place, new and old blood sharing the stage. Wondering how they keep on doing it with such energy and fervour, I think back to what Blag had told me not an hour before:
“Rock n’ Roll is a young man’s game. I keep waiting for younger bands to laugh at us. But what’s funny is we still have more energy and we still do more shit. And so, speaking of younger bands, it’s like, come on, man, you should be pushing old guys like me off the road! You need to up your game a little bit and make me look tired, you know, if you can.”
Despite being a relatively quiet Wednesday evening in Montreal, the Dwarves proceed to pummel out hard hitting tracks from all of their musical eras. It’s an incredible set. Nothing but hits, peppered with some new tracks. The crowd appreciates every moment of it.
When suddenly the music stops and it’s over, Blag drops the mic and leaves through the crowd. It stuns me. It’s done. A bit dazed, ears ringing and half buzzed by beer, weed and Dwarves, I think: “Damn. The Dwarves are still Young and Good looking!”
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The Dwarves will be continuing to play all throughout the year, finishing up their East Coast tour and then heading West and beyond with Gwar and Helmet. Be sure to check out dates near you! https://thedwarves.com
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>> Carlos Soria of The Nils
>> Jon Glen of Another Joe
>> Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P
GWAR/HELMET/DWARVES in 2025:
10/18/2025 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex
10/20/2025 – Tempe, AZ – Marquee Theatre
10/22/2025 – Las Vegas, NV – Brooklyn Bowl
10/23/2025 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
10/24/2025 – Reno, NV – Virginia Street Brewhouse
10/25/2025 – Berkeley, CA – The UC Theatre
10/26/2025 – Bend, OR – Midtown Ballroom
10/27/2025 – Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo
10/29/2025 – Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre
10/30/2025 – Penticton, BC – Penticton Trade & Convention Centre
10/31/2025 – Calgary, AB – MacEwan Hall
11/01/2025 – Edmonton, AB – ICE District Fan Park
11/03/2025 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
11/05/2025 – Denver, CO – Summit Music Hall
11/06/2025 – Lincoln, NE – Bourbon Theatre
11/08/2025 – San Antonio, TX – Vibes Event Center
11/09/2025 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues
11/11/2025 – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works
11/12/2025 – Greensboro, NC – Piedmont Hall
11/13/2025 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
11/15/2025 – Orlando, FL – Warped Tour
11/16/2025 – Tampa, FL – The Ritz Ybor
11/18/2025 – Baltimore, MD – Nevermore Hall
11/19/2025 – Worcester, MA – Palladium
11/20/2025 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore
11/21/2025 – New York, NY – Palladium Times Square
11/22/2025 – Norfolk, VA – The NorVa
