Balsac the Jaws of Death

Balsac the Jaws of Death
Balsac the Jaws of Death live on Stage in Edmonton
Background information
Birth name	Chris Bopst (1985-1987) Steve Douglas (1987-1988) Mike Derks (1988-present)
Genres	Crossover thrash, hardcore punk, shock rock
Occupation(s)	Guitarist
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Metal Blade Records DRT Entertainment Slave Pit Inc.
Associated acts	Gwar Dave Brockie Experience X-Cops
Website	Gwar official site

Balsac the Jaws of Death is the rhythm guitarist in the rock band Gwar. He appears as a humanoid creature with a face resembling a bear-trap. Balsac is usually portrayed wielding a giant battleaxe. In contrast to the other bandmates, Balsac speaks with a pretentious British accent until Lust in Space, where he speaks with an American accent during an argument with Oderus Urungus on the track "Where Is Zog?", though he also speaks without an accent during the argument in "Have You Seen Me?" from The Road Behind EP.

In the original Gwar lineup in 1985, Jaws of Death and BalSac (pronounced Ball Sick) were two separate characters. Jaws of Death (played by Death Piggy guitarist Steve Douglas) wore a crude version of the familiar animal trap face, while BalSac (Chris Bopst) played bass and wore a simple open-face piece of spiked headgear. After several lineup changes, Douglas would return to the band as Balsac the Jaws of Death for the recording of Gwar's first album Hell-O, only to be replaced by Michael Derks shortly after.

Balsac has occasionally been featured as a vocalist. Balsac's vocals can be heard on the songs "Obliteration of Flab Quarv 7", from This Toilet Earth, and "Mary Anne" from We Kill Everything. Derks' first Gwar song was "Black and Huge," and the first song featuring him on vocals was "The Needle." "The Needle" was never released on a Metal Blade album, but it was a Slave Pit Single, and was re-recorded as "Escape From The Mooselodge" on We Kill Everything, featuring Oderus Urungus on vocals. "Black and Huge" was originally recorded after Hell-O was released in the United States.

Balsac was originally played by Chris Bopst, and at that time, Balsac was the band's bassist. It was Bopst who gave Balsac The Jaws of Death his full name. However, by the time Hell-O had been released, Beefcake and Balsac switched roles and Steve Douglas had replaced Bopst. Douglas played the character until soon after Hell-O was released when he passed the torch to Michael Derks. With the exception of a few gigs in Europe in 1991 where Balsac was played by Barry 'D'live' Ward of RKL, Derks has played the character ever since. Derks also runs the Gwar mailing list and has performed in Gwar spin-off bands X-Cops, Rawg, and the Dave Brockie Experience.