"John Wisniewski Interviews Vadge Moore"
(Grey Lodge, 2010)


John: The Dwarves are originally from Chicago, and later moved to San Francisco.. Is this correct? What was the Hardcore and punk scene like back then 1988?

Vadge: That is correct. I was playing in various bands in S.F. and ran into the Dwarves when they moved there. I subsequently played in a band with Hewhocannotbenamed called The Gaping Wounds. When Sigh Moan decided he didn’t want to play drums with The Dwarves anymore, I was the logical replacement. The hardcore punk scene was pretty fucking dismal at the time; The Dwarves were the antidote.

John: Why did the band start out as a kind of garage band and then change it’s sound more to a hardcore sound? Why the change in musical direction?

Vadge: The members at the time became more interested in the Dead Boys and G.G. Allin than the Scientists, so the change was inevitable.

John: What did Sub Pop think of The Dwarves? Were they happy with the band?

Vadge:I think we were a funny curiosity for Sub Pop- it gave them “street cred” to have us on their label. We were far more exciting than any of their bands at the time. We took cocaine, the others took heroin: who do you think is going to put on a more exciting show? I don’t think they were very happy when bass player Salt Peter spray painted “You owe the Dwarves $” on their front lobby floor, but they were happy when Rolling Stone Magazine wrote about it.

John: Live shows were very raucous and violent. Could you tell us about the live shows?

Vadge: Raucous is an understatement. However, not every show would end in band/audience brawls; but a lot of them did. We would not take any shit- and if some dumb punker would challenge us or throw a bottle at us, we would hunt them down- mid-song- and do damage to them. Many shows were just fun, though. Dionysian revelry. Naked women blowing Blag’s cock onstage- completely unrehearsed and unexpected things like that would happen a lot.

John: The band claimed that it’s guitarist”HeWhoCannotBeNamed” died. Was this a publicity stunt or just a joke to play in the press and what did Sub Pop say about this?

Vadge: He wanted to leave the band, for his own reasons, and we wanted to pull a publicity stunt/joke on the media. It worked beyond our wildest dreams! Mtv News even reported on it! Good humor. Sub Pop was behind it all the way…until it started leaking out that it was a hoax. Then they feigned ignorance. I think they were afraid of us at the time and used this as a convenient excuse to get rid of us. Typical.

John: What has kept the band together through so many lineup changes over the years?

Vadge: Blag has kept the band together. His ability to lead and his amazing song writing abilities has kept that train a rollin’ all night long…and then some.

John: Could you tell us about the covers for The Dwarves albums-the crucified midget must have caused a good deal of controversy. Was it banned?

Vadge: I was out of the band when that record came out- Dwarves Must Die. That dwarf…not midget…dwarfs do not like to be called midgets…is a man named Bobby Faust. He first appeared on the cover of Blood, Guts, and Pussy and, Satan bless him, he has eagerly joined in on many album photo sessions since.

John: What is it like to release a retrospective after all of these years, after all of the incidents and ups and downs for the band?

Vadge: I was a fan of the band before I was the drummer, so I love to see the history and how I contributed for that dozen or so years: 1988-2000. The Dwarves continue today with a new album, soon to be released, called Born Again. I can’t wait to hear it! I’m still a fan.

© Vadge Moore / DISCRIMINATE MEDIA, 2010