Cancer claimed Chuck Varga on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026; the shock-rock heavy metal band GWAR counted him as a founding member, and audiences knew him as the character Sexecutioner who prowled its stages. He was 68. As of Sept. 30, no cause of death had been disclosed, and the band had not announced whether Varga’s death would affect its October performances. GWAR begins its “Gor Gor Must Die!” tour on Oct. 27 in Charlottesville, Va.
GWAR bassist Casey Orr, who performs as Beefcake the Mighty, announced the death on Facebook. Varga lived in Brooklyn, N.Y.
“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 in the Facebook post, adding that the world “is lesser for his leaving.”
In the same post, Orr said Varga was likely being “welcomed into Valhalla right now by Brockie and Smooty and all who went before.” Those names belong to the late GWAR co-founder and frontman Dave Brockie, who performed as Oderus Urungus, and to late GWAR guitarist Cory Smoot, who played Flattus Maximus. Orr also wrote: “Legends never die. Hail Varga! Hail Sexicutioner!” He asked fans to raise a glass and tell stories about him.
Band Pays Tribute Online
GWAR paid tribute on Sept. 27 in an Instagram tribute that called him 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.”
From the Slave Pit
Varga was born in Virginia in 1958 and enrolled at Virginia Commonwealth University, where fellow student Hunter Jackson became a friend. Jackson had set up a production space called the Slave Pit to make a science-fiction film, and the community of musicians, artists and filmmakers who gathered there drew in Varga and gave rise to GWAR, a band that formed in Richmond, Va., in 1985. Varga helped launch the costume-wearing act in 1985 and was the Sexecutioner from 1985 to 2021. The group’s song catalog included “Sick of You” and “Madness at the Core of Time.”
GWAR fused heavy metal with science fiction and Norse mythology, in Kiss-style costumes taken to violent and grotesque extremes. Known for outlandish getups and intentionally offensive lyrics, the group won over fans around Richmond first and built a national following afterward. Varga designed its characters and props, and as the Sexecutioner he sang lead on his signature songs, including “Sexecutioner” and “Ragnarok.”
As the Sexecutioner, Varga was part of eight major touring productions and co-authored two feature-length films, including the Grammy-nominated “Phallus in Wonderland.” He was responsible for designing costumes, sets, props and comic book narratives for the GWAR universe.
Grammy Nods and Chart Runs
The band’s debut album, “Hell-O,” arrived in 1988, and 1992’s “America Must Be Destroyed” cracked the Billboard 200. GWAR was nominated in 1993 for Best Long Form Music Video for “Phallus in Wonderland,” losing to Annie Lennox, and drew a second Grammy nomination in 1996 for Best Metal Performance for the single “S.F.W.,” a category that went to Nine Inch Nails. Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart carried the band’s 2013 release “Battle Maximus” to a peak of No. 7.
Virginia Commonwealth University was where Brockie studied when he co-founded GWAR; he died March 23, 2014, at 50.
Varga performed with GWAR through the band’s breakthrough years, from the mid-1980s until 1997. Film, television and Broadway drew him away in 1997, the year he left the band and relocated to New York City. The website of his production company, Slave Pit Studio, says he moved to New York City in 1997 to work on Broadway and feature films, and he described himself there as a comic book illustrator, special effects designer and sculptor. He has also been described as a sculptor and set designer.
Broadway Work and Later Years
He co-founded Hypereal Productions, a costume and set design company, with fellow GWAR alumnus Don Drakulich. He returned for stints with the band from 2000 to 2002 and from 2014 to 2017, and retired from the stage after GWAR’s Halloween Scumdog Reunion in 2021, according to the band.
His bandmates made the diagnosis public in April by mounting a nationwide blood donation campaign, with a limited-edition shirt of his own design going to anyone who gave. A fundraiser followed in June, organized by the band to offset the medical, hospice and housing costs facing Varga and his wife.
“Chuck Varga’s contributions to the Gwar and Slave Pit collective are enormous,” GWAR member Bob Gorman, who plays Bonesnapper, said at the time. “The influence of his illustrations, character designs, performances, and artistic vision can still be felt throughout Gwar today.”
Varga is survived by his wife, Bambi. Complete information on other survivors was not immediately available.
