Photo by crazybobbles
Dave Brockie, frontman for Richmond, Va. metal band GWAR, was found dead in his home last night, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. He was 50.
Brockie, or better known as his band character, Oderus Urungus, formed the satirical metal band in 1984 with friends while attending Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. GWAR formed from the dissolution of two other bands, Brockie’s Death Piggy and a fake band comprised of members from Death Piggy called Gwaaarrrgghhlllgh. Eventually, the members decided more people liked Gwaaarrrgghhlllgh so they disbanded Death Piggy and shortened “Gwaaarrrgghhlllgh” to “GWAR” and, well, the rest is history.
While GWAR has had numerous lineup changes throughout the years, the original lineup consisted of Ben Eubanks as the lead vocalist, Brockie on guitar, Steve Douglas on guitar, Chris Bopst on bass, Sean Sumner on drums, and Hunter Jackson. Since their formation, nearly 30 people have been in GWAR, but Brockie has remained the only original member.
During their career, GWAR put out 13 studio albums but hey were perhaps best known for their grotesque band identities, fictional backstory, and extremely elaborate and, uh, messy live shows. If you ever had the chance to ask Oderus the origins of the band in person, it might go something like this:
Eons ago, there existed an elite group of chaos warriors who ravaged the galaxy with a boundless hatred of all things alive. They were called the Scumdogs of the Universe, and they grew in might and fury, the greatest weapon in the arsenal of their cosmic Master.
But they became too powerful, and too defiant, and for their cosmic crimes were banished to the most insignificant planet in the universe…the seething mudball known as Earth.
Millions of years passed, and they slumbered, until the pollution of your world de-thawed these creatures from their ageless coma…and now they stride the Earth, living gods, dedicated to one goal, the destruction of the human race, and the eradication of existence itself! Wait- that’s two goals!
Hark to the hideous majesty of your MASTERS, rulers of Earth, the MIGHTY GWAR!!!
It is I, ODERUS URUNGUS, lead singer of the sickest band in metal history, Earth’s only openly extra-terrestrial rock band, and the destined destroyers of not only the human race but also reality itself. GWAR! Hulking, heaving, dribbling WAR-GOD’s who like nothing better than putting hordes of our sniveling fans to the sword while playing the marauding mutant metal that we are famous for! Star’s of stage and screen, carvers of stem and spleen! GWAR LIVES!
GWAR’s infamous live shows were something like a metal space opera—with heavy political commentary—played out on stage. As the band chugged away playing ear-crushing metal ballad after ballad, Oderus would battle an array of intergalactic creatures as well as mutilate and dismember impersonators of famous, controversial figures onstage, spraying their blood and guts all over the audience. During the George W. Bush administration, GWAR would famously roll a Bush impersonator onstage and Oderus would proceed to rip his arms and legs off, dousing the crowd in the (fake) blood of their President. Of course, Bush wasn’t the first politician to get the GWAR treatment and he certainly wasn’t the last.
In 2011, tragedy struck when guitarist Cory Smoot (Flattus Maximus) passed away while the band was on tour. The band took a hiatus and Smoot was replaced by Cannibal Corpse’s Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus) and they went on to release 2013’s Battle Maximus.
Brockie’s—and GWAR’s—place in pop culture and music history cannot be understated. Brockie has appeared in a number of films and TV shows as Oderus Urungus. There has never been, nor will there ever be a frontman quite like Brockie.
Rest in Peace, Oderus, may your journey back to Scumdogia be both gnarly and righteous.
