‘My whole quest in life has been one to destroy myself,’ declared David Brockie, more commonly known as Oderus Urungus, in an interview with Hardcore News earlier this year. ‘Death is the only trip I haven’t been able to go on yet.’ But by the time the audio clip had surfaced online Brockie had passed away at the age of just fifty. Since the release of their debut album in the late 1980s, Brockie’s theatrical outfit GWAR have remained cult favourites among lovers of tongue-in-cheek heavy metal and excessive horror imagery à la Ronnie James Dio. But with album titles such as Scumdogs of the Universe and America Must Be Destroyed, they were never afraid to push the boundaries of taste to delight their loyal fan base.
The news of Brockie’s death was first revealed by Style Weekly. ‘A member of the Richmond Police Department confirmed early Monday that the fifty-year-old musician was found dead in his home Sunday between 3 pm and 7 pm by his roommate,’ revealed the website, which also quoted bandmate Mike Bishop saying, ‘Dave was one of the funniest, smartest, most creative and energetic persons I’ve known.’ Fans were reluctant to accept the news when it first broke, with the comments section of the article including reactions like ‘I hereby call bullshit’ and ‘This better be a fucking joke!’ It wasn’t long before the news spread across other sites, with Pitchfork and Blabbermouth referencing Style Weekly as the source.
The following month the band issued a statement in which they revealed the formation of the Dave Brockie Foundation, which they intended to use to promote music and the work of their singer. ‘Our intention is to honor Dave, preserve his legacy and continue to share his brilliant works with the world,’ explained a post on their official Facebook page. The band’s last studio album with Brockie, Battle Maximus, was released through their long-time label Metal Blade in September 2013, only one week after the twenty-fifth anniversary of their first album Hell-O. ‘What Battle Maximus serves up is the heaviest GWAR album to date,’ claimed Loudwire in their four-star review. ‘Oderus is in fine form on Battle Maximus, putting forth what can arguably be called the best vocal performance of his career.’
The news of Brockie’s death came a mere two-and-a-half years after the passing of guitarist Cory Smoot, who took on the role of guitarist Flattus Maximus in 2002 after the last musician to play the character Zach Blair, left the group. ‘Cory had played the character of Flattus Maximus for over ten years, and was discovered dead on the band’s tour bus on 3 November of this year. He was thirty-four,’ explained a statement from the band at the time. ‘Metal Blade and GWAR have since set-up the Smoot Family Foundation to raise funds for Cory’s wife, Jaime, and their unborn child.’ The cause of death for Smoot was revealed as a ‘coronary artery thrombosis brought about by his pre-existing coronary artery disease.’
The medical examiner’s office of Virginia this week revealed the cause of Brockie’s death. ‘Arkuie (ahr-KEE’) Williams, administrator at the chief medical examiner’s office, said Tuesday that Brockie’s cause of death was acute heroin toxicity,’ stated the Star Tribune. At the time of his death the New York Times revealed that detectives who had been on the scene had not suspected foul play. ‘Brockie – a.k.a Oderus Urungus — was found dead sitting in a chair at home back in March,’ said a recent TMZ article. Fans who wish to donate to the Dave Brockie fund can do so via the band’s website.
In a new interview with the Communities Digital News, drummer Brad Roberts comments on what the future will hold for GWAR since the death of their frontman. ‘Well, that seems to be the biggest mystery, even to GWAR…there will be a public memorial at Haddad’s Lake in Richmond, Virginia where we set Oderus Urungus ablaze in a Viking funeral pyre on the lake, so he can travel back to the stars, back to Valhalla.’ While it was already announced last month that the band will be appearing at this year’s Riot Fest in Chicago in September, Roberts, who has performed with GWAR under the alias Jizmak Da Gusha since 1989, indicates that the band may have more shows in store. ‘In that fall tour, we’ll address Oderus Urungus and what happened in the GWAR mythos and his character and how GWAR is gonna move into its majestic thirty years of existence milestone in 2015,’ he confirms.
As for whether or not fans can expect any new releases from GWAR he adds, ‘There’s already new material in the works with Beefcake. There is frantic activity here at Slave Pit headquarters of building the show and rehearsing and writing songs. We definitely already have some ideas that will go well into the thirtieth year anniversary next year and a possible release that will be the definitive GWAR box set and that will probably most likely have some new material on it to show everyone that GWAR is plowing forward.’ The aforementioned Beefcake the Mighty, the bassist of GWAR, is currently played by Jamison Land, having taken on the role in 2011 after Beefcake was placed on hiatus for three years. Prior to that, the part had been portrayed by three other musicians, commencing in 1987 with Michael Bishop.
Photo: Shirlaine Forrest/Getty Images
