R.I.P. Dave Brockie/Oderus Urungus

Fuck! Today has really sucked. Even as the day comes to a close I am still having a hard time accepting the news that Dave Brockie, aka Oderus Urungus, the mighty frontman of GWAR, is dead.

I got in to work at my day job this morning, turned on the computer and opened up CNN to see what travesty was being inflicted upon the world today, and was surprised and delighted to see an article about Nina Osegueda from A Sound of Thunder. I'd read the article before when she originally posted it herself to the site, but it was cool to see CNN thought it would make a good feature.

I pulled up Facebook to post something to Nina about seeing it, and instead saw a post from Satyricon lamenting the loss of Dave Brockie. What?!?!?! I already knew it must be true, but I immediately Googled GWAR for confimation. The top results confirmed what I did not want to believe. Fuck.

I won't lie; before long my eyes were red from crying. I'm a sentimental schmuck anyway, but damn, this news hit hard. I've been a fan of GWAR for well over twenty years, and this news really bummed me out.

I live in Maryland, just a quick jaunt down the highway from GWAR's hometown of Richmond, Virginia, and for the last few years i've wanted to drag my friend Buke down to GWAR's annual GWAR-B-Q concert in August. But every year my wife plans a vacation the same week, and i'm always out of town when the show happens. It was starting to be a regular joke with us that I wouldn't be able to make it again each year. It's not a joke now, because now I find myself never having seen the band live, and I can't imagine they will carry on. Fuck.

GWAR may have been quirky and offensive and a little bit goofy, but damn if they weren't original. Dave Brockie and his alter ego Oderus Urungus created their own little niche in metal, and they fucking owned it. My thoughts and condolences go out to Dave's family and the GWAR camp. I hope Oderus has returned to the stars from whence he came and is even now brandishing his three-foot cuttlefish in the horrified faces of an as yet undefiled race of beings. Fare thee well sweet prince.