Gwar mainman gets flaming send-off

The life of late Gwar frontman Dave Brockie, aka Oderus Urungus, has been celebrated in a Viking-style ceremony in his home town.

The band used their annual Gwar-B-Q festival at Hadad’s Lake in Richmond, Virginia to remember the singer, who died in March of an accidental heroin overdose.

And to mark the event, Brockie’s stage costume was set ablaze in a Viking funeral pyre on the water.

Lamb Of God frontman Randy Blythe, who was a close friend of the singer, said: “Watching my friend Dave’s costume go up in flames in front of a thousand fans was so much more intense for me that the private memorial for friends and family we had on April Fool’s Day.

“I spoke at both of them and both times were sad. But watching his alter ego burn tore me up way more than the first memorial. Maybe because there was Dave, the human and my friend who just left us; and then there was Oderus, who was something else entirely. To watch his stage gear burn was like watching part of my life go up in flames.

“It was a super-intense moment – very beautiful, but overwhelming.”

Brockie was the last remaining member of the band’s original lineup and was the second member to die within the last three years. Guitarist Cory Smoot, aka Flattus Maximus, died after suffering a heart attack on tour in 2011.

The band launched The Dave Brockie Foundation earlier this year – a charity set up to support music, arts and creativity.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.