The Quietus - A new rock music and pop culture website

News

Gwar's Oderus Urungus Gets Viking Funeral
Laurie Tuffrey , August 18th, 2014 11:08

Stage costume of late frontman Dave Brockie gets a fitting send-off at this weekend's Gwar B-Q

Earlier this year, Gwar founding member Dave Brockie, aka Oderus Urungus, passed away. This weekend, he was honoured at the annual Gwar B-Q in Richmond, Virginia with a eulogy from Lamb Of God's Randy Blythe and his stage costume being laid out on a boat, pushed out into Hadad's Lake and set alight by flaming arrow, as Rolling Stone report. Said Blythe: "Dave is the only motherfucker I know who has to get put away twice. He's too big for one fucking funeral".

Watch a video of the lighting following Blythe's eulogy below:

"Tonight we sent Oderus home in a fitting manner at the public memorial for Dave Brockie. A blazing Viking ship with Oderus laid out in it, the cuttlefish pointing proudly straight up. Watching my friend Dave's costume go up in flames in front of a thousand fans was so much more intense for me than the private memorial for friends and family we had April Fool's Day. I spoke at both of them, as Gwar asked me to and both times as I spoke I was sad. But watching his alter-ego burn tore me up way more than the first memorial, maybe because there was Dave, the human who was my friend who just 'left us'- I never saw his body - and then there was Oderus, who was something entirely else. To watch his stage gear burn was like watching part of my life literally go up in flames. I was sobbing my eyes out as I took this photo. It was just a super-intense moment. Very beautiful, but overwhelming. Fly free, Oderus - you are missed."