On March 23rd of this year, Dave Brockie, aka Oderus Urungus of GWAR, passed away from an accidental heroin overdose. With his passing, the world lost a brilliant entertainer, one whose, honesty, acerbic wit and cut-through-the-bullshit mentality was endlessly refreshing. It was a tragic loss, no doubt about it.
On Friday, August 15th, at the annual GWAR-B-Q, fans got to pay their respects and see off the Scumdog as the Oderus costume was interred with a viking funeral, his body lain upon a ship that was then set ablaze.
Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe posted a photo on his Instagram with the following message:
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 & family we had April Fool’s Day. I spoke at both of them, as GWAR asked me to, & 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- & 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.
Below is a near-hour long video that shows several people paying their respects in front of the audience, including Blythe, Holliston creator Adam Green, publicist Jon Freeman, and more. In addition, the burning ship can be seen towards the end of the video.