Ghost Cult is taking some time out to honor the life and work of Dave Brockie, aka Oderus Urungus of GWAR, who passed away on March 23rd, 2014. Brockie was 50 years old and had been the ring leader of GWAR and really the leader of the Richmond, VA art and music community for over 30 years. Below are some quotes and remembrances we have of Dave.
As Dave told Ghost Cult’s Omar Cordy in one of his final interviews before he passed:
“No matter what kind of shit life takes on your fucking head there is the strength within you to somehow not only just carry but to actually turn it into a positive.”
You can read that full interview here.
In another Dave quote he talked about his dream for the future of GWAR, which included him retired and working on art and books while the band continued without him.
“All Gwar fans have their favorite song, all Gwar fans have their favorite album, and at this point now some of those albums are twenty-five years old. Which is absolutely freaking mind-blowing to me. When I was a kid, bands would come with a few good albums then a few crappy ones and they’d be done. The Beatles only played live for like six years or something like that and Hendrix, his whole career was over a four year period. Granted he was playing in a lot of bands up until The Experience, but his real-time to shine was such a short period of time. Now bands led by The Rollings Stones and others can go on forever. So GWAR’s had this get opportunity to continue to progress and evolve as musicians. I always told a lot of people, that by design GWAR is a band meant to last a thousand years, and one of these days when I get to old to do this anymore I will hand pick and hand train my successor, and “The Son of Oderus” will be born. That way GWAR can continue on into the next century and beyond.
Here is our obituary of Dave from when he passed away.
Hail Dave Brockie! Hail Oderus!
Hug your friendly neighborhood Bohabs today..