Oderus Urungus

Oderus Urungus
Oderus Urungus live on Stage in Edmonton
Background information
Birth name	David Murray Brockie
Born	Ottawa, Canada August 30, 1963 (1963-08-30) (age 48)
Origin	Richmond,Virginia
Genres	Thrash metal Punk rock Shock rock Heavy metal Comedy rock
Occupations	Musician, Vocalist, Bassist
Years active	1982–present
Labels	Metal Blade Records DRT Entertainment Slave Pit Inc.
Associated acts	Gwar Dave Brockie Experience X-Cops Death Piggy
Website	Gwar official site Oderus Urungus' official homepage

Oderus Urungus, played by Dave Brockie, is the lead vocalist of the Metal band Gwar. He appears as an intergalactic humanoid barbarian with devil horns and a meaty looking face, and always carries around a long sword named "Unt Lick". His only true companion is his Cuttle fish, though lost for a short period it has returned to its true resting place.

Gwar lore

According to Gwar mythos,^[1] Oderus Urungus is 43 billion years old, and was assembled on a planet called Scumdogia in "Syntho Womb 5" after pieces of his moldy war frame were found scattered throughout the galaxy. According to interviews, Oderus' father was a supercomputer, and his mother was a petri dish. It is suggested in the lyrics of "Fire In The Loins" (from RagNaRok) that Slymenstra Hymen is his sister, but this is never fully explained.

History

Oderus Urungus is the only character to have existed in every incarnation of Gwar, having started as a guitar player, then moving to bass, and finally the vocals.

Like all of the Gwar characters, Oderus underwent several design changes since his inception. He first started out as a relatively normal-looking character with a papier-mâché helmet with spikes that appeared to be made out of aluminum foil. This eventually progressed into a rubber wig. In the late 1980s Brockie, along with Chuck Varga, created the now-famous original design mask. After Hell-O!, he would add large shoulder pads. These would remain relatively unchanged (except for materials used) until 1994, when Brockie experimented with a new style - the left arm resembled a very mutated tentacle. The change did not last, and by the year's end, the design returned to the World War I-era German helmet-shaped shoulder pads. This version can be found in the "Saddam A Go-Go" video from the "Rendezvous With RagNaRok" movie. In 2001, after the filming of "It's Sleazy", Brockie redesigned the shoulder pads to their current design - two skulls with longer, more blade-shaped points. The disfigured face has remained relatively unchanged since 1988, with slight additions made in 2001 (the redesign of Oderus was in collaboration with the medieval violence-themed Violence Has Arrived album, released in November of that year) - two horns, roughly six or seven inches (178 mm) in length.

For the Beyond Hell album and tours both preceding and succeeding said album, Oderus' mask has once again been redesigned. It appears more decayed and distorted than the previous masks, and there is exposed flesh on the forehead and the mask has a lighter color to it. Another addition is that the beard is fuller, larger and has red and green highlights in it.

Currently, the Oderus mask has undergone another change with longer horns and cheek bones that stand out more.

As the front man for the band, Oderus is the most interviewed among the group (where he will often switch between himself and Dave Brockie). All of Gwar's major television appearances included Oderus as opposed to Dave.

Oderus now appears semi-regularly on the late-night Fox News talk show "Red Eye" as the Intergalactic Correspondent.

David Brockie as Oderus Urungus live on stage

Fictional controversy

Oderus attracts trouble wherever he goes, including one instance where, according to the storyline of Gwar's America Must Be Destroyed album and Phallus in Wonderland movie, Corporal Punishment of The Morality Squad ambushes and detaches his (Oderus') alleged penis, the Cuttlefish of Cthulhu. This is detailed in the song "Ham On The Bone" (although the song predates the event in question by more than a year, it fits the context of the story perfectly). Since that incident, which is based on a real incident in 1990 where Brockie was arrested by police for "obscenity" after a North Carolina concert, which almost led to him being deported (Brockie was, at the time, a Canadian citizen and did not have a driver's license), reportedly taking the Cuttlefish into custody as "evidence," Oderus has made it a point to appear with the Cuttlefish whenever possible (though some tours downplayed the "fish", Gwar's more recent tours have utilized a re-designed Cuttlefish as a means to spray the audience with various fluids).

Instruments

Dave Brockie

Though the lead vocalist of Gwar, Dave Brockie has played other instruments with the band. His original position was as one of the (three) guitarists, though other Slave Pit members (as well as Brockie himself) claim that he is a very poor guitarist. Don Drakulich, a.k.a. Sleazy P. Martini, has given a similar answer in the "Ask Sleazy" section of Bohab Central^[2] (the largest Gwar fansite), even going so far as to say that all of Brockie's guitar parts on Let There Be Gwar were removed.

As a bass player, however, Brockie fares much better. In the Live From Antarctica concert video, Oderus plays bass on "Cool Place To Park," while Michael Bishop (then Beefcake the Mighty) sang - though Bishop was capable of singing and playing at the same time, his thrashing and jumping made that impossible. Brockie also plays bass on the tracks "Eat Steel" and "Fight", on Gwar's album This Toilet Earth (both these tracks feature Bishop's Beefcake on vocals). Additionally, Brockie played bass for X-Cops, as well as the Dave Brockie Experience.

References

1. ^ Gwar Mythos :: The official Cyber-Fortress of your Lords and Masters, GWAR!
2. ^ Bohab Central :: The Ultimate GWAR Fan Site

External links

• Official Website
• Official Website of Gwar Videos and Online Community
• Japanese Official Website
• Dave Brockie's Official Website
• Oderus Urungus with Gwar - Picture Gallery
• Oderous interviewed on Metal Rules! Radio episode 12
• Interview with Oderus Urungus at ion magazine