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.

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