Oderus Urungus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Oderus Urungus | ||
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 Oderus Urungus in Sounds of the Underground, 2006
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | David Murray Brockie | |
| Born | August 30, 1963 | |
| Genre(s) | Thrash metal Punk rock Shock rock |
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| Occupation(s) | Vocalist Bassist |
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| Years active | 1985-present | |
| Label(s) | Metal Blade Records DRT Entertainment Slave Pit Inc. |
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| Associated acts |
GWAR Dave Brockie Experience X-Cops Death Piggy |
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| Website | GWAR official site Oderus Urungus' official homepage |
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Oderus Urungus is both a character and an alter-ego, played by Dave Brockie, in the rock 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 "Lick" (the name was shortened from "Unt Lick," which was used in Phallus in Wonderland).
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[edit] GWAR Lore
According to GWAR mythos, Oderus Urungus is 28 million 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.
[edit] 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 on it which appeared to be made out of aluminum foil. This eventually progressed into a bizarre rubber wig. In 1986-7, along with Chuck Varga, Brockie created the now-famous mask (or a variation thereof). After Hell-O!, he would add large shoulderpads. 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 shoulderpads 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 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.
As the frontman for the band, Oderus is the member most commonly interviewed (where he will often switch between himself and Dave Brockie, and say completely nonsensical things). All of GWAR's major television appearances included Oderus.
[edit] 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 lead 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).
