We’re saddened to report the death of Dave Brockie, aka Oderus Urungus, lead singer of gore/shock metal band Gwar. He was discovered at his house on Sunday night (3/23) by a band member; foul play was not suspected and an official cause of death has not been announced. He was 50 years old.
Brockie (as Oderus Urungus) and Dee Snider starred in FEARnet’s original sitcom, Holliston; Oderus was a closet-dwelling imaginary friend and guardian angel of one of the show’s main players. Dee was Lance Rockett, the delusional wannabe rock star who runs the local cable station where the show’s main characters worked.
“I never had the pleasure of meeting Dave Brockie ‘back in the day,’ and only finally met him when we worked together on Holliston,” says Dee of Brockie’s passing. “After spending a bit of time with him, I remember saying to myself, ‘This is a really cool guy. I really like him. I look forward to getting to know Dave better in the future.’ Sadly, that future will never come. RIP Oderus.”
Metallica will be one of the featured bands (along with Anthrax, Motörhead, Scorpions, Rob Halford [Judas Priest], Doro [Warlock], Biff Byford [Saxon], Stryper and more) on the upcoming Ronnie James Dio tribute album, This Is Your Life, due out on April 1. Check out Metallica’s nine-minute montage of four Dio-era Rainbow tracks called “Ronnie Rising Medley” on RollingStone.com’s site.
“[Dio’s] music is so much a part of what’s in Metallica’s DNA, the harder, edgier, blues-based hard rock from the ‘70s,” said Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich to RollingStone.com. “It was fairly effortless to put this together, because it’s something that we were all reared on. I don’t recall sitting there in a band meeting or anything deciding what to play. Somebody starts playing ‘Stargazer’ — which is sort of just like something that’s in our arsenal to jam — and then that whole period there, ‘Tarot Woman’, ‘Kill The King’, ‘A Light In The Black’ — that’s just really effortless to jump into.”
Original Kiss drummer/singer Peter Criss has once again spoken out regarding the controversy about the current lineup of Kiss refusing to perform solely in its original form (including ex-members Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley, along with current members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley) for its upcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“I got a call from Gene and Paul, which I hadn’t got a call from them in many, many, many, many, many moons, including when I had my [male breast] cancer,” said Peter. “And so, all of a sudden, I get a call and I’m being congratulated. ‘We’re gonna have fun.’ And I’m thinking…And I know, as I wrote in my book, there’s a lot of bad blood, and I just don’t trust [Paul and Gene] anymore. And I took it with a grain of salt and said, ‘Maybe.’ But then again, I had to go back and read the book myself and go, ‘What, are you crazy? Nothing’s changing. It doesn’t matter what goes on. Something’s gonna happen.’ And I said to [my wife], ‘It sounds too good to be true.’” He continued, “The fact that we’re not performing is heartbreaking. I wanted to. I thought we were going to. I was all up for it. I was crazy enough to think, even if I had to get back in the ‘Cat’ outfit, I would have been proud to do it. Because, whether in or out of makeup, I’ll always be the ‘Catman.'”
Looks like Aerosmith will be heading out on tour later this year with Slash aboard as the opening act. We’ll have the dates up on the touring section on the HOH website as soon as they’re released.
Judas Priest has reportedly wrapped up recording a brand new studio album (due out later this year). Said singer Rob Halford when asked about completing work on the album, “It’s a relief. It’s a relief because whenever Priest makes an album, like any band, you put your heart and soul into it; it is that typical ‘blood, sweat and tears.’ It’s not an easy thing to do 40 years later.
But Priest has always been up for the challenge of that, and it’s one of things that we love to do more than anything else as we move on through our metal years. So this is a great time for Priest: 40th anniversary, a brand new record. Life couldn’t be better.”
Check out the cover art for Overkill’s upcoming (sometime this July) studio album, White Devil Armory.
Original Skid Row bassist Rachel Bolan was recently asked if his band, now fronted by singer Johnny Solinger, would ever be interested in joining up with former frontman Sebastian Bach to play a reunion show for fans. Said Rachel, “I honestly feel that questions about him are so far off now, because Johnny is our singer and he has been in the band for 14 years. So answering a question like that is kind of a waste of time.”
Sebastian soon spoke out, telling Yahoo! Music, “I go on my Twitter feed and I read things like [January 24] was the 25th anniversary of the release date of the first Skid Row album, and Skid Row doesn’t give a f***. I would love to do something to celebrate it, and my former bandmates are like, ‘Nah, we’re playing a bowling alley. We’re happy. We don’t care.’ There’s a lot of unreleased material sitting around collecting dust. The fans would love [to see it being released], but I guess my band is allergic to cash. They’re happy not being big. It’s such an insult to the millions of people who dug our albums. It’s like saying, ‘We were just joking [back then]. Happy anniversary!'”
Poison frontman Bret Michaels is gearing up to release a new solo single called “A Beautiful Soul.” The new tune will be out next Monday, March 31, and the video will follow on April 2. Also on April 2: Bret will be doing a live taping of Oprah’s Lifeclass.
“Are you in need of a little re-invention or re-invigoration?,” asks Oprah.com. “Need a little more passion and drive in your life? Get ready for a very special event taking place on April 2 by logging on to Oprah.com to watch a live taping of Oprah’s Lifeclass featuring teacher, legendary singer/songwriter, lifelong diabetic, philanthropist and entrepreneur Bret Michaels who will be, through personal stories of both his and your own helping to teach you about yourself and how to get back to where you want to be, tips to enhance your life and passion for the most awesome aspects of your life. Dealing with adversity to live a better life through the voice of positivity.”
If you are in the Chicago area, you can inquire about taking part in the show at the link above.