Gwar frontman David Brockie dead at age 50

Gwar founder and lead singer David Brockie has died at age fifty.

The Richmond Police Department confirms to Style Weekly that Brockie's roommate found the musician dead in their home on Sunday evening.

The official cause of death has not yet been released, but police say they "do not suspect foul play at this time."

Brockie, aka Oderus Urungus, founded Gwar in Richmond in 1984. The band enjoyed success from the beginning, and released their thirteenth album in 2013. This year marks the band's thirtieth anniversary, and Gwar had just returned from a long-awaited performance in Japan. The performance was the band's first concert in the country, and fulfilled Brockie's lifelong dream of visiting Japan.

"Dave was one of the funniest, smartest, most creative and energetic persons I've known," former Gwar bassist Mike Bishop said of his former bandmate. "He was brash sometimes, always crass, irreverent, he was hilarious in every way. But he was also deeply intelligent and interested in life, history, politics, and art."

"His penchant for scatological humors belied a lucid wit," Bishop continued. "He was a criminally underrated lyricist and hard rock vocalist, one of the best, ever! A great man, a great painter, writer, he was also a hell of a bass guitarist. I loved him. He was capable of great empathy and had a real sense of justice."

[Style Weekly]