Update: GWAR have released a statement refuting all the accusations made by Brockie's father. Read the entire statement here.
The father of the late Dave Brockie — better known as GWAR vocalist Oderus Urungus — has sued the surviving members of the band, accusing them of stealing his son's cremated remains, some bass guitars, as well as some of Dave's artwork.
Dave's father, William Brockie, who is the administrator of his son's estate, filed the lawsuit this past Thursday in a state circuit courtroom in Richmond, Virginia, where the band was founded in 1984. According to the court documents, Dave's dad is seeking $1 million in compensatory damages plus punitive damages for alleged breach of contract and unauthorized use of Dave Brockie's image, as well as the return of Brockie's cremains.
The lawsuit names the band's surviving members as defendants, along with their management company, Slave Pit Inc., and an affiliated company. No word whether or not the new members of GWAR are also included in the suit.
"Immediately after Dave Brockie's death, the remaining active members of GWAR … set out on a course of action to capitalize on the death of Dave Brockie," the lawsuit reads.
The most shocking part of the lawsuit is that Dave's father claims the band stole the younger Brockie's remains. According to the court documents, Dave's cremated remains is under lock and key at the Slave Pit headquarters. Dave once lived with the band at the compound in Richmond, so this is a very delicate situation to say the least.
When Dave's father, William, went to retrieve the ashes of Oderus last May, he was denied entry, according to the suit. Eventually, a staff member turned over "a small fraction of his son's ashes which were delivered in a used plastic bag with [a] Discover credit card logo on it," the suit claims.
Since then, the band and its managers "have retained the vast majority of Dave Brockie's remains and failed to return the ashes of Dave Brockie to his grieving father."
Update: GWAR have since responded to these statements with a press release of their own. Read it in full right here.
[via NBC News]
