I am still in shock over the news yesterday that Gwar frontman Dave Brockie died of an accidental heroin overdose. I wasn't the only one.
Randy Blythe, the MVP of Instagram took to his page to commiserate about the news. He talked about the Dave Brockie he knew and suggested if anybody finds themselves in a similar situation to seek help.
Here’s me with Dave Brockie & Brad Roberts of GWAR in 2006. Brad & I are still here, but Dave is gone- accidental heroin overdose, as many of you heard today. Not that it really matters, because dead is dead, but I don’t think Brockie was a stone cold junkie when he died- he couldn’t have done all that he did if he was strung out. He partied hard at periods, but I think he was more of a drug dabbler. But there’s a lesson here- dabbling with drugs kills people dead every day, just like being fully addicted does.
I am so fucking sick of my friends dying from alcohol & drugs. Really, really, tired of it- some of them die slow in the throes of addiction, & some of them die after just doing something stupid one night after a party. Some if them fuck around and fuck around and fuck around…”I’ll get sober one day…” For most of them, that day comes for sure- when we put them in a casket. It’s better to be alive when you get sober.
In this photo I was still drinking- I am a FULL BLOWN ALCOHOLIC. When I drink, I do crazy, really ill stuff. But I am a sober man today. I LIVE FREE. I might die surfing in the ocean tomorrow, but I will go out doing what I love, not choking on my own vomit. Besides that, I can just try & help others, so I’m writing this to YOU- YES, YOU- you, the one who can’t stop drinking & getting fired & pissing off your wife, you the one who steals pills from you friend’s medicine cabinet, you the one who is in a dark hole & wants to die & the only thing that fixes it for a little while is a drink or a drug- WAKE UP. GET HELP. STOP. PLEASE, I’M FUCKING BEGGING YOU. YOU CAN DO IT.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GET SOME HELP. If I can do it, ANYONE CAN, because I was a TOTAL WRECK for YEARS. Just get some help, goddamn it. And if you haven’t started, don’t. JUST DONT. There is NOTHING cool about being an alcoholic, a drug addict, or dead. Trust me. For the love of God, just don’t start. Please.
I think it was really touching of Blythe to make the distinction about Dave not being a full blown junkie, which he certainly was not. But as the point was made by Randy, you don't have to be a junkie to make one fatal mistake. Dave loss is certainly a huge one, but if somebody reads Randy's message and decides to get help, maybe another life can be saved.
