RANDY BLYTHE: 'I Don't Think DAVE BROCKIE Was A Stone-Cold Junkie When He Died'

Vocalist Randy Blythe of Richmond, Virginia metallers LAMB OF GOD, who toured with GWAR in 2009, has posted the following message on Instagram:

"Here's me with Dave Brockie and Brad Roberts of GWAR in 2006. Brad and 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 and drugs. Really, really, tired of it. Some of them die slow in the throes of addiction and some of them die after just doing something stupid one night after a party. Some of 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 and help others, so I'm writing this to YOU — YES, YOU — you, the one who can't stop drinking and getting fired and 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 and wants to die and 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 DON'T. 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."

The day after Brockie's death, Blythe posted a tribute to his fallen friend on Instagram, which read in part: "When someone dies, a lot of the time people will say, 'Oh, he was a unique person, really one of a kind, a true original.' Most of these people no idea of what they are talking about; they obviously had never met Dave. "Dave TRULY WAS ONE OF A KIND. I can't think of ANYONE even remotely like him. That's VERY HARD TO SAY."

Blythe added: "Right now, if I were to truly honor Dave in the way HE would do it if it were ME that had died, I would make a completely tasteless joke about his death. But I do not have the stomach for that — Dave would, but not me. He never put much stock in 'limits.'

"Richmond has lost one of its most creative people. This is a crying shame to me."

Brockie is the second member of GWAR to die within the past three years. Guitarist Cory Smoot, who played the character Flattus Maximus, died of a heart attack on the band's tour bus in November 2011 at the age of 34.

Brockie was the last remaining original member of GWAR, which was founded 30 years ago. The future of the band at this stage is uncertain.

The satirical metal band earned a following for its macabre, over-the-top costumes, offensive lyrics and graphic, gore-soaked shows, in which the band members performed as the descendants of alien warriors who arrived on Earth to enslave and slaughter the human race.

The band released its 13th album, "Battle Maximus", last year.

GWAR's fifth annual GWAR-B-Q, which was announced before Brockie's passing, will go on as scheduled, with Bishop handling vocals for GWAR at the August 16 event. One day earlier, a a special memorial for Brockie will be held from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. at Hadad's Lake, located at 7900 Osborne Turnpike in Richmond.