Yesterday afternoon news broke that a Virginia coroner had determined GWAR frontman Dave Brockie passed away from an overdose of heroin. It was the kind of headline everyone feared would come to light, and in the hours since the news initially broke many in the music community have shared their thoughts on the matter. We put a little thought into combining all these comments into one big post, but after reading what Lamb Of God frontman Randy Blythe had to say on the topic of Brockie’s overdose it was clear his words were the only ones that really needed to be shared.

Randy Blythe posted a picture of himself, Brockie and GWAR’s Brad Roberts from 2006 on Instagram yesterday. In the caption for the photo, which shows Blythe holding a beer, the frontman relates that he’s an alcoholic and was still drinking in the picture, but he took responsibility for himself and is sober now. He also vents frustrations he has with continually receiving the news that his friends have overdosed or died from drug use, and even comments that he believes Brockie was not a ‘stone cold’ junkie. You can view the photo and read his complete statement below:

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.

Rest in peace, Oderus. You are missed.

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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