By - Steve Mezo
The console TV at The Storage Unit of Terror is silenced tonight in honor of the passing of Dave Brockie...
I'll never forget the days when I saw a picture of GWAR in a issue of "The Aquarian" at my friend Keith Perry's House where he told me about them, hearing "Scumdogs of The Universe" over at our friend Patrick Coy's house, watching "Live From Antarctica" on VHS at Keith's house, then seeing them live on stage two years later and having to drive home with towels on my car seats.
I was fortunate enough to get to meet Dave once after a performance and he was kind enough to listen to me yammer about the season my friend John B. Watt and I had the chance to work next to and hang out with Danielle Stampe (Slymenstra Hymen).
And like John had typed in his thoughts of Dave's passing "I can't say that I truly knew him as a friend, I barely even knew him as an acquaintance, but I really will miss him regardless."
And the reason we miss him is the fans were part of the list of characters of the act called "GWAR".
We "The Bohab's" are nothing more than food for whatever giant monster they have in tow, and are gladly killed by the alien monster members of GWAR for their entertainment. Or they'll kill us to kill time when bored.
Then there's the GWAR website where you were able to follow Dave's adventures (From another link) and go "Yup, sounds like something that would have happened to me..."
Like the time he fell asleep with a whitening strip on his teeth on the tour bus. It caused him to get chemical burns on his gums, which he had to go to the dentist to have taken care of. And he still went on stage and performed that night!
I wouldn't even type here never mind sing after having went through that mile of HELL.
Not only did Dave share in his misadventures, he revealed how intelligent and level head he was. And he made you want to be a better person yourself with dealing with the negativity of others when needed.
And that connection came back when he shared how the passing of Corey Smoot affected him. It was hard for us to hear as fans that we lost "Flattus Maximus". And what made it even more tragic was how young Corey was as well as being a new father. And then there was the fact that he was once a Bohab himself in the audience wishing he could be on stage too.
What brought us together as fans was we had the alternate reality of GWAR. And it comforted us to think of Corey's persona of Flattus Maximus not being taken away, but getting bored of earth and it's babbling humans then taking a spaceship back to his home planet "Planet Home".
Brent Purgason had taken on the role of "Pustulus Maximus" who is the cousin of Flattus and we welcomed him in! A lot of us Bohabs were happy to hear that Brent was a close friend of the band in reality. And the story of Pustulus making the journey from Planet Home to Antarctica to help GWAR fight their foes, and to continue the quest/hobby of annihilating humans. Let us know that GWAR isn't going away any time soon.
Which brings me back to Dave...
If it were any other band fans would be like "Well now what? He was the voice of the band, how are they going to keep going?!"
But we Bohab's know way better! Dave and the others had built this band for the long haul, and it's a big enough universe to supply new Alien Monster band members for a long time.
The reason why Oderus headed back to his home planet will always be a mystery. So now we have to wait and see what he's sending back to man the microphone and continue the Bohab's slaughter!!!
