I'm very well aware. I was choking back tears when I heard while driving back from FWA.

This man was a very big influence on me. Picked up GWAR's Ragnarok when I was 15 after seeing one of the metal kids wearing the shirt at my high school. Was wondering why it was so weird and researched, found a whole world of amazing characters. Then rented the Live From Antarctica vid, and hooooo did I ever look at performing from a different view ever since. All of a sudden I wanted characters performing music and just being crazy on stage. Introducing: Twitch. Didn't have a name for him until I jumped into the fandom.

If it wasn't for picking up that CD and getting way into GWAR as a result, there wouldn't have been a Twitch. Hell, doubt if I would have even given the furry fandom a second look. I jumped right into graphic arts, tried (and got rejected) from drawing/art classes all throughout high school, and finally started playing guitar. Be it I really wanted to start playing after becoming a huge punk dork thanks to The Ramones, GWAR showing what could be possible was the final push I needed. Twitch exists because of GWAR, period.

Just the way Brockie portrayed Oderus was like crack to me. Having such a crazy story to go along with the band, a story that could go anywhere with every album released. It was like every album was a comic book issue. Not to mention the crazy sarcastic but silly ways of making fun of the media, superstars, politics, pretty much if it was on the news and bullshit, huge egotistical idiots, just people that deserved it, there was a dummy made of them getting slaughtered on stage at every GWAR show. The idea of having the characters bleed cartoonishly onto the crowd? Fucking GENIUS!

GWAR is also the first small venue show I ever went to, for the Carnival Of Chaos tour (which they made a music video out of that tour here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScA7vDC2u10 ). OH HELL YES I CAME OUT OF THAT SHOW SOAKED IN GWAR BLOOD! Being in the pit while getting randomly splattered?! Hell yes! I was totally hooked to small venue shows after. The videos they shot were just freaking hilarious on top of that.

We lost a creative/performance genius, plain and simple. It's a huge loss to both the music and art scenes. Not to mention he was a freaking awesome guy behind the crazy character. His solo project The Dave Brockie Experience was full of crazy silly songs that'd never fit on a GWAR album, showing how you don't have to be serious at all, and fun is good with music. Fuck egos.

I lost one of my heroes with his passing.

Have a vid of him interviewing himself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nodsGksUP34