RIP Oderus Urungus

Everyone has those random sleepless nights; you're just not tired for some reason. Last night was one of those nights for me. Despite being in my warm, cozy bed, I wasn't tired at all. So while rotating between reddit, twitter, and my rss feed with Marduk playing in the background, one of my fellow twitter buddies retweeted that dreaded blabbermouth post that you may have seen. This was about 11pm PST or something like that, it was around midnight at least. Blabbermouth did an excellent job of not jumping to any conclusions by carefully wording their article using terms such as "sources claim" and "reportedly" and other indefinite words, obviously in hopes that this was all just some sort of sick hoax or stupid rumor. I was part of the crowd that wanted to hear/see more evidence before having a meltdown. 

Then I started to notice high-profile people tweeting "RIP" related stuff. Earache Records, Relapse, Dez Fafara, Broken Hope, and a few other twitter accounts belonging to musicians/labels/etc. were all saying "RIP Dave". Well shit, if this was all a hoax, why would so many people be setting themselves up for embarrassment by falling for a stupid rumor? Dez said one of the members called him and told him...okay....then I went to Instagram and, not even 3 minutes before that, Randy Blythe made the post you've probably all seen by now. 1. I know he is personal friends with the entire band. 2. He would NOT take the time to write such a deep and touching post about this if it wasn't a hoax. I heard on facebook people such as his family and girlfriend were confirming it. There was just too much evidence supporting the reality of this and next to no evidence that it was a rumor. Dave was active on twitter, but all day yesterday, his account was pretty silent, which was all the more I needed to believe it without an official statement from the band (in this case, it was their manager). 

GWAR in general is one of the most notable and best bands to exist. And anyone that has seen them live can agree that there is not a SINGLE show on this Earth that can ever come close to a GWAR show. It's a one-of-a-kind, once in a lifetime experience that is truly unforgettable. I saw GWAR once, it was in 2011 with Every Time I Die and Warbeast. I'm not a fan of Every Time I Die at all, and Warbeast is alright, but GWAR put on one of the SINGLE best live shows I have EVER experienced in my life. Everything from the theatrics to the Dillinger Escape Plan-worthy craziness of the crowd, it was one of the best nights of my life. Because it was at the Showbox SoDo, there was a barricade in front of the stage, so one of the two times I crowdsurfed to the front, once I was on my feet on the other side of the barricade, just as I was about to run off to the side, Oderus and I made eye contact for a split second. This followed with him spraying my face with...whatever the hell it was (I'm pretty sure it's not fake blood, it tasted weird though) until my hair and face were soaked. I almost puked due to it being at the same time as I was trying to catch my breath. 

Man, that was fun! I'm glad he was around! He did a lot of crazy shit and was one of the single best, most creative, and most humble musicians ever. Not to mention his songwriting. Unpopular opinion: GWAR's most recent album is my favorite, one of the best of 2013. Really wish I could have seen them again, but that one show is enough for me to never forget. Rest in Peace Dave.