Gwar is in trouble for allegedly stealing late singer Dave Brockie’s cremains. The band is being sued by Brockie’s father, who says the group’s members absconded with Oderus Urungus’s cremated remains, bass guitars, and artwork after the singer overdosed last March. Brockie’s father, William, claims the move was part of “a course of action to capitalize on the death of” his son and is seeking $1 million in compensatory damages, an undetermined amount of punitive damages, and the return of his son’s cremains.
In a statement issued today, Gwar says the case is without merit and that it did not “steal Dave Brockie’s ashes, or anything else that belonged to him.” The group says it has “acted in good faith to honor the wishes of our dear friend,” something that wasn’t always easy, considering Brockie left no will or instructions about what to do if he died.
The band takes particular offense to William Brockie’s claims that it stole the cremains, saying Brockie told the group “he did not want to be involved in making Dave’s final arrangements” and “did not attend either of the services held for his son in Richmond.” The group also paid for Brockie’s cremation, both memorials, and purchased a plot for the singer in a Richmond, Virginia cemetery. The band intends to inter Brockie’s ashes in that burial plot once a memorial statue is completed, but says a portion of the ashes were released to William Brockie “so he could spread them in the location where Dave’s brother and mother’s ashes were dispersed.”
In Brockie’s case, he says he asked for the return of all the remains, but was instead given “a small fraction of his son’s ashes which were delivered in a used plastic bag with a Discover credit card logo on it.”