Jello Biafra

Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), better known by the stage name Jello Biafra, is an American punk rock musician and political activist best known as the former lead singer of the Dead Kennedys. After the band disbanded, he became a solo musician and spoken word artist, releasing several albums based on both careers on his record label, Alternative Tentacles. In his political life, he is an active member of the Green Party and participates in activism relating to his progressive political beliefs. He is a self-proclaimed anarchist (though not a promoter of anarchy), and advocates civil disobedience and pranksterism in the name of political change. Biafra is known to use absurdist media tactics in the tradition of the Yippies to highlight issues of civil rights, social justice, and anti-corporatism.

His stage name is a combination of the brand name Jell-O and the name of the short lived country of Biafra which attempted to secede from Nigeria in 1966. After four years of fighting and horrific starvation, Nigeria regained control of the nascent Biafran state. Jello Biafra created his name as an ironic combination of a nutritionally poor mass-produced food product and mass starvation.

Biography

Early years and the Dead Kennedys

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Jello Biafra when he was with Dead Kennedys. Taken from Dead Kennedys: The Early Years Live

Eric Boucher was born in Boulder, Colorado, USA to parents Stanley and Virginia Boucher, both social workers. Boucher developed an interest in international politics early on, which his parents encouraged. As a child, he avidly watched the news. One of his earliest memories of his childhood is of the John F. Kennedy assassination. Biafra claims he has been a fan of rock music since first hearing it in 1965, when his parents accidentally tuned in to a rock radio station. During the 1970s, he became involved in activism in reaction to several events of the era including the Vietnam War, the Chicago 7 trial, and the Kent State shootings.

He began his career in music in January of 1977 as a roadie for the punk rock band The Ravers (who would later change their name to The Nails). In the fall of that year, he began attending the University of California, Santa Cruz. He spent one quarter of the year studying acting and the history of Paraguay before leaving to become involved in San Francisco, California's punk scene. In June of 1978 he responded to an ad put out by guitarist East Bay Ray and together they formed the Dead Kennedys. He began performing with the band under the stage name Occupant, but shortly after began using his current stage name. Biafra wrote the band's lyrics, most of which were political in nature and displayed a sardonic, sometimes absurdist, sense of humor despite their serious subject matter. In June of 1979, Biafra co-founded the record label Alternative Tentacles with which the Dead Kennedys released their first single, "California Über Alles". The label was created to allow the band to release albums without having to deal with pressure from major labels to change their music (although the major labels were not willing to sign the band due to their songs being deemed too controversial). After dealing with Cherry Red in the UK and IRS Records in the US for their first album Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables, the band released all later albums (and later pressings of Fresh Fruit) on Alternative Tentacles (with the exception of live albums released after the band's break-up, which the other band members compiled from recordings in the band partnership's vaults without Biafra's input or endorsement). Biafra has been the owner of the company ever since its founding, though he does not receive a salary for his position (Biafra refers to his position in the company as the "absentee thoughtlord").

In the fall of 1979, Biafra ran for mayor of San Francisco as a prank, using the Jello ad campaign catchphrase, "There's always room for Jello", as his campaign slogan. Having entered the race before creating a campaign platform, Biafra later wrote his platform on a napkin while attending a Pere Ubu concert. As he campaigned, Biafra wore campaign t-shirts from his opponent Quentin Kopp's previous campaign and at one point vacuumed leaves off the front lawn of another opponent, current U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. Supporters committed equally odd actions; two well known signs held by supporters said "If he doesn't win I'll kill myself" and "What if he does win?" His platform included unconventional points such as forcing businessmen to wear clown suits within city limits and a citywide ban on cars (although the latter point was not considered abnormal by many voters at the time, as the city was suffering from serious pollution problems). Biafra has expressed irritation that these parts of his platform attained such notoriety, preferring instead to be remembered for serious proposals such as legalizing squatting in vacant, tax-delinquent buildings and requiring police officers to keep their jobs by running for election voted on by the people of the neighborhoods they patrol. During a TV interview (reproduced on The Early Years home video and DVD), he had this to say to those who thought less of him running for mayor: “For those of them who have seen my candidacy as a publicity stunt or a joke, they should keep in mind that it is no more of a joke, and no less of a joke than anyone else they care to name.” He finished fourth out of a field of ten, receiving 3.5% of the vote (6,591 votes); the election ended in a runoff that did not involve him (Feinstein was declared the winner). In reaction to his campaign (and that of Sister Boom-Boom, a drag queen who also ran for mayor), San Francisco passed a resolution stating that no candidate could run under any name other than their given name.

The Dead Kennedys toured widely during their career, starting in the late 1970s. They began playing mostly at southern Californian clubs (most notably the Whisky a Go Go), but eventually they moved on to major clubs across the country, including the CBGB in New York. Later, they played to larger audiences such as at the 1980 Bay Area Music Awards (where they played the notorious "Pull My Strings" for the first and only time), and headlined the 1983 Rock Against Reagan festival.

Biafra married Therese Soder, aka Ninotchka, lead singer of San Francisco-area punk band The Situations on October 31, 1981. Flipper vocalist/bassist Bruce Loose conducted the wedding, having paid to join the Universal Life Church as a minister just to conduct the ceremony, which took place in a graveyard. The wedding reception, which members of Flipper, Black Flag, and D.O.A. attended, was held at director Joe Reis' Target Video studios. The marriage ended in 1986 (during the time of the Frankenchrist trial; see the end of this section) when Soder ran off with then-houseguest and ex-Feederz vocalist Frank Discussion.

Biafra became a spoken word artist in January 1986, starting with a performance at University of California, Los Angeles. In his performance he combined his sense of humor with his political beliefs, much in the same way that he did with the lyrics to his songs. Biafra has held this career since, but did not begin recording spoken word records until after the disbandment of the Dead Kennedys.

In April of the same year, police officers raided his house in response to complaints by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). In June of 1986, Biafra was brought to trial in Los Angeles for distributing "harmful matter" in the Dead Kennedys album Frankenchrist. In actuality, the dispute was about neither the music nor the lyrics from the album, but rather a print of a poster included with the album, Landscape #XX (also known as Penis Landscape), by Swiss surreal artist H. R. Giger. Biafra believes the trial was politically motivated; it was often reported that the PMRC took Biafra to court as a cost effective way of sending a message out to other musicians who have "offensive" content in their music. Music author Rebee Garofalo argued that Biafra and Alternative Tentacles may have been targeted because the label was a "small, self-managed and self-supported company that could ill afford a protracted legal battle." Facing the possible sentence of a year in jail and a $2000 fine, Biafra founded the No More Censorship Defense Fund, a benefit made up of several punk rock bands, to help pay for his legal fees, which neither he nor his record label could afford. The jury deadlocked 7 to 5 in favor of acquittal, prompting a mistrial; despite a district attorney motion to re-try the case, the judge ordered all charges dropped. The Dead Kennedys disbanded during the trial, in December 1986, due to the mounting legal costs; in the wake of their disbandment, Biafra made a career of his spoken word performances. His early spoken word albums focused heavily on the trial (especially in High Priest of Harmful Matter), which made him renowned for his anti-censorship stance.

After the disbandment of the Dead Kennedys

In 1988, Biafra and Alain Jourgensen of the band Ministry formed the band Lard. The band became a side project for the members of Ministry, with Biafra providing vocals. While working on the film Terminal City Ricochet in 1989, Biafra did a song for the film's soundtrack with D.O.A. As a result, Biafra worked together with D.O.A. on the album Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors. Biafra also worked with Nomeansno on the soundtrack, which lead to their collaboration on the album The Sky is Falling and I Want My Mommy the following year.

On May 7, 1994, people who believed Biafra was a sell out attacked him at the 924 Gilman Street club in Berkeley, California. Biafra claims that he was attacked by a man nicknamed Creton, who crashed into him while slamdancing. The crash injured Biafra's leg, causing an argument between the two men. During the argument, Creton pushed Biafra to the floor and five or six friends of Creton assaulted Biafra while he was down, yelling "Sellout rock star, kick him". Biafra was later hospitalized with serious injuries. The attack derailed Biafra's plans for both a Canadian spoken-word tour and an accompanying album.

In October of 1998, former members of the Dead Kennedys sued Biafra for not paying them royalties due to them. According to Biafra, the suit resulted from his refusal to allow the band's most famous single, "Holiday in Cambodia", to be used in a commercial for Levi's Dockers; Biafra opposes Levi's because he believes that they use unfair business practices and sweatshop labor. The three former members claim that their motive had nothing to do with advertising, but because Biafra denied them royalties and failed to promote their albums. Biafra maintains that he did not deny them royalties, and in addition, he claimed that he did not receive any royalties on the rereleases of their albums or "posthumous" live albums licensed to other labels by the Decay Music partnership, a charge which Decay Music denies. He also complained about the songwriting credits of the new reissues and archival live albums, which credits songs that Biafra claims he composed the music to on his own to the entire band. But the courts decided that the band had worked collectively on the creation of its musical compositions and the songwriting credits of the new reissues are according to the court order (contradicting information on BMI's online database). In 2000 a jury ordered Biafra to pay $200,000 to the plaintifs. After an appeal by Biafra's lawyers, in June 2003 the California Court of Appeals unanimously upheld all the conditions of the 2000 verdict against Biafra and Alternative Tentacles.

The other band members reunited without Biafra under the name of "DK Kennedys" (later returning to the original band name), replacing Biafra first with Brandon Cruz, then with Jeff Penalty. Dead Kennedys fans have criticized the new band, owing to Biafra's absence. Biafra himself has also openly criticized his former bandmates' legal tactics and reunion tours, most notably in the song "Those Dumb Punk Kids (Will Buy Anything)".

In 1999, Biafra and other members of the anti-globalization movement protested the WTO Meeting of 1999 in Seattle. Along with other famous musicians from the west coast, he formed the short-lived band the No WTO Combo to help promote the movement's cause. The band was originally scheduled to play during the protest, but the performance was canceled due to riots. The band performed the following night at the Showbox in downtown Seattle (outside of the curfew area) where they played a short set. The hiphop group Spearhead also played at the event. A CD containing recordings from the concert, titled Live from the Battle in Seattle, was later released.

In 2000, the New York State Green Party drafted Biafra as a candidate for the Green Party presidential nomination, and a few supporters were elected to the party's nominating convention in Denver, Colorado. Despite the fact that his address to the convention was positively received, the party overwhelmingly chose Ralph Nader as the presidential candidate. Biafra, along with a camera crew (dubbed by Biafra as "The Camcorder Truth Jihad"), later reported for the Independent Media Center at the Republican and Democratic conventions. Biafra detailed these events in his album Become The Media, which has resulted in him being credited with coining the slogan "Don't hate the media, become the media". Indymedia and related alternative media often use this line, or the now more apt "Don't hate the media, be the media."

Also in 2000, Biafra gave the keynote speech at the H2K hacker conference. Though Biafra had never used a computer in his life, the attendants saw him as being capable of drawing insightful connections between hacking and activism. He has also spoken at the 2002 and 2004 conferences, is scheduled to speak at the 2006 conference, and audio of these speeches are freely available online for download.

In April of 2001, Biafra took part in a protest against the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas conference in Quebec.

In 2005 Biafra appeared on Episode 285 of This American Life, themed "Know Your Enemy", which featured a phone call between Jello Biafra and Michael Guarino, the prosecutor in the Frankenchrist trial. The episode was about Guarino's change of opinion and the reconciliation between Guarino and Biafra.

As of late 2005, Biafra currently performs with the band The Melvins. The new band was dubbed "Jello Biafra and the Melvins", though fans often refer to them as "The Jelvins." Together they have released two albums.

In 2006, along with Alternative Tentacles employee and The Frist lead singer Jesse Luscious, Biafra began co-hosting The Alternative Tentacles Batcast, a downloadable podcast hosted by alternativetentacles.com. The show primarily focuses on interviews with artists and bands that are currently signed to the Alternative Tentacles label, although there are also occasional episodes where Biafra devoted the show to answering fan questions.

Music

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Cover to Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, the Dead Kennedys' debut album

Biafra has been a prominent member of the Californian punk rock scene and, while a member of the Dead Kennedys, was one of the founding members of the San Francisco hardcore punk scene. The Dead Kennedys was one of the first U.S. punk bands to write politically themed songs (possibly inspired by Black Flag, another major Californian punk rock band of the era). The lyrics Biafra wrote with the Dead Kennedys helped popularize the use of humorous lyrics in punk rock. Biafra cites Joey Ramone as the inspiration for his use of humor in his songs (as well as being the musician who made him interested in punk rock), noting in particular songs by The Ramones such as "Beat On the Brat" and "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue". Many later punk rock bands would cite the Dead Kennedys as a major influence. Hardcore punk author Steven Blush describes Biafra as hardcore's "biggest star" who was a "powerful presence whose political insurgence and rabid fandom made him the father figure of a burgeoning subculture (and a) inspirational force (who) could also be a real prick... Biafra was a visionary, incendiary [performer]."

Biafra's initially attempted to compose music on guitar, but his inexperience on the instrument and his own admission of being "a fumbler with my hands" led Dead Kennedys bassist Klaus Flouride to suggest that Biafra simply sing the parts he was envisioning to the band. Biafra would later sing his riffs, melodies, and bridges into a tape recorder, which he brought to the bands rehearsal and/or recording sessions. This would later become an issue when the Dead Kennedys sued Biafra over royalties and publishing rights. By all accounts, including his own, Biafra is not a conventionally skilled musician, though he and his collaborators (Joey Shithead of D.O.A. in particular) attest that he is a skilled composer and his work, particularly with the Dead Kennedys, is highly respected by punk-oriented critics and fans.

Biafra's first popular song was the first single by the Dead Kennedys, "California Über Alles". The song, which spoofed California governor Jerry Brown, was the first of many political songs by the group and Biafra. The song's popularity resulted in it being covered by other musicians, such as The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy (who rewrote the lyrics to parody Pete Wilson) and John Linnell of They Might Be Giants. Not long afterward, the Dead Kennedys made a second and bigger hit with "Holiday in Cambodia", a song about the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, from their debut album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. All Music Guide cites this song as "possibly the most successful single of the American hardcore scene" and Biafra counts it as his personal favorite Dead Kennedys song. Minor hits from the album included "Kill the Poor" (about potential abuse of the then-new neutron bomb) and a satirical cover of Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas".

The Dead Kennedys received some controversy in the spring of 1981 over the single "Too Drunk to Fuck". The song became a big hit in Britain, and the BBC feared that it would manage to be a big enough hit to appear among the top 30 songs on the national charts, requiring them to play a performance of the song on Top of the Pops. However, the single's popularity was slightly less than what was required, peaking at the 31st position.

Later albums would also contain memorable songs, but with less popularity than the earlier ones. The EP album In God We Trust, Inc. contained the song "Nazi Punks Fuck Off!" as well as "We've Got A Bigger Problem Now", a rewritten version of "California Über Alles" about Ronald Reagan. Punk scholar Vic Bondi considers the latter song to be the song that "defined the lyrical agenda of much of hardcore music, and represented its break with punk". The band's most controversial album, Frankenchrist, brought with it the song "MTV Get Off the Air", which accused MTV of promoting poor quality music and sedating the public.

After the Dead Kennedys disbanded, Biafra's new songs were recorded with other bands, releasing only spoken word albums as solo projects. These collaborations had less popularity than Biafra's earlier work. However, his song "That's Progress", originally recorded with D.O.A. for the album Last Scream Of The Missing Neighbors, received considerable exposure when it appeared on the album Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1.

Biafra is an ardent collector of unusual vinyl records of all kinds, from 50's and 60's ethno-pop recordings by the likes of Les Baxter and Esquivel to vanity pressings that have circulated regionally, to infamous German crooner Heino; he cites his always growing collection as one of his biggest musical influences. In 1993 he gave an interview to RE/Search Publications for their second Incredibly Strange Music book focusing primarily on these records. His heavy interest in such recordings eventually led to Biafra discovering the prolific (and schizophrenic) singer/songwriter/artist Wesley Willis, whom he signed to Alternative Tentacles in 1994, precluding Willis' major label deal with American Recordings. His collection grew so large that on October 1, 2005, Biafra donated a portion of his collection to an annual yard sale co-promoted by Alternative Tentacles and held at their warehouse in Emeryville, California.

Political beliefs

Cover to Machine Gun in the Clown's Hand, one of Biafra's spoken word albums

Biafra claims to be an anarchist in his personal dealings with people, though he does not advocate replacing current governments with an anarchic system. He claims that mankind is not yet ready for anarchy, and still needs government to control the order of human life for the safety and progression of human events. In speeches, he has advised people to partake in civil disobedience, political pranks, and hacktivism. Some such acts that he has advocated include hacking corporate owned websites and planting marijuana seeds in public areas.

Biafra was a swift critic of the Parents Music Resource Center during the 1980s, and has constantly criticized co-founder Tipper Gore, as well as the Tipper Sticker, a warning placed on records indicating explicit content. Biafra confronted her twice on episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Many of the songs he wrote for the Dead Kennedys during the 80s showed opposition to the religious right and Ronald Reagan. In the 1990s, Biafra's opposition to the right continued with his opposition to George H. W. Bush and the Gulf War, though he also was opposed to some practices of Democratic president Bill Clinton. Most notable among these are Biafra's opposition to the United States' involvement with NAFTA, GATT, and the World Trade Organization.

Biafra advocates a variant of the maximum wage: increasing taxes for the wealthy and eliminating taxes for those in the lower and middle class (income taxes would only be paid by those who earned more than $100,000 per year). On top of this, the maximum wage would close tax loopholes for both large corporations and religious organizations. He has advocated using these taxes to provide the public with several free services, including free health care, free education (including amnesty on student loans), and free transportation. Other uses for these taxes would also include subsidies for the arts, organic farms, hemp and kanaf farms, urban squatters, and renewable energy sources.

Biafra has advocated ending the death penalty in the United States. In his address to the Green Party, he chose Death Row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal (whom anti-death penalty activists believe was wrongly accused of murder) as his vice presidential candidate to help point out his stance on the issue as well as attract attention to Abu-Jamal's situation. Because of his support of Abu-Jamal, which includes releasing spoken word albums by him on Alternative Tentacles, Biafra is now on a Fraternal Order Of Police boycott list. He has also proposed ending police brutality by making officers stand for public election every four years.

Biafra believes in ending the war on drugs by legalizing marijuana and other narcotics. He believes drug addicts should be treated instead of jailed and should be given legal outlets to get drugs from, thus eliminating illegal drug sales. He also advocates ending jail sentences for minor, non-violent, drug related offenses. In drug education for public schools, Biafra advocates educating students on drugs by using demonstrations of drug use in classes and allowing experimentation in controlled environments to help reduce the possibility of addiction. These, he believes, would provide an alternative to anti-drug advertising, which he believes does not work. He also advocates ending drug testing of employees and students.

Other subjects that Biafra advocates include anti-gentrification, election reform, increasing the amount of low-income housing, gay rights, eliminating sport utility vehicles from urban areas, labeling of genetically modified food, and withdrawal from NAFTA and the World Trade Organization. He also claims to be a supporter of the Green Party's Ten Key Values.

Because of Biafra's use of sarcasm and humor, the public does not always take his positions seriously. His use of joke propositions, such as forcing polluters to swim in the pollution they caused until they clean it, provide humor in his speeches, but turn off some people from his ideas. Still, supporters of Biafra see his comedic approach as a useful way of getting the public to hear about issues that are not always addressed by other politicians.

Discography

A short list of original albums only; for a detailed list including compilations, singles, EPs, videos and more, see the Jello Biafra discography.

Studio albums with the Dead Kennedys:

• Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables - September 1980
• In God We Trust Inc. - December 1981
• Plastic Surgery Disasters - November 1982
• Frankenchrist - October 1985
• Bedtime for Democracy - November 1986

Spoken word:

• No More Cocoons - 1987
• High Priest of Harmful Matter − Tales From the Trial - 1989
• I Blow Minds for a Living - 1991
• Beyond the Valley of the Gift Police - 1994
• If Evolution Is Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Evolve - 1998
• Become the Media - 2000
• Machine Gun in the Clown's Hand - 2002

Collaborations:

• Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors - 1989, with D.O.A.
• Supernaut - 1990, with 1000 Homo DJs (credited as Count Ringworm)
• The Sky Is Falling and I Want My Mommy - 1991, with No Means No
• Tumor Circus - 1991, with Steel Pole Bath Tub
• Prairie Home Invasion - 1994, with Mojo Nixon
• Never Breathe What You Can't See - 2004, with The Melvins (credited on the inner sleeve as Osama McDonald)
• Sieg Howdy! - 2005, with The Melvins (credited on the inner sleeve as J Lo)

Filmography

• Lovedolls Superstar (1986)
• Tapeheads (1988)
• Terminal City Ricochet (1990)
• Highway 61 (1991)
• Skulhedface (1994)
• Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore (1997)
• The Widower (1999)
• Virtue (1999)
• Bikini Bandits (2002)
• Death and Texas (2004)
• Punk's Not Dead (2006)

External links

• Biafra's label Alternative Tentacles
• Alternative Tentacles at MySpace
• Alternative Tentacle's Jello Biafra Biography with MP3s and Discography
• Jello Biafra FAQ
• Audio recordings of Biafra's keynote speech at H2K
• Audio recordings of Biafra's State of the World Address at H2K2
• Audio recordings of Biafra's keynote speech at the Fifth HOPE
• Audio interviews of Jello Biafra and Nardwuar
• Jello Biafra Scratch Magazine Interview
• Juice Magazine Jello Biafra Interview
• Democracy Now Interview with Jello Biafra
• Audio of Jello Biafra Speaking at Peace Rally in San Francisco
• Punknews.org interview with Jello Biafra