Jello Biafra’s Audacity of Hype Ftr Billy Gould Released
Jello Biafra’s latest musical venture, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, have just released their debut album The Audacity of Hype and features none other than our good buddy Billy Gould on Bass:
“In the twenty or so years since his brainchild Dead Kennedys officially disbanded, Jello Biafra has made a career of spoken word gigs interspersed with musical collaborations with some of the most compelling figures in underground music. Recording projects and touring with the likes of Melvins, No Means No, DOA, Mojo Nixon and Lard (with Ministry’s Al Jorgensen) among others have kept his “hardcore as political weapon” message sharp, but the lack of his own band made these collaborations usually short-lived and left Biafra with a ton of songs that had never seen the light of day.
Inspired by Iggy Pop’s 60Th birthday gig at the Warfield in San Francisco, Biafra laid plans for his own 50th birthday party and finally decided it was time to start a band of his own. Ten years before he had been attempting the same thing with the likes of guitarist Ralph Spight (Victims Family,Freak Accident,Hellworms) and drummer Jon Weiss (Sharkbait,Horsey). They had also previously worked with bassist Billy Gould (Faith No More) who was tapped for the new group. After cramming rehearsals for a month the four piece band known as Jello Biafra and the Axis Of Merry Evildoers took the stage in a sold-out two night stand at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall and subsequently spent the next 9 months in rehearsal for an album project.
Before entering the studio guitarist Kimo Ball (Freak Accident,Carneyball Johnson,Mol Triffid,Griddle) was recruited and the resulting twin guitar attack took the groups sound to new, noisier heights. The quintet now known as Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School of Medicine began recording tracks for the upcoming LP/CD entitled “The Audacity Of Hype”(Alternative Tentacles Records) slated for release in October 2009, produced by Biafra and engineered by Hip Hop legend and long time Jello co-conspirator Matt Kelley (Hieroglyphics,Tupac,Digital Underground,Victims Family) at Prairie Sun Recording in Cotati,CA and San Francisco’s Hyde Street Studios.
The band’s sound retains some of the the spy-music-on-meth chaos of the DK’s while adding a healthy dose of Detroit style proto-punk mixed with layers of sonic guitar noise, and Weiss’ industrial excursions into metal percussion. Topically, the album explores how our forced Iraqnophobia and Homeland Insecurity continues to feed lawlessness at the top (“The Terror Of Tiny Town”) vs. a runaway police state and class war towards the bottom (“Three Strikes”,”Electronic Plantation”). “Clean As A Thistle” becomes more timely every day as “Family Values” blowhards get caught in sinful trysts while, album closer “I Won’t Give Up” offers an Age of Obama anthem on how change comes from agitation from below, not glamour and soundbites from the top.
Thirty years on, Jello Biafra has made an album that solidifies and expands his uncompromising vision and updates it for the new century, with a powerhouse band that promises to be a terrifying live machine, featuring Jon’s brother Andrew Weiss (Rollins Band,Ween,Butthole Surfers) filling the live bass position recently left vacant by Billy Gould’s return to Faith No More.”
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October 27th, 2009 at 5:54 am
Cool, just downloaded this the other day but haven’t got around to listening to it yet. If it ends up sounding alright I’ll go and buy the CD. Hopefully Billy stays a member of the band too when not tied up with FNM.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:32 am
It’s a great album, but I really like the jelvins stuff as well. Jello can be an acquired taste. Yeah I hope Billy rejoins the band and tours with them. Pretty sure he would have if the FNM reunion didn’t happen
October 27th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
thanks for the news! i remember awhile back hearing about the Jello birthday party thing, but i thought the FNM tour quashed Mr. Gould’s involvement. had no idea a cd was coming and Mr. Gould would be on it! definitely gonna pick this up! loved the Jelvins as well. Mr. Biafra is an acquired taste, but once you “get it”, it’s easy to be a fan. really talented guy.
October 27th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
speaking of Billy Gould, did anyone else think that the bass player playing on the Crudo live clips looked like Billy? the way he stood and played, is it possible?
October 27th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Jello Biafra is possibly one of the funniest and most incisive lyricists who have ever lived. I love his comical voice too. Check out ‘Buzzbomb From Pasadena’ by the legendary DK’s.
I shall need to check this release out.
‘The Jelvins’ ha-ha! I suppose that is a better splice than ‘Mello Biafra’.
October 29th, 2009 at 7:37 am
never actually checked any DK stuff, will have have a listen. I heard the guys pretty much fucked jello over though
October 29th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Any of their 1st few albums would do. I could not recommend their debut ‘Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables’ highly enough. It’s crammed with brilliance – ‘California Uber Alles’, ‘Holiday In Cambodia’, ‘Kill The Poor’, ‘Drug Me’(which has been covered live by Mr Bungle) and their amazing alternate version of ‘Viva Las Vegas’. I might as well just have given the tracklisting for the entire album there!
They certainly did develop a few squabbles towards the end of their time I suppose, the usual internal wrangling and stuff, but to be honest they were well past their sell by date at that time anyway.
It is a bit pathetic to see the other members touring these days as the Dead Kennedys but without Jello. Can you imagine the Stooges without Iggy or the Sex Pistols without Mr Lydon? Or Bungle without Patton? Ridiculous.
October 30th, 2009 at 4:13 am
Still Jim it’s a bit unfair if everyone else in the band wants to get back together except for the singer and he’s (was) trying to stop them using the band name.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:35 am
DEAD KENNEDYS EH!
FOUR WORDS
IN GOD WE TRUST inc
another FOUR
JELLO BIAFRA & MOJO NIXON…BRILLIANT
SAY NO MORE…
EXCEPT RAHZEL’S PLAYING IN EDINBURGH THIS SATURDAY HALLOWEEN NIGHT…DRESS CODE,COME AS
YOUR FAVORITE RAPPER 10quid entry I’LL BE THE
ONE DRESSED LIKE WILL SMITH!!!BOOM BOOM SHAKE,SHAKE THE ROOM.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Circus Midget,
Maybe he simply didn’t want to indulge in a nostalgia fest and let sleeping dogs lie. He was never exactly on to rest on his laurels. Maybe he thought their legacy was too important to be flogged with some pointless nostalgia tour that didn’t even include all of the original members. That sounds familiar somehow!
Mr Impostor,
Wow, I didn’t know about that show. Sounds fab. Do you think any saddo might attempt to come as Vanilla Ice? I might look out the fat suit and come as PM Dawn. How cool would it be to turn up with a posse as the Boo-Ya tribe!
October 30th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
jimbo..if five guys turned up fat suited up to the max dressed as the boo ya tribe with AK47′S & M16′S you might have a job fitting everyone into the club…big rahzel would have to do his show out on the street…yeah it would be funny tho.laffin
November 4th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
hahahaha tell me how THAT show went Imposter! LOL. Going to see Rahzel next week sans the fat suit though.
Re Jello. The dude is such a melodramatic performer! You have to admire his drama. I agree he is an acquired taste but I’ve long loved the Dead Kennedys and used to download Biafra’s political rants. I jumped at the chance to see him and the Guatanamo School of Medicine when I was in London this september. They played a few DK tracks! No California Uber Alles though :’o( I’ll up a few videos if anyone is keen?
November 6th, 2009 at 1:42 am
gez..rahzel was really good,it was a tiny little club but the sound was superb…the guy is genious!!! tho there was a definite lack of fancy dress,it was an ideal halloween night.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:59 am
Sounds really cool. Especially for Halloween, even if it wasnt spooky. I’ll let you know how next thursday goes. It’s weird, he’s playing in a pub in Perth… seems bizarre as it’s a smallish venue. So you didn’t dress up then?