Q&A: 28 Minutes with Jello Biafra – Vol. 2

Posted by RiffYou On June 12, 2014 0 Comment

Speaking with legendary punk rock frontman, spoken word artist, censorship battler, political activist, and all around thoughtful, yet controversial human Jello Biafra is much like bouncing a rubber ball really hard off of the ground: once your action is complete, you’re not quite sure which direction Biafra will take.

One thing is for certain, and that is the fact that Biafra is not interested in mindless chit chat. When you get into a conversation with him, get into it intelligently, pay attention, and – as much as possible – avoid assumptions. If you can do all that, as well as think on your feet, what you’ll encounter is a very aware individual with a lot of fascinating things to say. He may even let you feel slightly comfortable.

Yes, he was the lead man of Dead Kennedys, and yes he is now a part of Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo Bay School of Medicine. But beyond all that is someone who has seen the world from a ton of different angles.

In Volume 2 of Riffyou.com’s 28 Minutes with Jello Biafra, we discuss when he first appreciated music that had more depth to it, his early song writing days, as well as what made him run for Mayor of San Francisco.

If you missed Volume 1, you can read it here. Stay tuned tomorrow for Volume 3, where Biafra candidly discusses the nastiness that has torn him away from Dead Kennedys.

RY: When you started performing, at what point did you want to talk about stuff that was more significant than what the pop acts of the era were talking about?

Jello: “I think that happened pretty early on. I didn’t relate to sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll lyrics. I didn’t relate to ‘I love you baby, buy my record,’ ones. So my first avenue out of there was Alice Cooper. He shocked so many people! It was so negative and so hell bent, so that was cool. That prepared me for the satire of Frank Zappa, and then musically, I was more into the Steppenwolf, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The MC5, and The Stooges side of the fence…I always liked the heavy, extreme shit. I still do in a lot of cases.

“From there, it was ‘how could this be combined?’ I wasn’t even expecting to write the lyrics at first, but then I realized ‘holy shit, I’m one of the only older people who moved out to San Francisco, so if anything is going to happen, I’m going to have to write the words.’ I had to write good ones.

“My lyrical style is a little more along the lines of Sparks or Zappa, much more than it is Iggy Pop or Hank Williams. So I figured, ‘okay, that’s the way I do stuff, that’s what I’m going to do.”

RY: Were you surprised by what came out of you when you started writing?

Jello: “It’s not as though all of these supposedly magical words of wisdom just poured out of me like Joseph Smith blundering into the Book of Mormon or something. That’s not the way it happened. It was trial and error. A lot of the early lyrics – and a lot of the earlier lyrical versions of Dead Kennedys songs – kind of sucked in retrospect. But, everyone has to start somewhere and then start pushing themselves to improve, and figure out how to do that…who they are, and how they go about it. I didn’t have to be all that self-conscious about any possible place in rock history…about never being as cool as Jim Morrison or Iggy. I didn’t have to worry about that after I ran for Mayor of San Francisco. I realized ‘ok, that area of my ego and vanity are off of my shoulders now, and I can just relax and be me.’”

RY: What inspired that political run?

Jello: “Oh it was kind of dumb. I was there, it was a prank. Bruce, our first drummer who goes by Ted on the early records, had me folded in the backseat of his Volkswagon. He, Claus and I – and maybe another person or two – were all driving to a concert in San Francisco. Bruce said, ‘you have such a big mouth, you should run for President. No wait, a minute, you should run for Mayor!’ I thought, ‘aha, I think I will.’ So I walked into the venue telling everyone that I was running for Mayor and they got excited. I thought, ‘ah shit, now I need a platform.’ So, I started writing out my platform with a felt tip pen on a napkin.

“A lot of my favourite ideas from there – like making the police run for election every four years – just kind of popped into my head that night. I think I would’ve had a much bigger impact if I had the faintest idea of what I was doing,” laughs. “But I’m a big believer in magic accidents.”

RY: Do you wish that you took that political run more seriously?

Jello: “You’re making an assumption that isn’t true. I always take these things seriously, but I always have more fun using satire as a weapon. It’s not my only weapon, but it’s one of them. It wasn’t a matter of not taking it seriously. The whole thing engulfed me, so I was scrambling like crazy to do what I could, and all sorts of people were pulling me in all of these different directions.

“I got invited to dozens of campaign functions where all candidates were supposed to go. I only wound up going to two of them. I never went door-to-door at all. People ask me why I don’t run again. This time, I’ve been around long enough and I know how it’s really done, and what I’d really have to do to be affective. It would mean giving up music completely and going door-to-door and delving much deeper into the ins and outs of the issues that affect the city of San Francisco.’ Follow the money. Where are the bones buried? How do we pay for this program, when we also need to pay for this program?’ The danger of me ever being elected to public office, is what if I turn out to be incompetent?

“Although, I really do regret not jumping into that Governor’s race during the free-for-all re-call election that got Schwarzenegger elected. But, I decided not to, because there was a really good Green Party candidate who looked like he had a chance of winning, at least until Schwarzenegger jumped into the race. I didn’t want to do anything to detract from [that Green] campaign.”

RY: So, would you ever consider giving up music and running for office again?

Jello: “No, not at the moment. I mean, I don’t necessarily believe in planning these things.”

-Adam Grant

Tour Dates:

06/14/2014 Reggie’s Rock Club Chicago, IL
w/Negative Approach
06/15/2014 Magic Stick Detroit, MI
w/Negative Approach
06/16/2014 Call The Office London, ONT, Canada
w/Negative Approach
06/17/2014 Opera House Toronto, ONT, Canada
w/Negative Approach
06/19/2014 The Waiting Room Buffalo, NY
w/Negative Approach
06/20/2014 Lost Horizon Syracuse, NY
w/Negative Approach
06/21/2014 Pearl Street Northampton, MA
w/Rough Francis
06/22/2014 Brighton Music Hall Boston, MA
w/Negative Approach, Disaster Strikes
06/24/2014 The Chance Poughkeepsie, NY
w/Negative Approach
06/25/2014 Asbury Lanes Asbury Park, NJ
w/Negative Approach
06/27/2014 Highline Ballroom New York City, NY
w/Negative Approach
06/28/2014 Union Transfer Philadelphia, PA
w/Negative Approach
06/29/2014 The Ottobar Baltimore, MD
w/Negative Approach
06/30/2014 Mr. Small’s Theater Pittsburgh, PA
w/Negative Approach
07/02/2014 Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, OH
w/Negative Approach
07/12/2014 Rumble on Pine Long Beach, CA
w/Rev. Horton Heat