| |
Jello Thrashes
By Brian Brannon
Reprinted without permission from Thrasher, October 95
Saying that Jello Biafra is outspoken is a bit of an
understatement. As frontman for the Dead Kennedys, candidate for
mayor of San Francisco in 1979, prime mover behind Alternative
Tentacles record label, and a spoken word commando, anyone who wants
Mr. Biafra to shut up is in for a mighty long wait. Jello loves
music, mountains, sex, wild rivers, sabotage and people who fuck up
shit in a good way. He hates greed, pollution, corpution, liars, intolerants,
racism, "me first"types, and the idea of health care being a for-profit industry.
Overlooking the S.F. cityscape from Bernal Heights, Jello Biafra off loaded
a few things he had on his mind. - Brian Brannon
What are the best tools for change?
Once I figure that out in a sentence short enough to put into an
interview, I won't have to write any more songs. I guess with the
individual it starts with trying to consciously divorce yourself
from the corporate octopus: not working for them, if possible, trying
to buy as few of their products as possible, just try to avoid
buying in or being bought out to that degree and one can and will
surive. I would say that a majority of people in the world are mad
as hell at what's going on. They can sense that it ain't just
communism that's died, but capitalism, but I notice people from all
sides comparing the current state of America with the fall of
Rome, and to that degree they're right. But then some people want to
answer it by joining militias or blowing up abortion clinics or
wiping out affirmative action so Whitey can keep control, while
people in other parts of the world want to try and reign in the
corrupt corporate greed that's allowed everything from pollution to
Aids and racism spread. I think that there's a commom thread
where anybody from a Jesse Jackson to a Rush Limbaugh to an
underground band can tap into that anger, it just depends on what
they do with it. What I'm getting at is that the people have to
decide what's really important and be willing to work together with
people they don't agree on a lot of other things with in order to
get key problems even worked on. We have to decide on what's really
important and communicate that to people from other walks of
life. It's important that artists, musicians, film
makers, painters, poets, and journalists be more conscious of trying
to get information out that's being suppressed by the sugar-coated
corporate media, while the looting of the savings and loans is a
bigger scandal than OJ. I opted for trying to cram more suppressed
information in my work after I noticed how people responded to my
spoken word piece, "Why I'm Glad the Space Shuttle Blew Up." When I
noticed people were responding more to the supressed information
and my trademark wicked humor I aimed the shows more in that
direction. Rather than trying to cast myself as a poet or a great
writer, I'm more of a commentator and hopefully a shit stirrer.
What causes do you actively support?
Anybody who is constructively fighting the drug war like Families
Against Mandatory Minimums, Drug Policy Foundation, even normal, and
direct action environmental groups like Earthfirst!, and Sea
Shepherd, and Human National, all the way on down to the Coalition
Against Police Abuse.
On beyond the valley of the gift police, you talk about how there
are so-called experts on everything, but you seem to be a bit of an
expert yourself.
That's why I also said in the piece, "don't believe anything I
say, if it strikes a raw nerve, get a second opinion - even if it
means paroting my opinion to another party just to see how they
respond." But then again, it's like Mikel Bored says, "I may change my
mind but I'm always right."
|
|
|
