"The guy on the corner begging for food doesn't care if Green Day sold out. He wants a place to sleep and some money for food. The world does not revolve around punk. But apply that kind of rebel ethic into expanding to life beyond punk, and being prepared for a time when we too may have to be fighting government clamp downs the way people in the old Eastern Block countries did." Thus spoke Jello Biafra last fall at The LAB, A San Francisco art gallery. He was part of a panel discussing "21st Century Punk Principles and Ethics." Since punk's conception, it's been tabloid topics like Sid Vicious, mosh pits, and Kurt Cobain's personal problems that have gotten all the publicity. But Jello was discussing punk as a positive force for political and social change. His lack of bitterness was intoxicating.
If anyone has a right to be bitter it would be Jello Biafra. The prankster, cultural terrorist, and ex-Dead Kennedy has been attacked, both physically and legally, for his beliefs. But Jello is undaunted and enthusiastic. He tours the continent not to play music, but to talk with people about censorship, economics, education, Bill Clinton, and death-row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. He is currently mixing his latest spoken word CD, "If Evolution is Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Evolve," which will be released at the end of October. Jello took a few moments off from an extremely busy schedule to share his fin-de-sihcle thoughts.
At one of your recent spoken word shows I noticed that all your notes were written on re-cycled flyers. That stuck me as being a very personal, grass roots political act.
Jello: One great way to save paper, especially in law offices, is just to write on the other side of it. And we get so much extra paper [at Alternative Tentacles, Biafra's record company] from bands sending huge press kits that no one is going to read.
Is music irrelevant today the way it was before punk rock broke out in the '70s?
Jello: This is the best period for music I've ever been in. The reason is that even though some music has gotten bad, every good, every cool form of music is in print right now. People have a lot more to chose from. If you're not into the current punk you can go listen to older punk, or better yet, support more underground bands who are trying to do something a little more in line with your view.
Your spoken word performances are, obviously, completely different from hearing you sing, but at the same time they're still very punk.
Jello: It has to do with attitude. The punk attitude as I see it, is to fuck shit up in a cool way.
In the future, will punk be more influential as music or as a form of social criticism?
Jello: I think it'll be both. It depends on the person. Everybody has gotta start somewhere. Some of the most militant people from the later punk scene started off listening to Clash albums. And the Clash were a very obedient major-label, wannabe-rock-star band that happened to have political lyrics. But, yes, even that helped start some fires.
Has what you've done inspired people to get politically active in the real world?
Jello: A good example would be Jason Kirkpatrick up in Aracada [California], who started out writing me what could almost be called fan letters and sending me weird news clippings, and now he's responsible for the first Green Party majority on any city council in the United States. He ran as a Green, partly inspired by my [San Francisco] mayor campaign. It's one thing to do an insurgent mayor campaign, but in this case he actually won.
Ever think about running for election again yourself?
Jello: I've toyed with it at times but I think that in my case I have a wider impact as an artist. If I was stuck in a political office in one area, my music and ideas wouldn't have trickled all the way across the Iron Curtain, and even a little bit into the Islamic world now.
At The LAB panel you talked about the "black market culture network" of zines, and now the internet, as an important alternate source of news.
Jello: I think the internet is a good thing and should be regulated as little as possible. With that comes the responsibility not to be stupid with it. That means not to automatically believe every damn thing you see on the internet. Sift through what's there and find out what's really the truth. Last fall there was a hot debate going on about the gruesome details of my recent shooting death.
