Jello Biafra And The Guantanamo School of Medicine Kick Off European Tour This Week and Announce West Coast Dates w/ Tool New Album, "The Audacity of Hype," Out Now on Alternative Tentacles Like many Americans, the outspoken punk legend has plenty to be angry about these days and he's venting those frustrations on his latest album, 'The Audacity of Hype' by Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine... As expected from Biafra, the album is full of driving punk with hard-hitting political messages. - Spinner.com Jello Biafra is one of the very few people living today who can honestly be called a musical pioneer. The importance of the Dead Kennedys cannot be overstated, and as that hardcore punk act's frontman and voice, Jello's words continue to influence generations of people worldwide dissatisfied with the status quo, whether that apply to the music scene or the socio-political climate. Fortunately, he continues to rail against the crimes inflicted by governments and corporations in his own unique way, whether it be through bitingly witty spoken word performances or those from his new band, The Guantanamo School of Medicine. Yet after all of these years, Jello still prides himself on not stagnating or repeating himself. - MetalSucks Biafra is a talent/personality that demands center stage and all of your attention. Which, as it turns out, is just fine, because he still has plenty to say. - Consequence of Sound Though many of Jello Biafra's "collaborations" (Lard, No WTO Combo, Tumor Circus, records with Melvins, DOA, Nomeansno, Mojo Nixon) would have been called solo albums by other artists, this is his first full-time working band since Dead Kennedys, and it shows. Also on board are Ralph Spight (Victims Family, Freak Accident, Hellworms) Jon Weiss (Sharkbait, Horsey), Billy Gould (Faith No More), Kimo Ball (Freak Accident, Carneyball Johnson, Mol Triffid, Griddle). 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 The Stooges gig on Iggy Pop's 60th birthday gig 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. After cramming rehearsal for a month the four piece band called themselves Jello Biafra and the Axis Of Merry Evildoers! The band, which featured Jello, Billy Gould, Ralph Spight, Jon Weiss, took the stage in a sold-out 2-night stand at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall. Flush from that exhilarating triumph, the band did 9 months of rehearsal writing, and added ace guitarist Kimo Ball. This led to the recording of "The Audacity of Hype." Now christened Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School of Medicine, the band's record was produced by Biafra and engineered by Hip Hop producer and long time Jello co-conspirator Matt Kelley (Hieroglyphics, The Coup, Digital Underground, Victims Family, Tumor Circus) at Prairie Sun Recording in Cotati, CA and San Francisco's Hyde Street Studios. The band's twin guitar attack retains some of the space-punk overtones and spy-music-on-meth chaos of Dead Kennedys while adding a healthy dose of Detroit style proto-punk, flavored with 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" (originally done by the No WTO Combo, Jello's one-off collaboration with Krist Novelselic (Nirvana) Kim Thayil (Soundgarden). "Clean As A Thistle" becomes more timely every day as "Family Values" blowhards from Sanford to Berlusconi 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 from glamour and sound bites 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, currently with Andrew Weiss (Ween, Rollins Band) filling the bass position upon Billy Gould's return to Faith No More. * All of the art on "The Audacity of Hype" comes courtesy of Shepard Fairey, with assistance from AT collaborator graphic artist John Yates. The in-your-face art is a parody of the famous Obama "HOPE" poster by Shepard Fairey himself. Watch a clip of Jello talking about the band's debut album here, <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103486448510&s=4636&e=001vR0_NVov0x8fwPB1qFgB Llab22VRT9qg8xDvvorsU0VIj0amGyffldofW_EKxTl5USjNA0ukXmHyuiyvIsI4X8vde6FAVssa aNUOQBhMw5BGQBotklXJGj_Dn-PBmW0QB97Zh3ghZwqfr6mG2IKsdZ2f53PXc7lnWYKjYj_iWWfN if052m6PpA==> and check out a slew of rough versions of the songs below on the Guantanamo Myspace page! <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103486448510&s=4636&e=001vR0_NVov0x_OCuk0ZwWm BCgjZcuV8oBQk93hByAhOZAEEDt3vsuUMV_FFWaLPhQbGOiw_q88LvkUp3WI2GNXhXT_Z0Nk1_82 bk875AmbfHcPidNE9ryVVKYZ2HUtbcyx6UnYjpt8WlQ=> * photo by Elizabeth Sloan The Audacity of Hype Tracklist 1. The Terror of Tinytown 2. Clean As A Thistle 3. New Feudalism 4. Panic Land 5. Electronic Plantation 6. Three Strikes 7. Strength Through Shopping 8. Pets Eat Their Master 9. I Won't Give Up Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School of Medicine Live! Europe 6/17/2010 West Coast Riot Fest Goteberg, Sweden 6/18/2010 Provinsi Rock Festival Provinsi, Finland 6/21/2010 Forte Prenestino Rome, Italy 6/23/2010 Gagarin 205 Athens, Greece 6/25/2010 Batschkapp Frankfurt, Germany 6/26/2010 Vainstream Festival Dortmund, Germany 6/27/2010 Fusion Festival Lärz, Germany 6/28/2010 Faust Hannover, Germany 6/30/2010 Love and Peace Festival Borganäsvägen 39 784 33 Borlänge, Sweden 7/01/2010 Dekrompresja Lodz, Poland 7/03/2010 Sklab Festival Trbovje, Slovenia 7/04/2010 Arena Vienna, Austria 7/05/2010 Rock For People Festival Czech Republic North America 7/12/2010 S.F. Civic Auditorium San Francisco, CA w/ Tool 7/13/2010 Arco Arena Sacramento, CA w/ Tool 7/18/2010 Quebec Imperial Theatre Quebec City, Quebec, Canada w/ GBH 7/20/2010 The Paragon Theatre Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada 8/14/2010 Great American Music Hall San Francisco, CA
