From San Francisco Examiner, April 18, 2000, A-1 & A-16. Dead Kennedys' Legal Feud Former punk band mates sue Jello
Biafra; each side accuses other of selling out by Peter Hartlaub After spending 1979 to 1986 as the Bay
Area's most notorious punk-rock band, members of the Dead Kennedys have conformed to a practice associated with the most commercial groups of the
era:
Hauling your former bandmates into court. A 2-year-old fight over the band's legacy is scheduled for trial this week as jury selection begins
in Dead Kennedys v. Jello Biafra. In his own suit, Kennedys singer-songwriter Biafra claims his former band mates tried to hijack his record label, Alternative
Tentacles, after he refused to sell the Dead Kennedys song "Holiday in Cambodia" to Levi's for a TV ad. The three other members - guitarist East Bay Ray, bassist Klaus Flouride, and
drummer D.H. Peligro - deny those allegations, claiming Biafra has been using profits from the band's records to support his post-Kennedy's career as a spoken-word artist. They also want $75,000 in Dead Kennedys
royalties. The resulting legal battle has generated encyclopedic volumes of paper work that have to be wheeled in and out of the courtroom on a cart. The latest round of settlement
talks failed in December, with both sides agreeing to put the fate in the hands of 12 San Francisco jurors. "It's been emotionally devastating." Biafra said, before speaking against
the World Trade Organization at a Monday demonstration. "The whole thing has pretty much wasted two years of my life." Long, ugly legal battles have been commonplace among members
of 70's and 80's arena rock bands such as Yes and Motley Crue. What makes the Dead Kennedys different is their dedication from their inception not to get sucked into the
exploited-artist, attorney-infested world of corporate music. Their record company was named with that industry in mind, set up to be an alternative to the tentacles of the major
labels, according to court papers. Now, more than a decade after they last played together, both sides have lofted the worst insult in the world of punk rock: accusing the other of
selling out. Biafra's take: "They basically want to force me into corporate prostitution, so they can put music that I wrote into TV
commercials for corporations I'm here protesting today," Biafra said, "then have me take all the blame while they sit on their asses in suburbia and count dollar bills."
Ray, Flouride and Peligro's take: "We think Biafra's acting like a capitalist in the worst sense of the word," Ray said, in a Monday interview from his East
Bay home. "He may not be a corporation, but he certainly knows how to act like one." The Dead Kennedy's put out five studio albums over seven years under the San Francisco-based
Alternative Tentacles label. The good, the bad Since the group broke up in 1986, the label has produced Biafra's side projects and spoken-word albums, along with
scores of bands good and bad, all of which never reached the fame or sales of the Dead Kennedys. Ray, Flouride and Peligro sued in October 1998, claiming Biafra shortchanged them on
royalties and mismanaged Alternative Tentacles, using the label's resources to promote no-name bands when he should have been supproting the Kennedys catalog. Biafra, who lost a
race for San Francisco mayor and is a current Green Party presidential candidate, followed with a lawsuit accusing the band of retaliating after he vetoed the use of "Holiday in Cambodia" in a commercial for Dockers
pants. Court papers filed by Biafra's attorney, John K.Stewart, explain that Biafra declined because he was "still adamantly opposed to such commercial expolitation and concerned
particularly about certain alleged labor practices of Levi's." David Given, attorney for Ray, Flouride and Peligro, said one of his clients received a call from Levi's, but the
issue had never gone any further. "That's a complete and utter smoke screen," Given said. Alternative Tentacles has continued to manufacture
Dead Kennedys records, even though the cash flow stopped 20 months ago. Since the lawsuits were filed, the label's distributor has deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars of proceeds from Kennedys albums into an
interest-bearing account. No boredom in sight No matter who wins the court fight, the money should be released soon. Jury selection in the case could start
Tuesday. Lawyers say the trial will take no more than three weeks, and will rarely be boring. Among those on the expert witness list is the band Offspring's front man, Bryan
"Dexter" Holland, who will be paid $250 per hour for his testimony, court records state. Reprise Records President Howard Klein also is on the witness list. After the trial, band
members expect to go their separate ways. Lawsuits between members of the bands Yes and Motley Crue led to the groups' reuniting, but both sides of the Dead Kennedys dispute have
indicated that won't happen soon. "I've got better things to do with my life," Biafra said. "Why on earth would I want to re-form a band with people who sue me?"
Ray expects the band's songs will endure the legal fight. "The music," he said, "will outlive all this." |
