Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine
to release new album “White People and the Damage Done”
On April 2, Alternative Tentacles will release White People and the Damage Done, the new album from Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine (aka JB/GSM). Hot on the heels of the ferocious Shock-U-Py! EP, the world renowned voice and vision of DEAD KENNEDYS and long-standing punk rock innovator returns with bared teeth and an anti-austerity blast-a-thon of a record. Recorded in San Francisco with longtime producer Marshall Lawless and engineered and mixed by Matt Kelley (Del The Funkyhomosapien, Hieroglyphics), the second LP from BIAFRA and band takes punk fire in directions that few ever try and is the vocalist’s first concept record since DK’s 1985 album Frankenchrist. Mind-obliterating artwork from punk art surrealist Winston Smith (Dead Kennedys, The New Yorker, Green Day, George Carlin, VICE) visually augments the in-your-face viciousness of the recording. Nobody does it better. Nobody does it worse. Nobody does it at all.
Pioneering punk legends creating something new that actually matters doesn’t happen every day. Nowadays, it hardly ever happens at all. After 30 plus years, JELLO BIAFRA’s music and lyrics remain in a class of their own and his absurdist sense of humor, dedication to direct action and towering influence — both as a musician, spoken word artist and all-around prankster provocateur — continues to multiply by the minute. Few have cast a wider shadow. After witnessing Iggy and The Stooges perform on Iggy’s 60th birthday at the Warfield in San Francisco, BIAFRA is inspired to start a new band (for his own 50th birthday) and, soon after, JB/GSM was born.
Featuring ten tracks of wall-of-sound, one-of-a-kind heavy music and a handful of raging remixes, White People and the Damage Done is a lobotomizing cannon of a record that attacks corruption (“The Brown Lipstick Parade”, “Werewolves of Wall Street,” “Road Rage”) Corporate McMedia making pop stars out of small-time crooks to shield the big ones (“John Dillinger”) or tabloid pop stars to lobotomize everyone else (“Hollywood Goof Disease”). The album’s title track shines a light on our never-ending foreign policy disasters in ways even Jello’s spoken word albums never did. “Crapture” is the perfect song to play for those lovely End Times believers, pointing out how much better the world would be for everyone else left behind-replete with melodies on the scale BIAFRA hasn’t touched since “Moon Over Marin.” Biafra wrote all the songs and lyrics for the album, detailed in the record’s amazing double-sided collage poster / lyric sheet. White People and the Damage Done is not just an Age of Austerity album. It is THE Age of Austerity album!
In celebration of the record’s release, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine have been announced among the featured live acts at the 2013 Coachella Music and Arts Festival, performing April 12 and 19 alongside a diverse slate of acts. BIAFRA and the band will hit a slew of stages in and around the Coachella shows before launching a full scale tour of Australia, Europe and, of course ground zero for grand theft austerity, the United States!
Track Listing:
1.) The Brown Lipstick Parade
2.) John Dillinger
3.) Werewolves of Wall Street
4.) Road Rage
5.) Mid-East Peace Process
6.) Hollywood Goof Disease
7.) White People and the Damage Done
8.) Crapture
9.) Burgers of Wrath
10.) Shock-U-Py!
* Bonus Tracks:
11.) The Brown Lipstick Parade (Spit Valve BrASS Mix)
12.) Burgers of Wrath (Slight Rural Extension)
13.) Crapture (Flight F.I.N.A.L.Space Blast Extension)
14.) Shock-U-Py! (Soul Clap Mix)
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine U.S. tour dates:
April 12 Indio, CA Coachella Music and Arts Festival
April 13 Sacramento, CA Blue Lamp
April 14 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
April 16 San Luis Obispo, CA SLO Brew
April 17 Long Beach, CA Alex’s Bar
April 19 Indio, CA Coachella Music and Arts Festival April 20 Las Vegas, NV Country Saloon
April 21 Scottsdale, AZ Pub Rock
