Dissent stirs in the Dead Kennedy camp
Not surprisingly, the ever-irascible Jello Biafra hasn't reacted quietly to the news that his former Dead Kennedy bandmates have decided to take their ball -- or, rather, their entire back catalog -- and leave Alternative Tentacles, the label the band founded together in 1983 before Biafra took sole possession three years later.
"Their motive is sheer greed," Biafra said in a prepared statement, asserting that ex-mates guitarist East Bay Ray, bassist Klaus Flouride and drummer Darren Peligro's claims of underpaid royalties are without merit. "With some very wild claims and heavy-handed tactics, [they] are trying to destroy our label, hurt the other artists and our staff. This is an obvious ploy to manipulate and use the media to tarnish the good name of an honest record label."
While lawyers for the three ex-Kennedys claim that the parties have unsuccessfully tried to negotiate over finances for years, Biafra claims that Ray -- the band's de facto business manager -- refused to audit Alternative Tentacles' books at all. Biafra insists that the catalyst behind the action is -- and, coming from a diehard like him, this isn't too surprising -- big business, screwing the little guy yet again.
"Their mean-spirited attack traces back to my refusal to allow 'Holiday In Cambodia' to be used in a Levi's TV commercial -- for Dockers Khakis, no less," he says. "I respect how much Dead Kennedys' music and message means to people. I am very grateful people care so much about our albums after all these years. It means the world to me. I can think of no worse way to stab our fans in the back than to sell out to Levi's."
Lawyers for Biafra's bandmates have threatened to file suit against not only Alternative Tentacles, but the label's distributor, printers and the plants that press its CDs. Biafra -- no stranger to court battles, as evidenced by AT's frequent docket appearances over allegedly obscene releases -- has vowed to fight any suit.
DAVID SPRAGUE
