******JELLO BIAFRA****** Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), better known by the stage name Jello Biafra, is an American punk rock musician and political activist best known as the former lead singer and song writer of the Dead Kennedys. After the band disbanded, he became a solo musician and spoken word artist, releasing several albums based on both careers on his record label, Alternative Tentacles. In his political life, he is an active member of the Green Party and participates in activism relating to his progressive political beliefs. He is a self-proclaimed anarchist, and advocates civil disobedience and pranksterism in the name of political change. Biafra is known to use absurdist media tactics in the tradition of the Yippies to highlight issues of civil rights, social justice, and anti-corporatism.
His stage name is a combination of the brand name Jell-O and the name of the short lived country of Biafra which attempted to secede from Nigeria in 1966. After four years of fighting and horrific starvation, Nigeria regained control of the nascent Biafran state. Jello Biafra created his name as an ironic combination of a nutritionally poor mass-produced food product and mass starvation. He said he likes how two ideas clash in people's minds.
******THE MELVINS****** The Melvins are an American rock band that usually perform as a trio. Singer/guitarist Buzz Osborne (aka "King Buzzo") and drummer Dale Crover are constant members, but several bass guitarists have been through the group. The band was named after a supervisor at the Thriftway in Montesano, Washington where Osborne served as a clerk (and vandal). Melvin was greatly despised, and the band's members felt it to be an appropriately ridiculous name.
The Melvins' music is influenced by Black Flag's My War era punk, slow rock acts like Flipper and Swans, and, most notably Black Sabbath-style metal, but their idiosyncratic approach, bizarre sense of humor, and experimentation make neat categorization difficult. The Melvins often favor very slow tempos, and their sludgey sound was a strong influence on grunge music, especially Nirvana and many other bands from Seattle. Their protegés, however, tended to use more conventional musical structures with this sound. The Melvins have influenced many doom metal bands, most explicitly Boris, who took their name from one of the Melvins' songs.
While never finding and probably never even seeking mainstream success, the Melvins have a dedicated cult following. They maintain an impressive schedule of new albums and tours, including two releases with former Dead Kennedys front man Jello Biafra. The band has been colloquially known as "Jelvins" during Biafra's tenure with the band. In appreciation of their devoted fans, the Melvins have released various collectables throughout the years. These have included two-headed dolls, an eight track tape, a plastic fetus in a jar, and a myriad of various posters, t-shirts and one-off fanzines.
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