Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958) is more widely known by the stage name Jello Biafra. A punk rock musician, political activist and owner of an influential record label, he is best known for his time as the lead singer and song writer for San Francisco punk band, the Dead Kennedys. After his time with the band concluded, he continued as a musician in numerous collaborations and as a spoken word artist. Through his record label, Alternative Tentacles, he released many of his own recordings. Politically, he is a member of the Green Party and actively supports progressive political causes. He is a self-proclaimed anarchist who 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 in Biafra, 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. Read more at: http://www.last.fm/music/Jello+Biafra/+wiki. |