The punk legend Jello Biafra has been hospitalised with a stroke, but is stable. He is well enough to comment about his condition on social media, anyway.
His record label Alternative Tentacles announced the news yesterday, saying that on Saturday, the ex-Dead Kennedy suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, caused by high blood pressure.
Biafra himself explained what happened: “I hopped out of my bed because I needed to pee, and my left leg just collapsed under me and I fell to the floor. I couldn’t even break the fall with my left arm because it wasn’t working either.
Article continues below"I tried to hop back up again, and I couldn’t. I realized I had ‘fallen and I can’t get up!’ It was at this point I thought, ‘Oh shit, I’m having a stroke!’”
He added: “I still have a lot of great stuff in me, but right now I gotta lotta of rehabbing to do.”
His label confirmed he is in a stable condition, adding: “We are all just very thankful he is OK and getting the care that he needs. We will update you all as we are able.”
Biafra (his real name is Eric Reed Boucher) made his name as the singer of the Dead Kennedys, the Bay Area band who were arguably the first of the wave of US punk bands that emerged in the wake of the Sex Pistols and the Clash.
With a harsher sound and uncompromising politics, the band were a huge influence not just on the next wave of punk bands but also Rage Against The Machine, Green Day and fellow San Franciscans Faith No More.
The band broke up in 1986, and Biafra went on to follow an esoteric career path encompassing numerous spoken word albums, acting and politics – he put himself forward as the Green Party candidate in the 2000 Presidential election but was beaten to the nomination by Ralph Nader.
There seems to be little chance of a Dead Kennedys reunion any time soon – Biafra and the ex-bandmates fell out amidst legal wrangling and allegations of withheld royalties some time back – but the singer still makes occasional appearances with other bands. Last year the 67-year-old singer guested with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard when they played the Kennedys’ old song Police Truck at the Field Of Vision festival in Buena Vista, Colorado.
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