Photo Credit: Brett Padelford
In 1978, the rock band, Dead Kennedys, entered the music scene. Besides live album, which was released in 2019, the rock band has not released an album since 1987, a year after they announced their split, besides mixes of their older songs. Recently, it has been made aware of why the band has not gotten together to have a reunion. The guitarist for the band, East Bay Ray, whose real name is Raymond Pepperell, spoke about what has been preventing the band from getting together for a reunion. The obstacle that is getting in their way of a reunion is their very own frontman, Jello Biafra.
In 2001, the Dead Kennedys band reformed with Pepperell, bassist Klaus Flouride, and drummer D.H. Peligro. They replaced their original drummer, Ted, whose real name is Bruce Slesinger, in 1981. According to an article by NME, there was an interview with Pepperell who spoke on why a reunion has not taken place. “It’s not an issue for me or Klaus. It’s Biafra that turns down any offers for us to do something; we don’t have any problem,” said Pepperell. “He got caught with his hands in the till and wants to blame us for getting caught, but he should never have put his hands in there in the first place.” Biafra had some problems with the band and the Dead Kennedys accused Biafra of withholding royalties from them in a lawsuit back in 1998. Biafra lost the battle two years later and was required to pay his ex-bandmates the outstanding royalties and punitive damages.
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