Jello Biafra And The Guantanamo School Of Medicine – White People And The Damage Done

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jello-biafra-and-the-guantanamo-school-of-medicine-white-people-and-the-damage-doneJello Biafra, one of the original poster boys of American Punk, is back, and pissed as ever. The former Dead Kennedys man old has gone back to his roots, ditched the spoken word approach, and unleashed all his rage in a 50- minute ball of pure classic punk.

Released on his own Alternative Tentacle’s label, White People And The Damage Done is Biafra’s and his Guantanamo School Of Medicine cohorts’ second album, following on from 2009’s Audacity Of Hype. Across the album’s ten tracks, Biafra takes to the soap box to rant about everything that riles him; celebrity culture (‘Hollywood Goof Disease’), Wall Street (‘Werewolves Of Wall Street’), foreign policy (‘Mid-East Peace Process’) consumer culture, the Occupy movement and pretty much every other aspect of modern life.

The school members,Ralph Spight, Kimo Ball, Andrew Weiss and Della Pelle provide a great backdrop for Jello to work his lyrical magic. From Hardcore of ‘Road Rage’ to the almost pyschobilly of ‘Brown Lipstick Parade’, Surf rock (‘Burgers Of Wrath’) and everything in between, they provide a simple but effective sonic protest.

Throughout, Jello’s lyrics are a constant joy, from the astute ‘What has Charlie Sheen done now?’ to the beautiful ‘What on Earth is a Kardashian? It certainly shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce!’, or the wondrously astute: “Republicans stand for- Greed, corruption, bigotry and war While Democrats Pretend to feel guilty about Greed, corruption, bigotry and war,” each line is delivered with a mix of bile and a sly smile.

In a long and varied career, Biafra can be proud of his latest offering. It’s raw, infectious and oozing his ever-present sardonic sense of humour. All in all, it’s another slab of quality old-school punk fury. There’s plenty of shitty things to get worked up about in today’s shitty world, and JB & the GSM are just the soundtrack to get pissed off to.

While the object of anger may change, Punk doesn’t. White People And The Damage Done is about as subtle a brick; it’s not particularly big, or clever, or massively original, but it’s still damn good fun. If you’re angry about the world, get it.

8/10

Dan Swinhoe

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