Dead Kennedys‘ former frontman Jello Biafra has been hospitalised after suffering a stroke.
The 67-year-old punk legend was taken to hospital on Saturday (March 7) after he came down with a hemorrhagic stroke caused by high blood pressure.
In a statement via his record label Alternative Tentacles on Instagram, Biafra said: ”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. I tried to hop back up again, and I couldn’t. I realized I had ‘fallen and I can’t get up!’ It was 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 that he is still in hospital but he is stable.
“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,” his label added.
Biafra left the Dead Kennedys in 1986 and has not been part of recent line-ups, with guitarist East Bay Ray recently saying: “It’s Biafra that turns down any offers for us to do something; we don’t have any problem. 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.”
Dead Kennedys had accused Biafra of withholding royalties in a lawsuit back in 1998. Biafra lost the legal battle two years later, and was required to pay his ex-bandmates outstanding royalties and punitive damages.
Additionally, he was also forced to hand over the rights to the majority of Dead Kennedys’ back catalogue. This allowed the remaining members to reissue past albums, including a 2022 re-release of their debut record ‘Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables’. According to Biafra, this was done “intentionally” behind his back.
The musician (real name Raymond Pepperell) co-founded the San Francisco punk outfit back in 1978.
Last summer he joined King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard for a cover of Dead Kennedys’ ‘Police Truck’ at the Field Of Vision festival in Buena Vista, Colorado.
The track was first released in 1980 as the B-side to the classic Dead Kennedys single ‘Holiday In Cambodia’.