The Dead Kennedys, the hardcore punk rockers behind Holiday in Cambodia and Let's Lynch the Landlord, perform in Victoria on Monday.
Though frontman Jello Biafra left the influential group when it disbanded in 1986, original members have continued to rock stages since reforming in 2001. Guitarist East Bay Ray and bassist Klaus Flouride play Club 9ONE9 with drummer D.H. Peligro, who joined in 1981. Lead vocalist Ron "Skip" Greer, formerly of Wynona Riders, filled Biafra's role following a string of others in 2008.
Tickets are $25 at Lyle's Place, Ditch Records and the Strathcona Hotel front desk. The show starts at 10 p.m. and also features local garage punk band The Stockers as the opening act.
The Dead Kennedys formed in 1978, when Ray posted an ad looking for bandmates in a San Francisco music paper. They gained a following through early perfomances at Mabuhay Gardens, a.k.a. "Fab Mab," a Filipino restaurant in the city's North Beach area and punkmusic petri dish.
Biafra's songwriting was scathing and satirical. The group's 1979 self-released single California Ãber Alles seemed to strike a chord with listeners disenchanted with the status quo, in its biting attack on then-governor of California Jerry Brown.
It also sparked a Dead Kennedys fanbase across the pond, making it among the first American hardcore bands to break the U.K. market.
Debut and definitive LP Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables confirmed the Dead Kennedys' grip in 1980 with witty and thought-provoking singles such as Kill the Poor and Too Drunk to F--k, delivered with a loud punch.
The Dead Kennedys disbanded in 1986 following an obscenity trial. In 1998, Biafra's ex-bandmates sued him and his label for unpaid royalties.
When the group reformed sans Biafra, they re-issued several albums as well as new archival concert DVDs. They've cycled through a few frontmen since Biafra and began performing new material in 2010, including the single You're Such a Fake.
The group has yet to release a full-length album of new material since 1986's Bedtime for Democracy, although Ray and his new band (including Greer) put out a self-titled debut, East Bay Ray and The Killer Smiles, in 2011.
In an interview with Rolling Stone that year, Ray called Greer's songwriting style closer to poetry and the "personal political," compared with Biafra's "regular political" and journalistic songs.
