Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine

Tea Party Revenge Porn (2020)

John Gentile

The paradox of the third album by Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School of Medicine is that while it’s their most timely album, the specifics mentioned here, which are very much anchored in the facts of the recent election, might make it the band’s most timeless album. Hell, even the title, Tea Party Revenge Porn references a movement that is all but dissolved- with the tea-baggers moving into the more dangerous “alt-right” territory.

All of this has Jello extremely fired up. Now nearing five decades of punk rock, Jello is as fierce, as cranked up, and as zealous as ever. His voice is in top form, for one thing. That classic Jello voice-dagger cuts through just like it did on Plastic Surgery Disasters. But, whereas old-school Jello would cloak song meanings in twisted metaphors- “Trust your mechanic” and “Stealing people’s mail” still cause the brow of many-a punk to furrow- here, the dude is explicitly literal and even provides sources to his strikes. “People with too much time on their hands” dissects the recent, scary phenomena of the Fox news (and even QAnon) echo chamber by looking at specific instances of facts being spun into sheer lies. (Punknews even gets a little bit of blast- what an honor!)

“We Created Putin” has what is essentially a history course outline describing the rise of Putin resulting from the end of the cold war and moving forward. Though, it is nice that despite the dour topic, Jello is still also having fun- when he calls out “ooo aooooo ooooohhh oooohhhh” mimicking a carton version of Russian folk songs, he sounds like the guards of the Wicked Witch’s castle. I also love the Zappa-ish reggae second half.

But, on the other end of the spectrum, “A boring day is what I need” finds Jello looking inward, lamenting that because the world is so fast these days- and because he has so many interests- he’ll never get to do most of the things that he wants to do. At once, it’s a sad reflection on the state of modern man, but it’s also a call to get up and get shit done. Jello mostly look outwards, but when he lets us inside his brain and heart, not only do we learn more about who he is, but we understand more about what he’s saying when he does go off on his wonderfully Biafriffic rants.

Jello’s enthusiasm has rubbed off on the band. That is, here, they rip like they’ve never ripped before. Previous GSM albums have rocked for sure, but here they are smashing at mach 11. Most of these tracks are jacked up hardcore punk, with plenty of speed and plenty of grit. Sometimes, the band rushes forward with so much thwomp it approaches thrash metal or even D-beat. Jello, in full on Biafra mode, has no problem keeping up, and rides the momentum like the end of Dr. Strangelove. The raw power is a great back bone here for when the band does deviate. The Roger Miller clomp at the beginning of “No More Selfies” is hilarious. The aforementioned reggae breakdown is one of the band’s most interesting moments to date. “The Last Big Gulp” is built around a ‘60s garage riff which may be a nod to Jello’s cherished Eric Burdon and the Animals.

So, because everything here is so anchored in the here and now, or maybe even in the Early November from this year, there is the risk of this album being yesterday’s news upon it’s very release- except, upon several spins, it doesn’t play out that way. Jello lays out, in methodical detail how Putin became Putin. He lays out methodical detail how Trump became Trump through media perversion. That is, these aren’t stories about what already happened. There’s are stories about what can happen again, and in many cases, what is happening now- but instead of just citing broad propositions, Jello supplies real examples to support his thesis, almost in an academic sense.

Art and academia are often seen as the opposites of each other. One is the soul and one is the mind. One is a feeling and one is a factual analysis. Like never before in his career, Jello binds the heart and the head together to make an argument that is as emotional as it is reasoned. In a way, the album feels like a culmination of Jello to date. His career has had a lot of artistic twists and turns, but this release is Jello at his most Jello. Plus it’s among his most rocking records, which is nice, too.