LOST CLASSICS: Dead Kennedys

EAST BAY RAY TAKES US INSIDE THE MAKING OF THE SAN FRAN PUNKS' CLASSIC 1980 ALBUM, FRESH FRUIT FOR ROTTING VEGETABLES

- Mark McStea

WHEN CALIFORNIA PUNKS Dead Kennedys released their debut album, 1980's Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, they'd already scored a hit single in the U.K. the previous year with “California Über Alles.” Riding high on the optimism that overseas success had brought them, the band was determined to capitalize on its momentum, putting in hours of pre-production time in rehearsals prior to going into the studio. Their labors were rewarded, with Fresh Fruit... garnering favorable reviews in the press and charting around the world, though not in the U.S., which was always more resistant to the charms of the early punk bands.

The band split in 1986, with always controversial singer, Jello Biafra, going on to release a number of spoken-word albums and popping up on talk shows espousing his left-of-center political beliefs. The remaining band members — guitarist East Bay Ray, bass player Klaus Flouride and drummer D.H. Peligro — reformed with a new singer, Brandon Cruz, in 2001. Cruz left after a couple of years, but the band has continued to tour up to the present day, with a number of different singers. Nowadays, Ray and Flouride are the only remaining original members. Ray is proud of the band's legacy, and is delighted to look back over one of American punk's seminal albums.

Were you already playing the songs from Fresh Fruit... live before going into the studio, and did they change much during the recording process?

Yes, but we did pre-production rehearsals. As I was essentially producing, I had sheets with info about where overdubs would go and what was supposed to happen in certain places. So we knew what we were going to do when we got into the studio, which meant it was a fairly quick process to make the record. We did the whole album, including the mixing, for $6,000.

What was your process in terms of layering guitar parts?