Ever wonder where some bands come up with their band names? Well, we do, and we’re sick of sitting around scratching our heads about it. We’re hitting the streets (aka. “Internet”) to find the origins behind some of the more bizarre, intriguing or just plain random band names in the scene. Every Wednesday we’ll be pulling the curtain back on a different musician and this week it’s San Francisco punk legend and orignal Dead Kennedys front-man Jello Biafra.
Eric Boucher AKA Jello Biafra chose his stage name by combining the brand name Jell-O and the name of the short lived country of Biafra, which attempted to secede from Nigeria in 1966. After four years of fighting and horrific starvation in Biafra, Nigeria regained control of the nascent Biafran state. Jello Biafra created his name as an ironic combination of a nutritionally poor mass-produced food product and mass starvation. He said he likes how two ideas clash in people’s minds.
Check out last week’s Band Name Origin story: Raised Fist