Jello Biafra’s touching tribute to Dead Kennedys D.H. Peligro
Ex-frontman of the Dead Kennedys, Jello Biafra, has written a touching tribute to his late drummer, D.H. Peligro, who passed away last week. Biafra shared a moving eulogy on his Alternative Tentacles label’s website, in which he said his old friend was “unforgettably gifted”.
Biafra wrote: “He was not just our powerful unforgettable drummer. He was a gifted singer, songwriter, guitarist, and so much more. Even behind the drum kit, he had presence. All animal instinct, he never played anything quite the same way twice. He was a born showman.”
He related the first time he ever met Peligro in 1979, watching him play drums in a punk band by the name of SSI at a venue called the Deaf Club. He said Peligro was “a free-spirited African American force of nature with this shit-eating grin, a bandana on his head, and two kick drums singing his ass off to ‘Keep a Knockin’, even sounding like Little Richard.”
In 1981 the Dead Kennedys needed a new drummer and sought out that special drummer from the SSI show, as they had split up at some point before, disappearing off the scene. Biafra added: “Now we had more fire and feel than ever before, and the rest is history. He made the whole band 10 years younger, including all the damn carousing and pranks.”
Biafra noted a special bond that he had with Peligro; the two “laughed about a lot of stuff the other guys [in the band] didn’t.” Detailing further, he added: “We had our own unique bond,” Biafra said. He then closes out the eulogy with, “I hope Peligro is up there somewhere, getting his headbutts from Wesley [Willis] at last. Forever free from any hellrides from high fructose corn syrup.”
Evidently, Peligro was a well-respected and beloved member of the punk scene and will be forever missed.
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