Here's the entry for the Feederz printed in The Rough Guide to Punk
by Al
Spicer. We should add that Ben Wah
is the present drummer when Frank is around:
"The simplest surrealist act consists
of going down the street, revolver in hand, and shooting at random into
the crowd..."
Andre Breton
Frank Discussion - Owner of US hardcore's
best-ever stage-name - gave a new definition to the phrase
"confrontational performer" when, backed by Art Nouveau (a.k.a. John
Vivier, drums, deceased) and Clear Bob (a.k.a. Dan Clark, bass) at the
first Feederz show, he whipped out an assault rifle and sprayed the
audience with gunfire. Granted he was using blanks, there were no
reported injuries and those who were there are still doubtless
retelling the tale - but, unforgettable thrill and blood-fizzing buzz
apart, it must have been the most frightening experience in punk rock
history.
It was a promising start to a career combining great
music with serious politics, refracted through the unique
anarcho-Situationist lenses through which Frank view the world. Coming
from the same prankster background as his friend Jello Biafra, Frank
Discussion's recordings and live appearances share the Dead Kennedys'
"once heard, never forgotten" approach to claiming and maintaining an
audience's attention. Having ditched the weaponry, Frank has been known
to perform shows with his head shaved to the scalp and decorated with
cockroaches glued - wriggling legs and antennae upwards - to his pate.
1980 saw the Feederz' first, best and most notorious
song challenge the freedom of speech statutes until it cracked at the
seams. "Jesus Entering From The Rear" is arguably the single most
blashphemous song ever written (although Crass's "Reality Asylum" might
just pip it at post), and it's certainly one of the funniest. Arizona
probably has laws forbidding that kind of thing, and with the added
fallout from another of his better pranks (he arranged for thousands of
students to receive official-looking documents announcing a fraudulent essay contest), Frank took his punk
rock, laced with a stew of influences ranging from Zappa to Beethoven
to San Francisco.
He left the original gang back in Arizona, picking
first on DH Peligro (who took over drums, though he also played with
the Dead Kennedys) and Mark Roderick/Rodriguez (bass) as his new
Feederz, ushering them into the studio to produce Ever Feel Like
Killing Your Boss?
(Flaming Banker, 1984) - an album more notorious for its
Situationist-style sandpaper cover, designed to rub up neighboring
products the wrong way, than for its tunes or the admirable sentiments
they conveyed. (A sample from the sleeve notes: Recording Music is
Ruining the Record Industry - Keep Up the Good Work.")
Frank fell into a routine of disappearing
periodically before resurfacing with an all-new Feederz line-up, while
continuing to spearhead their campaign to abolish society through
performance-punk and challenges to authority. Having twisted the tail
of Christianity with their first single, and discovered the fun to be
had with covers on their first album, the Feederz, now consisting of
Frank plus Jayed Scotti (timbale player - another member of both the
DKs and Feederz crew), took on the entire American people, together
with anyone who considered themselves to be of good taste with the
release of their second album, Teachers
in Space (1986), the cover of which showed a photo of the Challenger
space shuttle disaster
on the cover. Unsurprisingly, the album sold in the high dozens.
Frank kept the band actively irritating the powers
that be until 1987, when, sick of the whole affair, he retired from the
punk biz.
Frank was last definitively spotted in Seattle where having qualified
as a babalao - a Santeria high priest - he was magically bringing about
the end of society according to plan. After a series of gigs in the
Summer of 2004, he is currently rumoured to be in Mexico with the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
Ever Feel Like Killing Your Boss?
(Broken Rekids,
2002)
The CD reissue of the classic Feederz debut boasts the same
sandpaper-cover gimmick as the original vinyl album. The music, if the
obvious cliché can be forgiven, is equally abrasive. "Have You
Never Been Mellos" is the only Olivia Newton-John song the band ever
covered, for which she should be grateful, while "Jesus Entering From
The Rear" is as remarkable as ever.
Vandalism: Beautiful As A Rock In A
Cop's Face (Broken Rekids,
2002)
Frank Discussion's new material is just as offensive as the old stuff,
a refreshingly honest splash of water in a sea of warm piss. As for the
review, how about this God's-eye view from the Feederz site
(www.feederz.com): "When the idea occurred to me to create the
world, I foresaw that one day someone would make a recording as
revolting as Vandalism: Beautiful As A Rock In A Cop's Face.
Therefore,
I thought it better not to create the world." - God.