Former Dead Kennedys lead singer Jello Biafra started Alternative Tentacles in 1979 expressly to put out music by the seminal SF punk band prior to their disintegration in 1986 after the DKs highly publicized obscenity trial. By then, the label became a cornerstone of the burgeoning underground punk scene. The imprint issued such important compilations as 'Not So Quiet On the Western Front' and 'Let Them Eat Jellybeans' while also providing an artist-friendly home for such unorthodox outfits as NoMeansNo, Neurosis and Wesley Willis.

While Biafra has remained active on the local scene through the label, the inflammatory political and social commentary of his spoken word recordings have made up a majority of his recorded releases over the last couple decades Though he has embarked on the odd musical collaboration with the likes of Mojo Nixon, Canadian punks D.O.A., Ministry founder Al Jourgenson and more recent collaborations with veteran sludge-rock outfit The Melvins, for the three-day Alternative Tentacles 30th Anniversary Incest-A-Thon at the Great American Music Hall he showcases his first full-time band project since the demise of the Dead Kennedys over 20 years ago.

Inspired by seeing proto-punk legend Iggy Pop tear up the stage at the Warfield on his 60th birthday when playing with The Stooges in 2007, the longtime champion of subversive sounds decided he'd better make a good showing when he celebrated his 50th birthday. In June of last year, Biafra debut the new group, then called The Axis of Merry Evildoers, that features local luminaries Ralph Spight (Victims Family, Freak Accident) on guitar, Billy Gould (Faith No More) on bass, and Jon Weiss (Sharkbait, Horsey) on drums.

The group scorched audiences with its venomous intensity at live performances around the Bay Area over the past year. While Gould has since departed to focus on Faith No More’s current reunion tour, the Jello and company have soldiered on under the new name Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School of Medicine with drummer Jon’s brother Andrew Weiss (Rollins Band, Ween, Butthole Surfers) taking over on bass and the addition of Kimo Ball (Freak Accident, Carneyball Johnson, Mol Triffid) on second guitar. The band’s stellar debut ‘The Audacity of Hype’ echoes the caustic surf-tinged punk and incendiary socio-political commentary Biafra made with the DKs, but also embraces more experimental sonic elements and a metallic edge courtesy of Spight and Ball’s twin-guitar attack.

For the Alternative Tentacles Incest-A-Thon, Jello and the band will headline each night while sharing the stage with a wide variety of current AT artists. On Thursday, the band is joined by radical punk outfit Citizen Fish , metal/crust/punk group Star @%#ing Hipsters and iconic Las Vegas hardcore band MIA. Friday features the most diverse line-up with SF black metallers Ludicra, the debut Bay Area set from twisted gothic country/bluegrass maestro Munly (Slim Cessna’s Auto Club) and his new project The Lupercalians, and costumed Christian garage-rock band Knights of the New Crusade. Saturday night offers up longtime alt-rock favorites and NYC experimental punks Alice Donut, local math-punk legends Victims Family (reportedly performing every song from their classic 1990 album ‘White Bread Blues’), and Bakersfield deathrock outfit Burning Image.

Alternative Tentacles 30th Anniversary Incest-A-Thon
Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 5-7, 9 p.m. $20 (three-day pass $50)
Great American Music Hall