Jeff Penalty has announced his departure as vocalist of the Dead Kennedys, a role that he assumed following the exit of Brandon Cruz in 2003. Here is what he had to say concerning his leaving:
It’s likely that, if asked, the band will attribute my departure to scheduling conflicts brought about by my documentary work, but in reality it’s a tediously long story involving personality conflicts, creative differences, arguments about splitting money equally, arguments about how the band should be run, arguments about the wisdom of hiring a band manager whose other star client was a Christian folk artist, arguments about whether we should or shouldn’t go on MTV, and arguments about many other wretched things. I thought about quitting numerous times over the past year, but I officially did so on Thanksgiving when I found out that the band had been recruiting a new singer behind my back and had even played a secret show with one at a bar in my neighborhood. It’s a sad turn of events for me because I was really proud of what we were able to accomplish with Dead Kennedys. Despite all the criticism, we took more of a principled stand on certain things than most people will ever know and we brought great music and a great message to a lot of audiences. I was glad that we ruffled a few feathers in the punk scene and I was amazed at the ability of their music and our performances to transcend scene politics and convert scores of non-believers. I will always think of it as an important and timely reunion both for the punk scene and for the world at large, and as a defining period of my life. So it’s upsetting for me personally to see that Ray and Klaus have finally become what they’ve always been accused of. It wasn’t always like this. My sincere thanks, and apologies, go out to the fans that supported my participation in the band. And Jello, you’ve been wrong about a lot of stuff, but you were certainly right about not trusting those guys...
