An avid news watcher, one of his earliest memories was of the John F. Biafra says he has been a fan of rock music since first hearing it in , when his parents accidentally tuned in to a rock radio station. The Healers became infamous locally for their mainly improvised lyrics and avant garde music. In the autumn of that year, he began attending the University of California, Santa Cruz. He began performing with the band under the stage name Occupant, [14] but soon began to use his current stage name, a combination of the brand name Jell-O and the short-lived African state Biafra. The band's lyrics were written by Biafra.