The story began when the Melvins approached Jello Biafra with a proposal born of disgust at the shameless Dead Kennedys cash-in reunion tour. Their counteroffer? A tag-team assault on the American Way of Life, with the Melvins backing Jello on a tour of Dead Kennedys material. Jello had a better idea: rather than exhume the past, why not write something new? And just like that, a whole new beast crawled out of the primordial punk-rock swamp.