The name Green Jelly might ring a bell for rock and metal fans who were around back in the early ’90s. Indeed, the bizarre collective who perform what’s often called comedy rock had a hit in 1993 with “Three Little Pigs,” a heavy metal version of the classic fairytale.
Fast forward 28 years to this summer, and the group returns with its first new effort in over a decade, Garbage Band Kids.
The album arrives June 11 from Cleopatra Records. Details about the release emerged this week alongside the collection’s first single, “Punk Rock Pope.” But listeners have much more in store where the 17-track album is concerned — it’s sprinkled with guest spots from “Weird Al” Yankovic and members of Suicidal Tendencies, Fishbone, the Dwarves, Piledriver, Hacksaw Jim Duggin, Kittie, stars from Trailer Park Boys and Wink Martindale.
Earlier this month, Green Jelly revealed it was the Dwarves who helped “Punk Rock Pope” along. “Starting Wednesday, April 14th,” a Facebook update said, “the Green Jello ‘Punk Rock Pope’ song co-written with the punk rock legends the Dwarves will be the first single to be released to radio.”
The hyper-detailed album art for Garbage Band Kids (which, naturally, takes after the nostalgic Garbage Pail Kids trading cards) was inked by one of the creators of the original card series. And the artwork features illustrations for each song on the album — not a huge surprise for an act whose schtick has long been indebted to comic books and bold graphic styles.
Yet, that’s not all. The album will also contain an interactive component, as reported by Blabbermouth, which makes the album art “come to life” via 3D animation using the augmented reality app Artvive.
Garbage Band Kids is no ordinary album in how it was recorded, either. Green Jelly fans from around the world chipped in to help bring the effort together. “This is the first album in music history to be recorded by the fans, for the fans!” bandleader Bill Manspeaker said.
It appears that Garbage Band Kids also contains a re-recording of “Three Little Pigs.” Green Jelly (formerly Green Jello) haven’t released a studio album since 2009’s Music to Insult Your Intelligence By. Before that, they followed 1993’s Cereal Killer Soundtrack — the album that contains the band’s original “Three Little Pigs” — with 1994’s 333.
Pre-orders for Garbage Band Kids are available at cleopatrarecords.com. Listen to “Punk Rock Pope” and see the album cover and tracklisting below.
Keep up with each week’s new songs by following Loudwire’s ‘Weekly Wire’ Spotify playlist, featuring 50 tracks with updates each Friday afternoon.
Green Jelly, “Punk Rock Pope”
Green Jelly, Garbage Band Kids Artwork + Tracklist
1. “Pukebox”
2. “Silence of the Squarepants”
3. “Punk Rock Pope”
4. “Fuxk It”
5. “Boy Who Cried Wolf”
6. “Drinking Song”
7. “Back Alley Dentist”
8. “Champion”
9. “333”
10. “Hey Hey Hey”
11. “Beat My Meat”
12. “Weirdo” [CD only]
13. “Freetoe Feet” [CD only]
14. “Ballad of Green Jellÿ” [CD only]
15. “Three Little Pigs”
16. “Mægnus Ærena”
17. “Holyman Back” [CD only]
