Geoffrey Lyall (born May 30, 1949), better known as Klaus Flouride, is an American musician best known as the bassist and backing vocalist for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys. Early life Lyall was born in Detroit, Michigan to Bryce Lyall and Louise Robbins Lyall. As a child, he was fascinated by records, and the music hidden in their grooves and started collecting records at age seven. During the Great Depression, his father had played saxophone and banjo in New Orleans speakeasys, and from an early age Klaus had access to his parents' wide-ranging record collection. His older brother and sister began introducing him to rock when they were in middle and high school, with his brother introducing him to Elvis Presley, his sister introducing him to Little Richard, and both introducing him to Jerry Lee Lewis. At age 8, After seeing Buddy Holly on the Ed Sullivan Show, his parents bought him his first Stella guitar after his continuous insistence. He started learning to read music, but the guitar was unmanageable for his small hands. His guitar teacher declared to his parents that he would never learn to play. At age 13, he moved to a Gibson and started another serious attempt at learning to play it. At age 14, he formed his first band, a surf group called The Woodsmen; his first real band was The Liberators. Career Flouride moved to Boston in 1967, where he bought his first bass to play in a power trio named Thursday Parade. He briefly played with singer Billy Squier in Magic Terry & The Universe. He moved between Boston and New York City for the next few years, playing concerts ranging from solo performances to R&B and blues bands. He became involved in punk rock after moving to San Francisco in 1977 and spending time at the Mabuhay Gardens. He joined Dead Kennedys after answering East Bay Ray's ad in a local music magazine. He played on all their records, and co-wrote many of their songs. Flouride began working on a solo album following the release of Dead Kennedys' second album, 1982's Plastic Surgery Disasters, coming out with the 12" single "Shortnin' Bread" (with "The Drowning Cowboy" as the B-Side) in 1982 and the EP Cha Cha Cha With Mr. Flouride in 1985. After Dead Kennedys broke up in 1986, Flouride concentrated on his solo career, releasing Because I