SAN FRANCISCO — Former Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra, owner of record label Alternative Tentacles, hid discrepancies in royalty payments from his ex-bandmates, guitarist East Bay Ray said Friday (May 5).

"I felt that he was trying to cover up that he owed [royalty money], covering up to his partners," Ray said on Friday in Superior Court. But while on the stand in the third day of the band's civil trial against its former singer, Ray admitted that he, too, had made some accounting errors.

Ray (born Ray Pepperell), bassist Klaus Flouride (Geoffrey Lyall) and drummer D.H. Peligro (Darren Henley) are suing Biafra (Eric Reed Boucher) for allegedly mismanaging the band's royalties and catalog. Biafra is countersuing Ray, accusing him of mismanaging Decay Music, the bandmembers' four-man partnership responsible for distributing royalties and making band decisions.

Band-founded Alternative Tentacles, owned solely by Biafra since 1986, is responsible for promoting the group's catalog, which includes such songs as "California Uber Alles" (RealAudio excerpt).

Former Alternative Tentacles General Manager Kristen Von Till (born Kristen Lange) said she noticed in early 1998 that Decay had been receiving royalties based on a $10.98 retail price per CD, while other artists on the label were being paid based on an $11.98 retail price since 1989. Von Till said Biafra told her, "Ray couldn't find out about this discrepancy or Ray would go after him."

She said that she told Ray later that year about the discrepancy and then showed him records to back up her claims.

Biafra's attorney, John Stewart, accused Von Till of violating legal instructions and improperly sharing Alternative Tentacles documents with Ray, including royalty sheets for bands such as the Butthole Surfers and D.O.A. At the time, both sides in the dispute were under legal orders to communicate only through their lawyers.

Stewart pointed out accounting errors Ray had made in calculating the percentage of Decay's royalties he took for himself as payment for handling the partnership's business and accounting. Ray testified that he had not informed the other partners of his error for six or seven months. "I didn't know how to handle the [accounting] problem," Ray explained.

Former attorneys for both sides are expected to testify Monday.