Many people know that sinking feeling that comes on every time an album you vividly remember buying on release day hits a major anniversary.
Personally, I’m not a fan of that feeling. But at the very least, it’s a reminder to play it front to back, and to play it loud.
Playing their landmark album Hardcore ‘81 in its entirety, with some greatest hits thrown in, Canadian punk legends D.O.A. hit The Queens Nightclub on June 15.
With a career spanning more than 40 years, D.O.A. has released 18 studio albums, sold more than one million copies, and performed more than 4,500 shows across five different continents. Fronted by “Godfather of Punk” Joe Keithley, more commonly known as 'Joey Shithead', D.O.A. continues to play loud and call for change. He's also a city councillor in Burnaby, B.C.
High school-aged me wouldn’t believe it, but current-aged me had the opportunity to ask Joe a few questions about the band, the album, politics, and more, but here goes...
RV: What is the D.O.A. brand?
JK: The D.O.A. brand has always been “Talk Minus Action Equals Zero.” We try and live by that. If you want something changed, take action. I can’t tell you what that action is, but do it.
I think the legacy of D.O.A. is being pioneers of punk rock. We were the first band to get behind the iron curtain and play in Poland in 1984. How we got there started with a guy in Poland who wrote us a letter asking us to come and play. Another major tour stop
took us to China in 2009.
You have to be adventurous. Go play!
RV: Forty years in, have there been any good changes that you’ve experienced and any that aren’t so good?
JK: When I started out, we were fighting against racism, sexism, warmongers, and greed. Forty-three years later, we’re still fighting against the same things. It doesn’t feel like a lot of progress. When D.O.A. started, we thought we were maybe entering a grace period.
The Vietnam War ended a few years earlier, people were talking about weapons control, Pierre Trudeau opened the doors to talk with China, but now we’re here.
Nothing sticks out as a great improvement. Vinyl coming back is cool — it’s the best way to listen to music.
RV: Are there similarities in your approach to being a musician and being a politician?
JK: Yeah, basically I take the same approach to politics that I do with D.O.A. Stick to your guns and fight for what you believe in. When I’m at the council table, I have my hair combed and I’m wearing a suit, which some people don’t like, but the spirit is the same.
Some people called me a cultural politician and now I’ve become an actual politician.
Regardless of what I’m doing, there are three things I wanted to do with my life: 1. Change the world. 2. Play loud, obnoxious punk rock. 3. Have a lot of fun doing it.
I originally planned on being a civil rights lawyer. I lasted one semester at Simon Fraser University and then I joined a punk band.
The civil rights movements of the '60s and '70s were very inspiring and I wanted to keep that feeling with me and put it into the music. Thirty years after I started, I realized that the music my sister played all the time — like Bob Dylan, The Weavers and Pete Seeger — it was the spirit of their music that stuck with me. Especially Seeger.
RV: Released in 1981, Hardcore ‘81 was a landmark album for many reasons, but why do you think it hit as hard as it did and eventually won the CBC Polaris Award for ‘One of Canada’s Greatest Albums of All Time’?
JK: We wrote that record at the perfect time. It was fun, obnoxious and honest — all the things we wanted to be. A friend of mine said that I used the term "hardcore" in an interview earlier and our manager suggested that we lean into the term and use it as an album title.
It pushed the term into the popular vernacular and gave bands some new space to be creative. The success of the album led to us putting on the first hardcore festival in Vancouver with Black Flag.
RV: You’re credited with coining the term ‘hardcore’ as a genre. What criteria is there to be considered hardcore?
JK: To me, it's the uncompromising attitude. It’s straightforward. Hardcore is about saying, “this is what we believe in and this is what we are going to do to elicit change.”
Now, the term has taken on a life of its own and means something different to everyone.
RV: Why is it important to play or listen to Hardcore ‘81 front to back?
JK: I think it's the energy that’s in it. The humour and the spontaneity are real. When it was being remastered, I would listen to it and still think, “Hey, this is pretty good."
Sometimes, you get tired of listening to the same tracks during the recording process and it can be hard to go back and listen to them. But not with Hardcore ‘81. It’s a peak, for sure.
RV: What other albums would you consider peak albums?
JK: That whole era up to ‘84 was so much fun, before things were too polished or overly produced. It was raw, spontaneous and fun. A few albums that really capture that spirit are Group Sex by Circle Jerks, The First Four Years by Black Flag, and The Clash’s
first album.
RV: Not to jinx it, but D.O.A. is the band that never seems to stop touring. Do you still experience new things on the road?
JK: Yeah. We were coming back from Vegas and our GPS took us through a national park on a dirt road and had a very Donner family feel about it. We joked that our fate would be the same as theirs if our van broke down.
The big thing with D.O.A. is that we want to come out where you are, play and drive people out of their minds.
RV: Is there anything in particular that would make you stop touring?
JK: Probably not. Eventually, I won’t be able to physically get out and tour, but I think that’s still a good 10 years away… I hope. If it's fun, I’ll do it. I’ll know it's over when I walk into a venue and no one is there.
At that point, I’ll probably say “well, I had a good run” and that will be it.
D.O.A. plays The Queens Nightclub, located in downtown Barrie at 94 Dunlop St. E., on Wednesday, June 15 at 7 p.m. They are supported by Toronto punk band Pkew Pkew Pkew and Barrie’s own Overcrook. Tickets can be bought by clicking here.
ARE YOU READY FOR MORE?
June is chock full of musical offerings from all across Canada making stops in our city. Here's a sampling...
Renowned fiddle player, piano player and step dancer, Ashley MacIsaac will be performing at the Temple Lounge at Donaleigh’s on June 16.
Pushing the traditional stylings of Celtic music to new frontiers, MacIsaac’s style has been heard across the world including the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic opening ceremonies, The Conan O’Brien Show, The Today Show and The Late Show with David Letterman.
Have you ever seen someone absolutely shred on the fiddle? No? Then come experience the best there is. Don’t miss one of Canada’s greatest live performers. Click here to buy your tickets.
Hailing from Vancouver, SVNEATR bring their distinctive brand of booming progressive black metal to The Queens Hotel on June 21st as part if their cross Canada tour. Describing their music as “the sound of nature screaming back at you,” SVNEATER have received rave reviews from around the world for their most recent album, Chinook.
SVNEATER shares the bill with Dead Beyond Fear (Barrie) and It Cometh (Newmarket). For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.
