A quarter century of punk

By Dan Hilborn
Published Dec. 17, 2003



Twenty-five years, 3,000 shows, 500,000 records sold ... Who would have thought that an unruly young kid from north Burnaby would grow up to lead one of most successful punk rock acts in the world?

This fall, Joey Keithley, best known by his stage name Joey Shithead, is celebrating a quarter century as probably the best known punk rocker in Canada with the release of a new CD and the publication of his autobiography.

I Shithead - A Life in Punk chronicles the tumultuous years of DOA, the hardcore rock band that is best known for its aggressive music and uncompromising political views.

"The book starts out when I was an idealist young kid and I got involved with my first demonstration against the nuclear testing at Kamchatka," said the man who is now a father of three. "Back then, I thought I was going to be a great civil rights lawyer, like Martin Luther King, but that job wasn't available."

Keithley discovered music at the age of 11. His first instrument was a $250 drum kit, and his first band, Lead Balloon, chickened out of the only show it was supposed to play.

When punk rock made its debut in Britain in 1977, Keithley and his beer-swilling friends knew they'd found something that would change their lives.

It was at a crowded party house on North Road where Keithley and his friends hung out, that the region's first official punk rock band, The Skulls, was formed.

Their first show was a freebie on the beach at White Rock alongside The Schmorgs, a group led by Art Bergmann, who later achieved reasonable success as a Canadian solo artist.

Keithley proved his business acumen early. When a fight forced the abrupt end of that first show, Keithley called The Province newspaper music critic Tom Harrison and described a punk rock riot in the suburbs. Keithley had his first headlines, and a new musical phenomenon was born.

Right from the start, Keithley and DOA had a reputation as one of the hardest working bands in rock. By the time their first record - Disco Sucks - was produced in 1978, the band was playing virtually every weekend at seedy venues across the continent.

One of their favourite haunts was Vancouver's Smiling Buddha cabaret, a crowded little club located just two blocks from the Main Street police station and the scene of many stories in the book.

But the band truly made its name on the road and with its politics.

Today, Keithley admits that DOA owes much of its international success to its appearance at a Rock against Reagan concert in Detroit, Mich., timed to coincide with "Ronny Raygun's" nomination at the 1980 Republican Party national convention.

As DOA took to the stage, the crowd of screaming punk rock fans was met by a parade of Republican party convention-goers intent on shutting down the show. The Detroit police arrived in full riot gear to break up the two groups, as the CNN news cameras rolled and the band played on.

His favourite concert was an anti-Expo 86 gig in Stanley Park that saw Keithley play an acoustic guitar on stage with folk idols Peter Seeger and Arlo Guthrie.

"The parks board tried to shut us down because they thought we'd scare all the animals in the zoo and trample the flowers," he recalled. "They were probably right, but still, it was a really cool day."

Another remarkable moment was playing with Bachman Turner Overdrive inside a maximum security prison in Saskatchewan. "They usually locked the guys down at 9 o'clock, but we talked the warden into keeping them up until 10 p.m. that night," he said. "That had never happened before, but as I told the warden, 'There's nothing more ugly than a prison riot.'"

Today, original copies of DOA's early records are some of the most sought-after pieces of music on the Internet. An original pressing of Triumph of the Ignoroids can fetch upwards of $300.

Despite his reputation as a bad boy, Keithley enjoyed enough success to settle down (somewhat) and start a family. He bought a home in west Burnaby, and even ran for public office. In the 2001 provincial election, he earned 2,601 votes and 15.4 per cent of the vote.

Keithley said it's unlikely that he will run again. "No, I'm retired from running. It takes too much time, and it's a huge amount of work," he said. "Besides, once you're elected, you're compromised."

But he certainly doesn't regret his political action, either. "People like myself, or Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys or Henry Rollins (of Black Flag fame) are like the fly in the ointment. I call it kicking the establishment in the groin."

Or it could be expressed by DOA's longtime motto of 'Talk - Action = Zero.'

"Some people might think it's odd, but being a punk means think for yourself, be free and do something positive," Keithley said.

And that means the world will just have to put up with a little bit of loud music once in while.

I Shithead - A Life in Punk is published by Arsenal Pulp Press and sells for $21.95 Canadian. Keithley will be signing copies of his new book on Saturday, Dec. 13, from 2 to 3 p.m., at the Granville Book Company, 850 Granville St. You can find the book online at Joey's own website www.suddendeath.com.