Vancouver punk band D.O.A. will forever retain a special place in my gig-watching memories. Amid an intense D.O.A. show in Seattle in the mid-’90s, a member of the crowd decided to embark on his own idiosyncratic form of audience interaction.
Vancouver punk band D.O.A. will forever retain a special place in my gig-watching memories. Amid an intense D.O.A. show in Seattle in the mid-’90s, a member of the crowd decided to embark on his own idiosyncratic form of audience interaction. This involved walking around in a circle of about two metres’ radius, his arms flailing like deranged traffic policeman, with ne’er a thought of concern for the surrounding punters. It was always going to cause grief; within a minute the flapping punk made reckless contact with another punter, resulting in a tense stand-off. With D.O.A. burning on all eight cylinders in the background, the two protagonists faced off, the immediate crowd awaiting the next stage in the unfolding drama. Enter, unannounced a guy wearing dreadlocks half-way down his back, who walked between the two potential combatants. With the threat of violence hanging like a tropical monsoon on a late afternoon in Malaysia, the dreadlocked interloper jumped a foot in the air and spirited around like a whirling dervish. The incongruity of the intervention diffused the tension, and everyone was happy again. It was, quite simply, the most bizarre and surreal moment I’ve ever experienced.
Joey ‘Shithead’ Keithley formed D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival) in Vancouver in 1978. "We wanted to change the world and have a damn good time doing it", he muses. D.O.A. were born into a scene that barely paid lip service to punk rock. "The punk rock scene in Vancouver was almost non existent – there was about 25 of us were the scene!" Keithley recalls.
"But it grew quickly though and became a very strong and original music scene, one that still produces great bands to this day."
Keithley’s unfortunate nickname ‘Shithead’ came from D.O.A.’s former drummer, Ken ‘Dimwit’ Montgomery. "My old drummer Dimwit (RIP) thought a great name for a band would be ‘Joey Shithead & The Marching Morons’," Keithley remembers. "I kept the ‘Shithead’; The Morons never happened, and when we became The Skulls instead in 1977, I grew in to being a full time ‘Shithead’," he laughs.
Along with Bad Brains, The Dills, Black Flag and The Circle Jerks, D.O.A. are said to be one of the original hardcore bands. "In early 1981 D.O.A. popularized the term ‘hardcore’ with our Hardcore 81 album and the subsequent tour helped bring it into the common vernacular," Keithley figures. "We had been to Los Angeles a number of times and played lots with all those bands, so there certainly was a commonality between us."
After churning through a few members, and following a hectic touring schedule – not to mention regular studio recording, Keithley announced the break-up of D.O.A. in 1990. Eighteen months later, and D.O.A. were back. "We broke up after 12 years, that’s a fair chunk of time, so it was time for a break," he explains. "We got back together when I realised that nobody else was really combining ear splitting riffs with politics and humor. There was a vacuum there and we were drawn into it once again."
D.O.A. have spent many years establishing and indulging their dedicated fanbase, long before the advent of online media. Keithley himself is renowned for personally replying to fan letters. "When I travel, I want to see what the country is like: the town , the neighbourhood, the people," he explains. "If you don’t sit and gab with and have a beer, then I feel I’m not getting the real deal. It’ a big world with a lot of folks worth meeting (and sometimes not worth meeting obviously).
"I think it enriches you as a person."
Drugs have had their own effect on D.O.A. over the years, including with the overdose of ‘Dimwit’ in 1994. I note to Keithley a comment I read somewhere recently that he has had to take a hardline with members of the band getting involved in drugs. "Band guys tend to party, that’s fine but don’t cross the line and get so fucked you can’t do what you’re there for," he argues. "I don’t set out any rules it just becomes obvious when someone crosses over the line. Everything in moderation including excess!"
Since reforming in 1992, D.O.A. played and toured regularly (including coming to Australia on a double-bill with No Means No in 1991) before the tragic death of drummer Ken Jensen brought on a period of instability. "We were in a great groove ’92-’95: two great albums, a bunch of good tours, and then our drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire (RIP) and that really led to us being unsettled," Keithley admits.
"I think as we all grew older, some of the guys’ goals in life changed, mine did not. Those goals are still these: be your own boss, think for yourself and effect some positive change in this world."
So to what extent do he think D.O.A., and other punk and hardcore bands, have had a role in, in terms of raising awareness of political issues? Is punk rock inherently political, if only because of its so-called anti-establishment edge? Keithley argues the issue as axiomatic: to be a punk is to agitate. "If you don’t raise hell and fuck with the establishment, it’s not punk", Keithley contends. "For example, there is no such thing as Christian punk, that’s an oxymoron."
These days Keithley runs his own record label (Sudden Death). As both a musician, and a label owner, it’s pertinent to see if he believes labels have a future in the digital age. "Sure, they do, but the game has changed so much that I think you just have to use a label as means of producing your own music and getting it around. If you can help out some other cool bands along the way, more power to ya!" he nods.
D.O.A. play The East Brunswick Club on Thursday March 10 with Sin City, The Tearaways and Scratch N Sniff. Tickets from oztix.com.au, The East box office, and eastbrunswickclub.com. Hardcore ’81 has just been reissued for the tour as well.
