by Matt Kelchner
After 35 years of constant writing, recording and touring Joe Keithley, aka Joey Shithead, is bringing his highly influential group, D.O.A., to a close. The band is currently wrapping up the the final leg of the United States tour and afterwards will be hopping across the pond for a string of European dates. While all good things must come to an end, Keithley has decided to shutdown the group for reasons many do not see in the punk world, a serious run in politics.
While talking with Keithley, he explained that the decision to end D.O.A. was mainly to allow him to focus on his political career. “To me, you can’t be involved in something like that unless you devote your full attention to that,” he went on to say. Keithley was seeking nomination for the New Democratic Party (NDP) in the Coquitlam-Burke Mountain area back in March but ended up losing to former wrestler Chris Wilson.
“We just had an election here in BC and I ran for the nomination here and I lost the nomination by 5 votes so I didn’t even get to run in the election,” Keithley explains, “but that doesn’t mean I’ve given up with politics.”
Activism has been at the root of D.O.A. since the band’s beginnings and there is no sign of that slowing down with Keithley. “Look at it this way- I’m still going to be an activist whether it’s with my guitar or with my voice”.
Keithley lives by the motto “Talk-action=zero”. His band has lived by it. His political views even reference it. It speaks to the notion prevalent in the punk and hardcore communities that pushes people to go out and stand for what they believe in. If they want to do something or start something, then do it. When D.O.A. was not able to find a record label to call home, Keithley started one, Sudden Death Records. Through the label they put out Hardcore ‘81, one of the records cited as bringing hardcore music into vogue.
As we talked about the progression of punk music and the sub genre splitting that has occurred over the recent years, one thing was agreed upon; this DIY mentality will always be one of the cornerstones. “The big thing about punk rock is it’s still aimed at the DIY ethic in people realizing people can do stuff themselves and not necessarily be employed by a big company to get something done,” he adds.
Somehow in between running a political campaign, organizing a farewell tour and running a record label, Keithley was also able to partner up with a Canadian brewery for something most bands only dream of, a beer named after them. The partnership grew from when a friend of Keithley’s who worked at a radio station had listeners text in band names that would work well as beer names as well. Someone suggested D.O.A. Ale. Through the radio they were linked up with Vancouver suburb residents Old Yale Brewing Company.
D.O.A. Ale is a brown ale that comes in right around 5.0% ABV and pours a deep copper brown color. Originally available only in British Columbia, it will be pushed out to others areas in the upcoming months. Unfortunately for us here in the United States, it does not look like it will ever see the light of day.
The beer was developed from a recipe that the brewers at Old Yale Brewing Company had been working with but never used. When the opportunity arose, the beer seemed to fit the style of D.O.A. perfectly. The collaboration speaks true to the DIY code that runs deep with Keithley and D.O.A. No big corporations or companies were brought in it. Just one influential 35 year old punk band and one craft brewery.
To help get over the disappointment in never being able to try D.O.A. Ale, Keithley painted the perfect mental image to be drinking the beer. He started describing to me the scene from Canadian Bacon where John Candy and the US hockey team he is on takes a drive up to Canada for a game. While there, Candy takes a big swig of a Canadian beer and says ‘Whoa this Canadian beer sucks’. The game stops and the crowd goes silent. And then everyone in the stadium starts a massive brawl with Candy and the US team.
Keithley adds, “Maybe [a Canadian team] goes up to upstate New York and says ‘Whoa this American beer sucks, I wish I had DOA Ale’ and then a big fight breaks out.
Catch the band one last time as they hit The Note in West Chester tonight.
