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Joey Shithead (By Aaron Brown)
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Here is a brief interview with Joe “Shithead” Keithley from DOA and Sudden Death Records fame that took place February 3rd 2007 on “Generation Annihilation” out of CITR. This was a week before DOA were scheduled to play two shows with THE FURIES, Vancouver’s first Punk Rock act playing for the first time in over 30 years. Interview and photos by Aaron Brown.
… All right, from the “Bloodied But Unbowed” reissue on Sudden Death Records, that was DOA with “New Age” which originally came out on the “Something Better Change” Album. We started things off with THE FURIES “What Do You Want Me To Be” from the “Vancouver Evolution” 7”, that’s a really old one. THE FURIES will be playing with DOA in Vancouver next Saturday and it will be their first show in over 30 years. I don’t know if there are many people listening right now who got to see them back then, but I think we’ve got somebody on the line that has. Are you there?
Yeah, I’m here. Hi Aaron how are you doing?
Not too bad. So it’s been 30 years since THE FURIES have last played.
Yeah they preceded DOA. I was about 18 or 19 during the summer of ’77. I walked around town and I saw some poster that said “Punk Rock”.
So you were just “Walking Around, Walking Around Town”?
Heh Heh, yeah I was just walking around and saw some people saying “Disco Sucks” yeah. It was weird it said something like “You’ll Be Amazed” or “You’ll Be Sickened” or something like that. And I thought “Wow, that sounds pretty cool and pretty weird at the same time”. The second show they did was at the Japanese Hall and my band THE SKULLS had got to open up for them. So I saw them a couple times. They were good.
And you say that was ’77.
Yeah, the fall of ‘77. And then I moved to Toronto with my band THE SKULLS and by the time I got back THE FURIES had broken up. Later to be slightly reincarnated with Chris Arnet the singer, he started a second band called THE SHADES.
And didn’t they play Richards On Richards not too long ago?
I’m not sure, but they did play the “Vancouver Complication” re-release gig last February about a year ago.
And I hadn’t heard any other tracks besides “What Do You Want Me To Be”.
There was a question a journalist asked me once which was “What was the first ever Vancouver punk single?” I think that song by THE FURIES would’ve been but it never actually came out so the tape ended up on Grant McDonough’s Zulu Records release “The Last Call”. The first single of the Punk/New Wave era was Tim Ray And AV. The third was “Disco Sucks” by DOA.
And DOA are going to be playing two shows with THE FURIES next Saturday with THE REBEL SPELL. Who else is playing?
The all ages show is at 3:00pm and ends promptly at 6:00pm and is with THE FIRST REIGN from Abbotsford. The bar show is with MONGOOSE.
And you might want to get down there and check it out. We will be having a pair of tickets to give away. But if you don’t win the tickets it will definitely be a good event to check out because it is happening at Richards On Richards where the famous “Hardcore ‘81" show happened.
Yeah, they used to call it The Laundromat and in 1981 we had the “Remember able” show that kind of started off the whole kind of Hardcore Punk thing with us, BLACK FLAG, 7 SECONDS, BLUDGEONED PIGS, INSEX over two nights at the old Laundromat, which is now Richards On Richards. This should be a great show; we’re working on bringing a whole bunch of old chestnuts out of the trunk. We’ve dusted them off and been practicing hard. I’d say it’d probably be the best DOA show in town in a long time.
I think one of the best DOA shows I saw recently was at that “Vancouver Complication” gig you were talking about.
Yeah, that was fun.
You guys had Randy Rampage in the band and he’s back now. So is this the third time he’s been back?
Yeah, he was there for the first four years and then he was back in for all of 2001, but just that year. He then rejoined last February.
So it might as well be Hardcore ’81 all over again next Saturday.
We’ll be playing a few tracks from it as well as some new ones and some other ones as well as some from our middle period. I suppose we’re old enough to have “early” “middle”, and “later” periods.
And it would be a good idea to get down there because it could be history in the making with talk of Richards On Richards being closed down. Is that going to happen?
I don’t know about that but I wouldn’t be surprised with all the construction going on downtown. Everything seems to be getting bulldozed as far as this city goes.
Like Club Soda which later became the Starfish Room one block over. It’s gone and condominiums are in its place. So you never know, it could be the last time we’ll ever get to see DOA at Richards.
It’s a very notable occasion because out of all the bands from the original Vancouver Punk/New Wave scene almost all of them had a reformation. There was only two that hadn’t. One was the POINTED STICKS and that happened a few weeks ago. THE FURIES were one of the bands that hadn’t. I suppose there’s the exception of U-J3RK5. It should be interesting and I’m sure THE FURIES have put in a lot of time making sure that they’re ready. They’ve probably been practicing their fucking balls off.
Well yeah. 30 years, that’s a lot of time to practice.
Heh, Heh. Yeah you’re telling me.
So DOA’s been going almost 30 years now.
Yeah, I believe it was at the Japanese Hall February 11th, we played with I think THE GENERATORS. We didn’t have any gear so we kind of barged our way on stage and borrowed whatever gear we could off of them. We had about three songs and when we finished those we started playing them over again. When they realized that we were playing them again they bum rushed the stage which ended in a tuffle and that was the end of our set.
The last time we had you on the show Joe was after your book “I Shithead” had just come out in 2003 and in three years a lot has happened, not just with DOA but with Sudden Death Records as well. You guys have done some excellent re-issues. That POINTED STICKS one has 23 tracks in all; a lot of them hadn’t seen the light of day before. I heard their show was quite good.
Yeah the POINTED STICKS two weeks ago at Richards was great. I didn’t see the early show but I saw the later show. They took a lot of pride in what they were doing and they had just had a very successful tour of Japan, which was set up for them in the summer.
And there was THE MODERNETTES re-issue, I guess they’re going to Japan soon.
Yeah, they’re going to Japan for a week in March. And of that series it’s very unlikely that the YOUNG CANADIANS will ever reform. Jim Bescott very sadly died last fall.
Where’s Art Bergmen these days? You don’t hear much about him anymore.
Art lives out in a ranch near Airdrie Alberta, which is right near Calgary. So he’s doing better then he was. He’s a great songwriter and a great talent, it be great if he put something new out.
So I read in the new Discorder that you were talking to Dale Wiese from Noize about doing a NO EXIT re-issue. Is that going to happen?
He suggested that. I haven’t really talked to Scruff or Chunk or anyone in the band so…
Well I tell you I think that NO EXIT LP is probably the rarest Vancouver Punk album ever. It literally goes for hundreds of dollars now.
Yeah, it’s a complete collectors item. It’s kind of bizarre looking because they have the first cover by THE DAMNED on one side and THE CLASH on the other with their own heads pasted in. It’s really rough and ready that’s for sure. I don’t know, We’ve thought about it and Dale suggested it but I still have to talk to the guys in the band. I’d like to get out the SLOW album.
That’s another big bucker.
Yeah, it’s not really an album but an E.P. They had a single as well as some other tracks. I guess in all due time.
And you’ve got another label in the works too right?
Yeah, we’ve got a side label that we can put out any kind of music called JSK Media. We’ve got a band called ONCE JUST who are kind of a Rock/Ska band from Calgary. They’ll be the first act we’ll be releasing. Yeah we’ve been busy as hell over here.
And speaking of rock and ska I hear you’re doing a new solo project?
I’m almost finished and it’s sounding really good if I dare say so myself. It’s myself, Joe Keithley and the group is called BAND OF REBELS, which should be out in June. It’s got a few styles ranging from Punk-a-Billy, Ska and Rootsy Rock type stuff. It’s very lively but it’s not quite Punk Rock or quite as overdriven as DOA. A bunch of people are on it Jessie Zubot, Chris Kestren, Jeremy from THE BUGHOUSE FIVE and tons of people playing different instruments. The Great Baldini from DOA, he’s the drummer on it.
So it’s kind of like DOA but doing a different style.
Yeah, you could almost call it a DOA album but not quite. I’ve always maintained that if you get too far away from your main sound of the band that you shouldn’t use the same name. I mean TSOL would be a great example, going from total punk rock to polished rock and keeping the name.
I fully agree.
So you might as well do a different project so people who are interested can understand that.
A good example might be with Charlie Harper and the UK SUBS. He once put out a blues record with some UK SUBS members but he called it CHARLIE HARPER AND THE URBAN DOGS.
Exactly, it makes sense. You know it’s Charlie Harper and you hear through the grapevine he plays on it and they don’t try to sell it to you as a new UK SUBS record to try and sell off their name. It wouldn’t be fair to the people who would buy it.
Yup, they’ve been told: “If you like this style of music you might like this as well”.
Yup.
So being as busy as you are with the solo project and the record label is there time for a new DOA record anytime soon?
Well, we’re coming up to the 30th anniversary next year. I’ve got a couple of books I’m working on, one that I hope to get out during the summer time. After that I’ll probably be writing some new songs that we’ll rehearse in the fall and probably record sometime next winter.
So a new book. Will it be similar to “I Shithead”?
Well no it won’t be quite the same because that was kind of like an autobiography on the first twelve years of DOA. One of them is like a fiction story based on the truth of the lower east side punk scene in the early 80’s. I’m not going to let the cat out of the bag. The other one will be a guide book with emphasis on punk rock but funny and nothing too serious.
Any book label prospects?
I don’t know, basically I’ve got to write three chapters and then I’ll probably send it to a literary agent and see what kind of deal we can get.
Ok, so we’ve got some tickets to give away for next Saturday’s show. So thank you Joe.
No thank you for having me on again. You do a great show. Keep up the good work.
So if you would like to win yourself a pair of tickets for next Saturday’s show give me a call at 604-822-2487…
www.suddendeath.com
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