Several months after Joey “Shithead” Keithley lost to Katrina Chen (陳葦蓁) in his bid for the British Columbia parliament, the political rivals had coffee before Keithley headed to Taiwan, Chen’s homeland.
Chen told the long-time punk rocker about Freddy Lim (林昶佐), a death metal vocalist-turned-legislator. Turns out, Keithley’s host in Taiwan had already arranged a meeting for him.
“I want to see how he did it and hear some of his viewpoints,” says Keithley, who arrived in Taipei on yesterday. “There’s a lot of people from Taiwan in Vancouver, so there’s a real connection. With his background, it’s an interesting juxtaposition.”
Photo courtesy of Steve Vigar
Keithley, 61, has long considered himself an “informal politician.” His band, D.O.A., is still going strong after 39 years, with some breaks in between, staying true to its brand of frenetic hardcore punk and political activism. Often credited as the founders of the genre, the band will be playing at The Wall tomorrow evening.
D.O.A. has been busy touring and will start working on its 16th studio album early next year, but Keithley still has his eyes set on next year’s municipal elections, hoping to at last accomplish what Lim has done.
“I’ve been trying to change the system from the outside,” he says. “This is a chance to do it from inside the system.”
Photo courtesy of Steve Vigar
FROM RONALD TO DONALD
Keithley called out former US president Ronald Reagan in 1981 with Fucked Up Ronnie, which he reworked into last year’s Fucked Up Donald. Some things, he says, never change.
“When we started out, the things we were fighting against were greed, warmongers, racism and sexism. Forty years later, we’re still fighting against greed, warmongers, racism and sexism … These are the core issues — some cases have improved and some have gotten worse.”
For example, the 2008 song Police Brutality is still relevant nine years later.
“I think it’s great that the songs still work, but I also think it’s bad because [that means] the world hasn’t gotten any better.”
But it’s this sentiment that keeps Keithley making music. He looks up to US folk singer and activist Pete Seeger, who kept going until he died at age 94 in 2014.
“[Seeger] fought against the system and didn’t just do it for a while,” he says. “There are always people who try to do stupid and selfish things for power and money. It’s up to the people to fight against that.”
Politics aside, Keithley says he still does what he does simply because it’s fun.
“I like to be on a soapbox,” he says. “If the crowd’s digging what you’re doing, the band gets a charge off that. If it’s not fun, you lose a part of the point to the whole thing.”
NEVER CHANGE
Comparing the band’s 2015 effort, Hard Rain Falling, and its breakthrough second album Hardcore ‘81, it doesn’t seem that D.O.A.’s musical style or message have changed much.
“I don’t think I’m the wild man I used to be in my twenties,” Keithley says. “But my political views are very much the same. I’ve been an activist since I was 16. That part hasn’t changed.”
The band’s lineup has changed much over the years, but Keithley says there’s been three consistent elements of D.O.A. “Politics, humor and really loud obnoxious drums and guitar,” he says.
“Nobody is obligated to keep playing the same thing forever,” he says. “But I think if you change your style too drastically, it’s probably a good thing to change the name of the band.”
The key is to continue to put his all into live shows.
“We want to get up there and get people excited and going crazy,” he says. “The chaos of the whole thing is what I really like. People can tell if you’re not giving it in that manner and they’ll say, ‘These guys are really old.’ But you can be old and not come across like that.”
While he shows no signs of stopping, Keithley is glad to see younger bands continue the fight against the system. However, while there is a kicking underground punk scene in North America, he has yet to see an act that meets his criteria for “a shining example of a political punk band.”
“But I think things are screwed up enough in this world that you just may start seeing some new bands come to the forefront,” he says.
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