Joseph Edward "Joey Shithead" Keithley (

né A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth reg ...

Keighley; June 3, 1956)
is a Canadian

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

musician who is best known as the lead guitarist and vocalist of the punk band DOA. He was elected a city councillor in Burnaby, BC in the 2018 municipal elections as a member of the

Burnaby Green Party The Burnaby Green Party is a municipal political party in Burnaby, British Columbia. It was founded as the Burnaby Municipal Green Party in 2011 by Rick McGowan. In 2011, the party nominated five candidates for the municipal elections, including ...

."D.O.A.'s Joe Keithley Elected to Burnaby City Council"
''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'', October 21, 2018. He was re-elected in the October 2022 municipal election.
''

Burnaby Now ''Burnaby Now'' is a local tabloid newspaper published weekly by Glacier Media to 47,000 residents and businesses in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The first edition was a 12-page broadsheet format issued on November 23, 1983 which was a week ...

'', October 16, 2022.

Early life

Joe Keithley was raised in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, and attended

Burnaby North Secondary Burnaby North Secondary School is a secondary school in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. It encompasses two buildings at 751 Hammarskjold Drive in Burnaby. Nearly 1,800 students from grades 8 to 12 attend the school. A statue of a Viking hea ...

. At age 11, he began playing drums after being inspired by a drummer in a jazz band at his sister's wedding. Keithley recalls his father's chagrin at Keithley "banging on a kit of his own", describing his father as "super square... completely right wing". He would later take up the guitar and vocals, with some of his classmates becoming his bandmates. In 1972, in light of the ongoing Vietnam War and the American's planned testing of nuclear weapons off the coast of Alaska's

Amchitka Amchitka (; ale, Amchixtax̂; russian: Амчитка) is a volcanic, tectonically unstable and uninhabited island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. It is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refu ...

Island, 16 year old Keithley and 300 fellow students participated in a school walkout to join a protest organized by

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

. Since then, music and activism have been "fused at the center of Keithley's life".

Musical career

In 1977, Keithley, along with

Chuck Biscuits Chuck Biscuits (born Charles Montgomery on April 17, 1965) is a Canadian drummer best known for his work in several punk rock bands. Biscuits was a member of D.O.A. from 1978 to 1982, playing on the band's first two albums before briefly joini ...

' older brother, started a band called the Skulls. After the breakup of the Skulls, Keithley formed D.O.A. with Biscuits. In 2004, he published the autobiography ''I, Shithead: A Life in Punk''. He was inducted into the Canadian Independent Music Hall of Fame the same year. He has also done solo work, releasing a mix of music and

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

. In 1999, he released his first solo record, ''

Beat Trash Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery (c ...

''. This was followed by "Band of Rebels" in 2007. Keithley appeared in the punk/cult film ''

Terminal City Ricochet ''Terminal City Ricochet'' is a 1990 film directed by Zale Dalen. The name was taken from a hockey team called the Terminal City Ricochets. Starring Jello Biafra (of the Dead Kennedys), Terminal City Ricochet is a dystopian comedy critical of te ...

'', as well as contributing music (through D.O.A.) to the soundtrack. He and D.O.A. appeared in Bruce McDonald's 1995 cult film '' Hard Core Logo''. He was interviewed for a documentary titled

Let's All Hate Toronto ''Let's All Hate Toronto'' is a 2007 Canadian documentary film co-directed by independent documentarian Albert Nerenberg and Rob Spence. The documentary is a comedic examination of the reasons why so many people in Canada seem to hate Toronto, On ...

, produced by Elevator Films and published by

The Disinformation Company The Disinformation Company (abbreviated as Disinfo) was a privately held, limited American publishing company until 2012 when it was sold to Red Wheel/Weiser/Conari. It also owned ''Disinformation Books'', which focused on current affairs titles ...

. In 2006, Keithley was featured prominently in the feature-length documentary American Hardcore. Keithley was also featured in the 2010 documentary '' Open Your Mouth And Say... Mr. Chi Pig'', a film that looks at the life of

Mr. Chi Pig Kendall Steven Chinn (October 19, 1962 – July 16, 2020), known under the stage name Mr. Chi Pig, was a Canadian punk rock vocalist and artist born in Edmonton and long residing in Vancouver. He fronted the hardcore punk band SNFU from 1981 unti ...

SNFU SNFU was a Canadian hardcore punk band formed in Edmonton in 1981, relocated to Vancouver in 1992, and disbanded in 2018. They released eight albums, two live records, and one compilation amid many lineup changes and several temporary breakups. ...

, directed by Sean Patrick Shaul and produced by

Prairie Coast Films Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

. In 2008,

The Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published si ...

newspaper named Keithley one of British Columbia's most influential people of all time. During D.O.A.'s 2011 Canadian tour, Keithley gave free solo acoustic performances in three of the 10 cities that had appeared across Canada in support of the

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...

protests,

Occupy Ottawa Occupy Ottawa was a mostly peaceful, leaderless, grassroots and democratic protest movement that began on Confederation Park in Ottawa, Ontario, on October 15, 2011. The movement's slogan "Home of the global revolution in Ottawa" refers to its ...

, Occupy Regina and

Occupy Vancouver Occupy Canada was a collective of Nonviolent resistance, peaceful protests and Demonstration (people), demonstrations that were part of the larger "Occupy" protests, Occupy Together movement which first manifested in the financial district of New ...

. He owns and operates his own record company, Sudden Death Records. The recording company was started in 1978 as a DIY response to lack of interest from major labels. His motto is 'TALK-ACTION=ZERO.'

Politics

D.O.A. is known for playing in peace rallies and environmental events. Keithley has been increasingly interested in politics, saying that shows where he can make a difference are more rewarding. While studying at the University of British Columbia, he planned to become a labor lawyer, but found music irresistible. In 1996 and 2001, Keithley ran in the

provincial elections for the

Green Party of British Columbia The Green Party of British Columbia, often simply called the BC Greens, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1983 and is based in Victoria. The party won its first seat in the Legislative Assembly of Br ...

. In 2001, he received the highest percentage of the vote next to party leader

Adriane Carr Adriane Carr (born 1952) is a Canadian academic, activist and politician with the Green Party in British Columbia and Canada. She is also a councillor on Vancouver City Council. She was a founding member and the Green Party of British Columbia' ...

. He ran for the Burnaby-Lougheed seat in the 2017 British Columbia provincial election. On October 20, 2018, he was elected for

Burnaby City Council The Burnaby City Council is the governing body for the City of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The council consists of the mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city ...

in the 2018 municipal elections as a member of the

Books

* ''I, Shithead: A Life in Punk'' (

Arsenal Pulp Press Arsenal Pulp Press is a Canadian independent book publishing company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company publishes a broad range of titles in both fiction and non-fiction, focusing primarily on underrepresented genres such as und ...

) * ''Talk-Action=0: An Illustrated History of D.O.A.'' (

)

References

External links

Interview with Joey Shithead

Interviews on Outsight Radio Hours

The Ruckus – Audio Interview with Joey Keithley from September 2008

D.O.A. Is Note Dead Yet – An Interview With Joe Keithley
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keithley, Joey 1956 births Canadian people of Finnish descent Canadian punk rock singers Canadian punk rock guitarists Green Party of British Columbia candidates in British Columbia provincial elections Living people Burnaby city councillors D.O.A. (band) members Musicians from British Columbia The Skulls (Canadian band) members Green Party of British Columbia politicians