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 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, includin ...

."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'', 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 Burrar ...

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, for ...

, 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 Ref ...

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 join ...

' 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 o ...

. In 1999, he released his first solo record, '' Beat Trash''. This was followed by "Band of Rebels" in 2007. Keithley appeared in the punk/cult film '' Terminal City Ricochet'', 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 ''Hard Core Logo'' is a 1996 Canadian mockumentary adapted by Noel S. Baker from the novel of the same name by author Michael Turner. The film was directed by Bruce McDonald and illustrates the self-destruction of punk rock. Released in 1996, ...

''. 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, ...

, 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 title ...

. 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 of SNFU, 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 t ...

. 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 movement against economic inequality and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district, in September 2011. It gave rise to the ...

protests,

Occupy Ottawa Occupy Ottawa was a mostly Nonviolent resistance, peaceful, leaderless, grassroots and democratic protest Social movement, movement that began on Confederation Park in Ottawa, Ontario, on October 15, 2011. The movement's slogan "Home of the glob ...

, Occupy Regina and Occupy Vancouver. He owns and operates his own record company,

Sudden Death Records Sudden Death Records is a Vancouver, British Columbia based record label run by Joe "Shithead" Keithley, frontman of D.O.A. Sudden Death Records arrived in Canada's burgeoning punk scene in 1978. Keithley formed the label to release his D.O.A. ...

. 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. 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 Columbi ...

. 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 o ...

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 ...

) * ''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