D.O.A. 25th ANNIVERSARY SHOW
Fri, Apr. 4
New City Likwid Lounge

Joey "Shithead" Keithley, for anyone who wore a skid military jacket in the ’80s, was just the kind of immediately handsome-drunk role model we needed to endure the fact that crazed idiots like Reagan ran the world. Where SNFU would eventually take the campiest elements of D.O.A. and escort them into the yellowing history books, Bloodied But Unbowed was as much a written testament for political punk rock as another band’s Kill ‘Em All was a blueprint for the temporary nuclear destruction of glam. No surprise that both the punk and metal albums still stand two decades later, but give Shithead a bow for sticking to his post while James Hetfield’s Metallica gang turned into fluffy mobsters in fur coats, posing like Bono for Anton Corbijn photos. The only difference between Shithead then and now is he’s smarter and talks about his three kids playing music with more pride than his own work. Here’s a chat to remind you to buy tickets early for the band’s soon-enough April 4 show at New City.

FISH: What would be your reaction to someone getting a corporate logo tattooed on their body?

JOEY: That seems pretty strange to me. I mean, what if you got an Enron tattoo, you’d be, "Oh man, can I change that?" Let’s just say some people just aren’t that goddamn smart, as the current situation in Iraq shows.

FISH: What if that logo was a stylized D.O.A.?

JOEY: My bass player does, so I guess that’s OK. [Laughs.] We used to have this .001% losers club – you know the one-percenters in the ’60s? Our group was even smaller. One of us had no hair on his head and he had a D.O.A. on top. At least he was smart and could grow hair over it. Otherwise it’s, "Oh, fuck, man." You gotta live with them, unless you’re some Hollywood brat and can afford to take Billy Bob off.

FISH: What’s the worst thing one of your kids could come home and announce to you about their lives?

JOEY: You have to be prepared for everything, remember what you and your friends were like.

FISH: They could become Scientologists...

JOEY: I guess if they got pulled into some weird cult, they would hopefully see their way out, though all kinds of people get sucked into religion.

FISH: After 25 years of DOA we’ve come full circle with the politics. I don’t want to get stuck on this, but how are you reacting to all this killing in the name of freedom?

JOEY: It’s pretty interesting, I grew up as a little kid watching the Vietnam War on TV. It didn’t end till I got outta high school, and I got involved in the anti-war anti-nuclear movement. It’s weird when you’re not attacked, when you go and invade someone. It’s a different premise than even Vietnam. The Americans say they are trying to promote democracy. But what Bush has done, unfortunately for the American people – and I’m not anti American – what he’s done with this action is taken himself to the level of Saddam Hussein. He hasn’t gassed his own people, but if they don’t come up with some kind of concrete proof, it looks like just an oil or territory war for him and his buddies.

FISH: Given Hussein gave the order to attack as soon as they invaded, I don’t see how it would benefit Iraq to risk holding out using any supposed long-range chemical weapons.

JOEY: Strategy-wise, you might want to draw them in. For a lot of Americans, all it takes is someone from your hometown to get wasted to start changing public opinion, for everyone to start realizing we’ve stepped in a huge pile of shit. The look on that servicewoman’s face, well, it’s on equal par. The U.S. is taking prisoners, too.

FISH: And sending them off to Cuba without being arrested. I don’t understand how Castro puts up with it.

JOEY: I didn’t get that ’til recently, either. They got the base there leased through the Batista uprising in the ’50s. The Cubans can’t risk forcing them out.

FISH: I just saw a compelling movie called Max in which a young Hitler almost becomes an artist, but frustration turns him into a fascist. Was there ever a turning point when you were unsure about the world, and was there a specific incident that made you more politically conscious?

JOEY: I had some interesting teachers in high school. It was a different time then, ’68 to ’71; civil rights were happening in the States. The thing that got me into it was nuclear bombs being tested off the Aleutian Island chain. Greenpeace had all these kids from the suburbs passing flyers, marching down to the U.S. embassy, walking around and chanting. My first gig. I had a brother who was very political, too. My dad was a typical Archie Bunker.

FISH: How does he react when you talk about the war now?

JOEY: He just starts yelling. Every time he gets mad, he just would start yelling, so I’d hold the newspaper up higher and higher over my face. It’s terrible.

FISH: I truly empathize with you, brother. You’re probably doing a better job on your kids...

JOEY: I try not to make all the mistakes my dad did that I’m inevitably due to repeat.