Joe Keithley pens second book, with more pictures!

by Sam Sutherland

June 29, 2011

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Photo credit: Bev Davies

The man known to most as “Shithead,” frontman and driving force behind Canadian punk stalwarts D.O.A., has written his second book. Talk – Action = Zero follows Keithley’s 2003 memoir, I, Shithead: A Life in Punk, a spirited recollection of his three-decade career in the punk trenches with Vancouver’s most infamous hardcore export. Talk – Action = Zero is the visual accompaniment to I, Shithead‘s frantic tales, a meaty collection of posters and photographs that chronicle Keithley’s musical career, from long-haired hesher origins in B.C.’s interior to international touring and political activism with D.O.A.

“I just took this big box of posters in to the office of Arsenal Pulp Press, dumped it out on the table, and said, ‘That’s your book,'” laughs Keithley. A committed archivist, Keithley’s collection traces an entire generation of hardcore, from fellow Vancouverites like the Subhumans, to punk legends like the Clash, to American hardcore innovators like Black Flag. The thread of D.O.A. binds the whole collection together, making for a fascinating punk history that is much bigger than a single band. Keithley’s light-hearted prose is scattered throughout, connecting the posters and photographs with tales from the road and the streets of Vancouver, but it’s the visuals that are really arresting, laid out beautifully in full colour.

“The only book we used as a reference was Fucked Up + Photocopied,” say Keithley, referencing the award-winning photo book that compiled punk and hardcore fliers from the ’70s and ’80s. “I took it down to our art director to use as an idea of how to lay it out.” As for future upcoming publishing project, Keithley isn’t sure what’s on the horizon, but does know what he won’t be doing.

“I won’t do another book about D.O.A.,” he laughs. “Two is enough.”

Tags: Music, Interviews, News, joe keithley

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