Saturday Singles: D.O.A.-"The Cops Shot a Kid (Gonna Be A Riot)"

Sudden Death Records
2015

Serving as the first single from D.O.A.'s upcoming studio album, "Hard Rain Falling", "The Cops Shot a Kid (Gonna Be A Riot)" is yet another explosive slab of political hardcore from this legendary punk band! It's every bit as powerful and distinct as this Canadian band is and unless you've been living under a rock for the past year or so it's title should be self-explanatory! Especially if you live here in the U.S.!! Written by D.O.A. guitarist/vocalist Joe "Shithead" Keithley in reaction to the recent deaths of African Americans at the hands of police in Ferguson, Missouri, Baltimore, Maryland and New York City, "The Cops Shot a Kid (Gonna Be A Riot)" is two and a half minutes of stand your ground/united as one punk/hardcore fury and it's a message that everyone needs to hear! By this point in the "party" there's no reason whatsoever that the police here in the U.S. should not be wearing body cams while on duty. Why it is even a argument is beyond me. Not only would it help assure that everything is on the up and up with our police force, but it could also be used to help apprehend anyone who might try to harm a cop! I'd call that a win-win situation there with everyone having their backs and butts covered. Hell, I can't find a single person in my wide range of friends and family that doesn't support the idea of body cams! And we're talking liberals and conservatives and the young and the old here friends!  So, in the words of Captain Jean-Luc Picard let's "Make it so!" and we can do that by standing up together and demanding that our police force be required to wear body cams while on duty!


PS. D.O.A. is reportedly working on the 12-track "Hard Rain Falling" as we speak! From the sound of things it has been funded by Kickstarter and it promises to be a return to D.O.A.'s early sound. Or to be more precise recordings like "Hardcore 81" and the "Disco Sucks" EP . That sounds good to me! While it does look as if the album has successful funded you can still help the band out and get some nifty rewards in the process! As of this writing D.O.A.'s  Kickstarter Campaign has 14 days to go so why not head over there after you are done with the review?

D.O.A-Talk-Action=0

Sudden Death
2010

It is indeed difficult to believe that Canadian punk rock legends D.O.A. started over thirty years ago. Their 13th studio release shows that frontman and founder Joey "Shithead" Keithley certained hasn't mellowed over the years and we are grateful for that. They have showed no signs of letting up as they continue to blast out pure raw riffs while Keithley barks out hit patented vocals and socks it to organized religion, big business, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the music scene and more. No one is safe from their attacks and that's the way it should be, but there is always enough humor and sarcasm mixed in to make it more than just a straight on angry assault. I thought that their 2008 release "Northern Avenger" was their strongest album in some time. It was, but the new album surpasses it with pure adrenaline pumping, memorable tunes like “That’s Why I’m An Atheist”, “The Rebel Kind” and “Don’t Bank on a Bank”. Not all is negative either as they crank out their tribute to Star Trek with "Captain Kirk, Spock, Scotty and Bones". No strangers to cover songs they knock out two on this album. Their version of "That's Amore" is silly, but fun enough to be passable. It's their cover of Bob Dylan's "The times they are a-changin'" that might actually be the best song on the entire album. What a fantastic choice for D.O.A to take on as it completely fits in with their attitude and spirit. There is nothing totally new to the overall sound on this album, but instead D.O.A pull upon some of the best elements of what has worked for them all of these years and manage to put out one of the best albums of their long career.

D.O.A-Let's wreck the party

Sudden Death
1985/2010

Joey Keithley's Sudden Death records have re-issued his band's 1985 album "Let's wreck the party". Hard to believe that this is twenty-five years old now, but it is. This was the band's third release and it was a departure from the first two albums. The previous releases were far more straight ahead hardcore while "Let's wreck the party" goes down more of a hard rock style although Keithley's vocals retain the same bite. Listening to their early albums and more recent albums it's almost starling to hear the couple of tracks on here that use keyboards and some pop style drum beats. It's just a few, but obviously they trying some new things. Fortunately the attitude is still the same and that's what's always defined this band for me. Their discontent and disatisfaction with an unfair system are still the focus of their lyrics. So even the music is a little lighter the motivation is still the same and that's what has and still gives this band the punch behind their songs. In the middle of the revolving door of drummers, bass players and occasional second guitarist; it's always been Keithley who has been driving this vehicle for over thirty years. That kind of passion, anger and sarcastic humor of his is at the forefront of this album. The above traits are a huge part of why this band has been able to survive for so long. Not their greatest album, but a good one with some memorable tracks.

D.O.A.-Kings of punk, hockey and beer

Sudden Death
2009

Canadian punk rock legends D.O.A have already released a studio album and a DVD in the last year and a half, but now the also throw out this kind of theme oriented compilation. It's made up of previously released tracks from Win the battle, Loggerheads, Northern Avenger and even one from Joey Keithley's solo album Band of rebels. That makes up about 3/4 of the album and also there are two previously unreleased songs and a pair of new ones recorded this year. So as the title implies we do get some drinking related songs like Beer liberation army and Cocktail from hell. Of course they throw out even more songs about their favorite sport as we get a version of Tom Connors' Hockey song and DOA's 2008 song the blazing Donnybrook. I guess a lot of the rest falls under just the punk rock heading of the title. I have thought of DOA's songs about being more about anarchy and anti-establishment than being about their favorite past times. Then against the bulk of the songs here are from more recent albums so I guess their interests and topics of focus have changed a little over the years. No matter what they talk about in their songs I think that this legendary band has always done what they wanted to do and that means a great deal. They always manage to get themselves fired up and just go at it. That approach has been a large part about what appeals to me about them. I am not sure if there was a great need for this collection, but they did toss in some tracks we have never heard before. Perhaps more than anything I enjoyed this disc even though I had heard the majority of it before. It doesn't represent necessarily the best of DOA, but the songs do represent the spirit of why DOA have been able to keep going for so long.

D.O.A-The Men of action

Sudden Death/MVD
2009



Vancouver's long running hardcore band decided to celebrate their 30th anniversary with this DVD collection. During all those years they have gone through a few bass players although Brian Goble and Randy Rampage have covered most of the time. They have also gone through their share of drummers including Chuck Biscuits who also went on to play for Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Danzig and others. His brother Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery also sat behind ths kit for D.O.A years before his death in 1994 by a drug overdose. However my choice for best D.O.A drummer name would go to The Great Baldini who pounded the skins for a few years during this decade. The band has also had the occasional second guitarist. However the central figure of vocalist/guitarist Joey "Shithead" Keithly has kept the wheels turning for this band. Despite the line-up changes this band has primarily kept to their roots of being a no-nonsense straight forward act with a focus on anarchy. This DVD is comprised of 26 clips with the oldest being a live outdood clip of "Disco Sucks" from 1978 and the newest are from this year. A few clips on this set appeared on the "Smah the state" DVD that came out two years ago. Still this is huge collection of songs that cover the band's long career. Attitude has always been so much a part of D.O.A's approach and it has often times been a part of the fire that keeps their music going. This collection includes live performances recorded in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto and of course Vancouver. There are also music videos as well and they are of varying quality as some of the earlier ones are a bit silly, but humor has made it's way into D.O.A.'s image at times as well over the years. This band started out very raw and their skills have gotten better over time and they have tightened up some, but all of the clips show the spirit that has kept them going for all of this time. I didn't get into this band until around 1987 and they had been around for almost a decade at that point. So that made them veterans by punk rock standards yet here they are another two decades later still ripping it up. The audio is re-mastered on these discs so the sound is generally solid. There is also an option to watch all 26 clips with commentary from Joey Keithley. Sometimes his comments are relevant to what's on the screen and sometimes not, but he is very enthusiastic about giving his views. As a bonus this set also includes the band's most recent CD "Northern Avenger". I am not sure as to why this disc is added in because if you are a fan than you likely picked it up when it came out last year. In case you didn't it's another solid release and one of the heavier releases. Honestly I was overwhelmed by the amount of material on this disc and that is certainly a good thing. There are some great presentations of classics like "The prisoner", "Fucked up Ronnie", "World War 3" and piles more. The shoe-string budget video for "We're driving to hell 'n back" had me rolling as well. There is no dead weight here for sure. The sound quality is strong and for the most part so is picture quality. By putting in performances from so many different years they have managed to give a good overview of the band's career. "The men of action" is a must have for fans and it would be a great introduction for those unfortunate few who may not be familiar to this band.

D.OA.-Northern Avenger

Sudden Death
2008

D.O.A. has released their 12th studio album just in time for their 30th anniversary. Thirty? Wow, can that really be true? I guess so, hard to believe though as I remember first hearing and becoming a fan of theirs back in the 80’s and they seemed kind of like a newer band at the time. Founder/vocalist/guitarist Joey Keithley has always been the real deal in my book, he has kept true to the punk rock sound, lyrics and spirit that he had three decades ago when this band began. Not a lot of surprises on the new album as the lyrics include both political and humorous leanings. The music has quite a few barnstormers and a few where they take their time as well. Okay the playing is tighter as years ago they wouldn’t have been able to change up the pace as easily as they do now. Also Northern Avenger was produced by Bob Rock (Metallica, Motley Crue) as he does a fine job of bringing to sound to the forefront with losing any of the natural edge. D.O.A. has always had a knack for bringing out the rock in punk rock yet they have always kept focused and grounded about delivering the kind of lyrics and feel that they want to bring to the label. Punk rock as it once twenty-twenty five years has changed and now you get a lot of variations and some are fine, but others are more watered down. So it’s great, even refreshing to hear a band sticking to their roots and putting a strong rooted, heavy punk rock album.