Five acts to catch at Khatsahlano this year D.O.A. still has rebel spirit

> BY JOHN LUCAS

> BY MIKE USINGER, KATE WILSON, AND JOHN LUCAS

There is no shortage of summer-weekend entertainment options in Vancouver, but for the past half-decade or so, the surest bet has been the West 4th Khatsahlano Street Party. This year’s event, which kicks off Saturday (July 7) at 11 a.m. and winds down at 9 p.m., takes over West 4th Avenue from Burrard to Macdonald and features fashion shows, children’s entertainment, and yoga classes for the masses.

Best of all, though, is the live music that runs all day on multiple stages. From legendary shit-disturbers Slow and roots-music icon Frazey Ford to up-and-comers like Peach Pyramid, Gentle Mind, and Parlour Panther, there’s something for everyone. (Well, there’s nothing for people who hate music, but they’ll probably stay home anyway.) And admission is free. Really, actually free. No strings—or tickets—attached. Here are a few highlights.

HALEY BLAIS (Hyundai Maple Stage at 6:30 p.m.) If you like your singer-songwriters as smart as they are self-deprecating—and if you can’t seem to make a Spotify playlist that doesn’t have Cat Power, Angel Olsen, or Courtney Barnett on it—haley Blais is about to become your new musical obsession. It takes a special sort of awesome to craft a sing-along refrain out of lyrics like “I never wanted anything/and I never got it.”

(Trafalgar Stage at 5 p.m.) Take the name Kitty and the Rooster, and combine it with the fact guitarist Noah Walker and drummer Jodie Ponto wear chicken and cat masks in their promo shots, and one might expect a barnyard version of Slipknot. Wrong. Because those things can be sweaty under stage lights, the masks tend to come off quickly as the duo unleashes a retro-spectacular sound that slots in nicely with Southern Culture on the Skids, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, and the Reverend Horton Heat. Those who like a serving of politics with their country-fried goodness will want to muscle their way to the front of the stage for the ode to local real-estate idiocy that is “Paid a Million Dollars (To Live Like You’re Poor)”—a song that might as well be modern Vancouver’s municipal anthem.

KITTY AND THE ROOSTER

LEISURE CLUB (TD Music Burrard Stage at 2:30 p.m.) The five members of Leisure Club may be so laid-back they’re nearly horizontal, but their music tells a different story. Punchy and upbeat, the group’s debut album builds catchy riffs out of surf-guitar licks and keyboard swirls. Breathing new life into the indie-rock genre, Leisure Club has created the perfect soundtrack for reminiscing about teenage summer holidays, filled with angst and promise in equal measure.

SAM TUDOR (Hyundai Maple Stage at 7:30 p.m.) For a city that’s never gotten the media attention of Toronto, Los Angeles, or even Seattle, Vancouver has produced some truly killer songs over the years. Right up there with Slow’s immortal “Have Not Been the Same” and Dan Mangan’s devastating “Robots” is Sam Tudor’s “Truthful”, a quietly sinister meditation for those days when all you want to do is stay inside with the curtains drawn and the chairs stacked up against the door. The song is drawn from Tudor’s sometimes symphonic, sometimes stripped-to-basics sophomore album, Quotidian Dream, a record that—in the tradition of everything directed by David Lynch—leaves you with as many questions as answers.

CARMANAH (Music BC Balsam Stage at 7 p.m.) Carmanah launched its debut album, Speak in Rhythms, with the earthy, rich track “Roots”. Not just a nod to the group’s environmental ethos, the title of the opening song is the perfect description of its body of work. Smouldering and bluesy, the group’s music is characterized by guitar stabs and tight harmonies, adapted to everything from intimate singer-songwriter ditties to big festival sing-alongs.

Given that it took place 40 years ago, D.O.A.’S first public performance is remarkably vivid in frontman Joe Keithley’s memory. On February 20, 1978, Keithley stepped on-stage at Vancouver’s Japanese Hall alongside his bandmates Randy Rampage (bass), Chuck Biscuits (drums), and, um, Harry Homo (more about him later) to bash through a set of hard-charging punk-rock tunes on borrowed gear. Well, part of a set, at any rate. “We only knew about three songs, plus half of another,” Keithley says, calling the Straight from his Burnaby home. “We played those, to a not really great reception from the audience, who were looking at us like ‘Who the hell are these guys?’ When we finished that, because they were so short, we said, ‘Well, let’s play them again.’ So we started playing again.

“At that point, the guys from the Generators—or whoever’s gear it was, I can’t remember—got up onstage, and we got into a bit of a wrestling match, with them trying to push us off the stage. So I remember jumping off the stage at the Japanese Hall with my guitar, and I thought it was a triumphant moment.”

For him, maybe. Not so much for Harry. D.O.A.’S first gig ended up being his last, and he has since become a mere footnote, albeit a colourful one, in Vancouver punk history.

“He came along and saw us practising, and he said, ‘Hey, you guys are pretty good. I’ll be the singer, you be the band. We’ll start a band called D.O.A. and we’ll make a million bucks,’ ” Keithley recalls. “And Randy, Chuck, and I went, ‘This guy’s pretty smart. He’s got some good ideas. A million dollars? You’re kidding, right?’”

Sadly, what the would-be rock star had in the enthusiasm department, he lacked in rhythm. “Harry was a super guy, but he didn’t have any sense of timing,” Keithley says. “We were showing him ‘This is where you start the verse, this is where you start the chorus.’ He was great on-stage, kind of a wild, crazy persona, but he just had no sense of timing.”

Keithley, of course, stepped into the role of D.O.A. singer-guitarist, and, aside from a couple of short hiatuses, he’s been there ever since. And while it’s not his sole focus—the always politically minded hardcore pioneer is vying to unseat Derek Corrigan and become mayor of Burnaby in October’s civic election—d.o.a. has kept Keithley pretty busy in its 40th year.

In April, D.O.A. (which currently includes drummer Paddy Duddy and bassist Mike Hodsall) released a new album, the raw and scathing Fight Back. The trio followed that up with the first leg of a North American tour, which will resume this month after a hometown show that also happens to be the inaugural Fight Back Festival.

That event, which takes place at the Rickshaw Theatre, will feature performances by other local music-scene veterans including Roots Roundup, Ford Pier, and David M. of No Fun, as well as an exhibition of photos by Bev Davies, whose camera documented the early days of D.O.A., Subhumans, Pointed Sticks, and other iconic acts. The festival’s message, according to its founder, is that standing up against racism, sexism, and corporate greed is more important than ever in a time when the extreme right seems to have waded into the political mainstream.

In some ways, the current climate is an echo of the era that gave birth to punk and convinced a young Keithley, who had already done some work with Greenpeace and was studying to become a civil-rights lawyer, to get even more involved in progressive causes.

“As the ’80s went along, you had real right-wing zealots like Ronald Reagan, and of course Margaret Thatcher was prominent, and Helmut Kohl in Germany and of course our very own B.s.–ing Brian Mulroney,” he says. “That is punk rock. Those people were probably the biggest influence on punk rock, not Johnny Rotten, not Jello Biafra or Henry Rollins or anybody like that. It was a reaction to the times.”

The rebel spirit that drove D.O.A. in the ’70s and ’80s is still very much alive in Keithley today, and he makes it very clear that he has no regrets about spending the past four decades fighting the good fight in the punkrock trenches.

“It was the freedom of expression and the chance to question authority that I thought was really vital and alive about punk rock, and that’s what drew me to it,” he says. “I never would have suspected that I would spend my entire adult life involved in punk rock. I would have told you you were crazy if you had suggested that to me at the time—and I think most people would have agreed on the spot!”

First, I want to thank BETTER, WIFE, PPP, PISS, CHOMP, ERECT, and everyone else who wrote in. I do feel obligated to point out, however, that these are anecdotes, not data. And while there isn’t data to back up my position—that sex doesn’t generally get better after marriage—my pile of anecdotes is a whole lot bigger. So I’m going to continue to urge people to establish basic sexual compatibility before marriage rather than hoping a so-so sexual connection—or a nonexistent one—will somehow get better after marriage. But it can be done. You just need to have PPP’S luck or be married to someone willing to do the work, like CHOMP’S spouse was, or fortunate enough to wind up with someone willing to take the leak, like PISS’S spouse was.

On the Lovecast, Justin Lehmiller on the true nature of sexual fantasies: savagelovecast.com. Email: mail@ savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitter

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