D.O.A.

Biography

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D.O.A. (1978-1990, 2002-2013, 2014-present): a Metalcore band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

hort for Dead On Arrival, D.O.A was a name that reflected their no-nonsense approach, unceasing radical stance, and uncompromising musical approach that would make D.O.A. one of the pioneers of the early 1980s hardcore metal scene.

Originally under the name of The Skulls, a punk act, out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the band would reform with the membership of Joey "Shithead" Keithley (vocals/guitar), Randy Rampage (bass) and Chuck Biscuits (Real Name: Charles Montgomery; drums), D.O.A. started with a set of early 7"s, including the infamous Disco Sucks EP in 1978. They then signed to Jello Biafra's (ex-Dead Kennedys) 'Alternative Tentacles' label to release their debut album Hardcore '81 (1981), and the highly influential album Positively DOA in 1982, an album with such political hotties as Fucked Up Ronnie, a track that underscored their punk rock rock and radical political influences.

D.O.A's appearance on 1984's Bloodied But Unbowed would prove to be another timely moment in their career. The War On 45 EP featured the arrival of new members Dave Gregg (guitar/vocals; who had actually been assisting them since 1980; Keithley would handle only vocals from this point on), Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery (drums) and Brian "Sunny Boy Roy" Goeble (bass/vocals) replacing Biscuits and Rampage (who was fired) respectively, who would later join Circle Jerks, Black Flag, and then Danzig.

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D.O.A's deceptively simple style came to a climax on Let's Wreck The Party in 1985, with True (North) Strong And Free (1987) following. Both the '85 and '87 releases would see the band taking on a more mainstream, hard-rock oriented production, but without watering down the band's political lyrical focus.

More personnel changes were to follow when Dave Gregg left to form Groovaholics, with Chris Prohom replacing him. Dimwit was replaced by Kerr Belliveau who stayed only three weeks with the band before being replaced by Jon Card (ex-Personality Crisis) for the 1990 album Murder, an album released around the same time of D.O.A's collaboration with Jello Biafra titled Last Scream Of The Missing Neightbours that same year.

The act stuck by their hardcore leaning with a set of albums during the 1990s but now off of 'Alternative Tentacles', including 13 Flavours Of Doom (1992), Loggerheads (1993), The Black Spot (1996) and Festival Of Atheists (1998) with them rejoining 'Alternative Tentacles' between '92 and '96.

19 months after D.O.A. broke up, Keithley and Roy reunited in the summer of 1992, along with Ken Jensen (drums), Jon Wright (keyboards) and Ken Jensen (drums). Jensen would subsequently die in a house fire in 1995.

This whole line-up wouldn't last, however, and saw the band split once more to return in 2002 to release Win the Battle (2002) featuring The Great Baldini (drums), Randy Rampage (bass) and Joey Shithead (guitar/vocals). Dan Yaremko would assume bass for Live Free Or Die (2004), while Floor Tom Jones assumed drums for Northern Avenger (2008). Yaremko had left but was back for Kings of Punk, Hockey and Beer (2009), while Jesse Pinner assumed drums in time for Talk-Action=0 (2010) and We Come In Peace (2012).

After yet another hiatus when Keithley announced that he would be seeking nomination as a political candidate in the provincial election of 2012, the band reformed for Hard Rain Falling (2015) and Fight Back (2018), with the line-up featuring Keithley along with Mike Hodsall (bass) and Paddy Duddy (drums). Treason (2020) would follow.