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<\/a>But shows aren\u2019t always that glamorous, and Keithley loves the diversity of his lifestyle. A gig in Malaysia a few months ago, for example, was on the other end of the spectrum.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a squatted warehouse with a PA that barely worked, a drumset, a bass amp, a guitar amp that barely worked\u2014we borrowed everything,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d say it was one of the most fun shows that I\u2019ve been to in years and years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even at the squat, people were crowdsurfing; Keithley calls that \u201ca healthy portion of chaos.\u201d He hopes that the band\u2019s upcoming show in Victoria will be fun, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, c\u2019mon, Victoria. Wake up!\u201d he says. \u201cGigs in Victoria can be out of control if you get the right audience, so we\u2019ll see if this is one of those. It\u2019s well organized and people know, so there\u2019s a good chance of having a great vibe to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keithley says that sometimes when the band is travelling things such as just crossing borders can get dicey.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike in Thailand,\u201d he says. \u201cYou may or may not be arrested.\u201d<\/p>\n
But DOA is a group of fighters, and they stand up for what they believe in, fighting against income equality, sexism, and environmental destruction, to name a few causes that mean a lot to the band. As mentioned above, Keithley\u2019s passions also brought him to politics: he ran in the provincial elections for the Green Party in 1996, 2001, and 2017. Politics didn\u2019t change him, he says, adding that campaigning for change all comes down to consistency and \u201cstrength in numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I was attempting to do in that sense, with politics, was to put my vision of what I\u2019ve learnt along the way with DOA into a practical use in the term of provincial politics. It\u2019s a little bit more the other way around,\u201d he says. \u201cBeing a political candidate didn\u2019t change me; I was trying to change politics more towards me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keithley\u2019s main focus at the moment is getting DOA\u2019s upcoming record\u2014which doesn\u2019t have a title yet\u2014on the shelves. He was recently in Nelson working hard to get ready for recording sessions for the album, which will be out in late April on his own Sudden Death Records. But even releasing his own music isn\u2019t a guarantee to bring in money these days, and Keithley knows it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s just been obvious for a while,\u201d he says. \u201cThere was transition into downloads and now that\u2019s transitioned into Spotify, which pays really complete fuck-all to the artist. It\u2019s pretty much a rip off.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes down to the aforementioned income equality, which Keithley says affects everything from the environment to families to \u201cpeople having to rob stores because they got no money to pay for prescriptions when their kid is sick; that kind of injustice. That\u2019s a lot of what our focus is on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Surviving, he says, comes down to being resourceful.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be quick and think on your feet and adapt,\u201d he says. \u201cWe seem to be doing okay. I\u2019m carrying along here with my record label and with the band and dabbling in politics part time.\u201d<\/p>\n