FILM SUMMARY

Throughout the 1980s, bands like D.O.A. helped define the decade’s deafening hardcore punk sound, paving the way for the eventual explosion of punk groups through radio and MTV in the decades to come. While punk rock’s upper echelon may no longer be as culturally seditious as they once were,  the genre’s effect on a new generation of activists and aspiring politicians has never been more clear.

In 2018, after 40 years of fighting against oppression, homelessness and corporate greed in the U.S. and in his native Canada, D.O.A. frontman, activist and cultural politician Joey “Shithead” Keithley decided to turn art into life and run against the outspoken Mayor of Burnaby (population: 250,000+), Derek Corrigan. Against all odds—and with only a $7000 campaign budget—Keithley won a city councillor seat in Burnaby, BC that year and helped to unseat the entrenched five-term Corrigan.

Will Keithley’s message and DIY approach to campaigning resonate with voters in the upcoming Burnaby election of 2022? Win or lose, we will document him every step of the way as he campaigns for a second term. This is a film that will explore how music and activism continue to interlink, with music often serving as an introduction to social issues that inspire people to get involved and foster dynamic change.