JOEY SHITHEAD
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Doubtless JOEY SHITHEAD has gone through a few changes since his visit to Eastern Canada, so we decided to find out what was happening with JOEY and what exactly was going on down in Toronto.
Snot Rag - What happened when you first got to Toronto?
Joey Shithead - We played a bunch of gigs, not much money though. The first gig, was at this really gross pub called the "Gasworks!" It was the equivalent to the "Zodiac" or "Black Barts". That pub sort of specialized in keyboard oriented bands, sort of like the big rock show bands.
S.R. - How did you get the gig?
J.S. - It was about 2 days after we got in, there's a guy called Greek Godovitch, he calls his band GODDO. He was claiming to be punk and we were there...SIMON just went up, asked him and said, "This is a bunch of shit, you guys ain't punks." So he let us play, which went over okay. Then that weekend, we back up THE VILETONES at "David's". That was the last time we played "David's", though because they wouldn't let us back anymore.
S.R. - What was the problem?
J.S. - Well, there's a three different reasons, one was that I had taken a spray can and painted "Skulls" all over Toronto and the police were supposed to be looking for us. The second was the manager told Jerry one night that the SKULLS don't behave themselves. Third was that the guy who managed the VILETONES also booked the bands for "David's". To be perfectly honest we were one fuck of a lot better than the VILETONES, so we were sort of cutting into their market.
S.R. - What about other gigs?
J.S. - We played a couple times at the "Shock Theatre". That was fucked, it's like all seats. It can hold about 400 people. The problem with that was, the people who ran it, they were really poor at promoting. The biggest crowd they ever had was for THE DIODES, it was 225 and about 125-150 of that were on guest passes.
S.R. - Who did you back up at the "Shock"?
J.S. - THE UGLY and THE MISFITS.
S.R. - Are they both pretty good?
J.S. - THE UGLY are Toronto's best band, THE MISFITS are okay, they're from New Jersey. They just drove into town and said they'd like to play a gig, then stuck up some posters. I went down to see them and we played.
S.R. - Did you get a chance to go to New York?
J.S. - No, I think we should have gone straight to England, or we should have put more effort into Toronto. We just sort of sat around. I think our biggest mistake was not having an independent single before we went.
S.R. - Is the scene in Toronto really good, or do you think it's had it?
J.S. - It was going good last summer, there were about 20 bands, that I know of. I saw about 15 of them and most of them aren't so great, some are really bad. It seemed like the snow slowed everything down there. Like everything grinds to a halt in the dead of winter. I think it might pick up again this summer but, what they need is some people who are able to promote things.
S.R. - Why did the SKULLS break up?
J.S. - I guess it happened because I came to Vancouver while those guys were in England. I was supposed to go over later, it's pretty weird. I think sometimes I made the wrong decision, I don't know. The best thing for us would have been, just to stay here. Cause we'd probably be doing pretty good by now. I think SIMON was the biggest influence, cos he was so gung ho about us going to the U.K. I don't know, maybe we could have gotten somewhere in England. But I just thought I'm not an Englishman. I think the SKULLS should have stayed here.
S.R. - What are they bands like in Toronto?
J.S. - Not all the bands are the same, take THE UGLY, they're my favorite band in Toronto. They're really good guys. A couple of them used to be in a commercial rock band a few years ago, they learned to play there. Then there's NAZI DOG, he's more into a NAZI DOG ego trip, cause he's sort of a figurehead for the punks in Toronto. Then you've got THE VILETONES, they're just about always out of tune, the drummer's a little behind on his rolls, they're not very tight. They're more visual, that's their best point. (Note: Nazi Dog A.K.A. Steven Leckie was the Viletones singer) Whereas, THE UGLY are visual too but they are also tighter musically.
S.R. - What do you think of it here now?
J.S. - I think it's much better here now. At "David's" they get up and dance when they play PISTOLS, on the stereo but they don't dance for the bands. Out here, like at the best things, there's lots of people dancing. They don't just there like they're watching television. It's phonier there.
S.R. - Are the high school kids into it, back there?
J.S. - No cause of the liquor laws, I think that's stupid because the real future of New Wave lies in the young people.
Not wasting any time getting back into the harness, JOEY is fronting a brand new group called D.O.A. (DEAD ON ARRIVAL). They've been working hard writing and the fruits of their efforts can be heard at the Japanese Hall, Saturday March 11, 1978.
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