Yet More DOA

Bad cellphone photography by Allan MacInnis

...So someone wrote into the Straight to gripe about the frequency of DOA farewell shows. A little research showed that in fact this is bordering on being a Vancouver punk rock urban myth. It apparently all started when DOA announced two farewell concerts in December 1990, with the second taking place something like thirteen days after the first, both at the Commodore. Some people rolled their eyes at that - "didn't they just break up two weeks ago" - but it made sense; the first show had sold out almost instantly, a lot of people hadn't gotten to see it, and - well, I'm sure money may have had something to do with it, too, but all the same, it wasn't a fake farewell: the band called it quits for nearly two years after that. I couldn't quite go into that much detail in the resulting Payback Time in the Straight, but it was amusing to contemplate that out of that one moment of, um, frailty, this whole mythos was spawned, of DOA being the band that breaks up and reunites all the damn time...

Also of interest for DOA fans: I put together a DOA article for The Big Takeover website, to promote the four California farewell shows, starting tonight. It's made up mostly of outtakes from my original Straight piece, but it still isn't without interest, I hope!

The photos here are from DOA's Victoria farewell at Club 9one9, January 27th. Nice venue - great sound, the stage at just the right height, and there's an actual honest to god PIT for moshers, perfectly designed, with the rest of the venue on different levels, so you can see over people's heads and not get jostled! Some smart-as-hell venue-design; surprised I've never seen a space quite like it before. People interested in checking it out should note that Nomeansno will be playing there in late February, in addition to their March 2nd Rickshaw gig...

Okay, enough DOA already!

PS - holy shit! Spinning Loggerheads, another DOA album I missed and am only now catching up on. Goddamn is the "Folsom Prison Dirge" ever good!