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Joey Goes to China: Interview with Joey Keithley of D.O.A.

Joey Goes to China: Interview with Joey Keithley of D.O.A.

Date: Jan 05 2009
Category: Music

Themes: Alternative, Interview, Travel

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

As the leader of the first Canadian hardcore punk band, D.O.A., Joey Keithley has been performing political punk rock all over the world for 30 years. Well, not all over the world…yet. This week, D.O.A. will perform in China for the first time ever. Joey took a quick break from packing to talk to Jason on the phone. Listen to their conversation below.

Listen to Dialog

Next Step: Dialog

Ask Ebaby! Teachers Ask Ebaby! English Questions about this lesson Go Super!

Intro

As the leader of the first Canadian hardcore punk band, D.O.A., Joey Keithley has been performing political punk rock all over the world for 30 years. Well, not all over the world…yet. This week, D.O.A. will perform in China for the first time ever. Joey took a quick break from packing to talk to Jason on the phone. Listen to their conversation below.

Dialog

Jason

Jason

 Joey

Joey

Jason:  Have you guys ever been to China before?

Joey:  No we have not. This will be a first.

Jason:  And what do you expect the punk climate in China to be like?

Joey:  I don’t know. I guess I’m going there to find out. I’m also going there to find out.But it will be an eyeopener culturally, politically and musically. You know what? I’m hoping to stumble across some great Chinese band and sign them up to my record label.

Jason:  Oh are you? Cool. I wanted to ask you about the band’s slogan, “Talk – Action = 0.” I wondered if singing a protest song is talk or action.

Joey:  I guess in a sense you’re trying to inspire people to action, or inspire yourself, I suppose, right. It’s both, I suppose, right? You can change the world to a far greater degree by convincing people that you have a good idea and getting that idea to spread around as opposed to taking a violent method, which I’m not backing.

Jason:  Great. And the last thing I wanted to ask you is, we always have people define a slang term so our members can learn a new term and I figured an obvious choice is the name of your band, and I wondered if you could just explain what the name means.

Joey:  Yeah. It’s Dead on Arrival. It’s like a toe-tag. So when an ambulance picks up a body and they’re not quite dead when they arrive at the hospital, they stick a tag, I think on their right toe and it says, “D.O.A.” on it, because they arrived dead. So the most famous D.O.A. is John F Kennedy.

Jason:  Does it ever come up outside of a morgue?

Joey:  It’s a common thing in the band practice. “If you don’t get this part right, you’re going to be D.O.A.”

Jason:  Nice.

Joey:  We don’t threaten each other quite that much. But it’s something like that, like, “You’re D.O.A.” It’s gonna be curtains in some way or another.

 

 

Grammar Point

Did you notice that Joey says “right” at the end of a lot of his sentences? That’s because he’s Canadian. If you want to talk like a Canadian, you can say, “right” where an American would say, “you know.”

Try it out! Instead of saying, “It’s been a long week, so I’d just like to relax and watch some baseball, you know?” try saying, “It’s been a long week, so I’d like just to relax and watch some hockey, right?”

Discussion

Discussion - Join the discussion to learn more and make friends.

Joey has never been to China before, so he’s excited to learn what Chinese punk rock is all about. He says he’d like to release an album by a Chinese band on his label, Sudden Death Records.

A lot of D.O.A. songs are about political issues like the environment and freedom of speech. The band’s slogan is “talk – action = 0,” which means that if you only talk about making a change and never do anything about it, nothing ever changes. Joey says that singing a protest song can be productive because it can reach a lot of people and inspire them to action.

Finally, Joey explains the name of his band. D.O.A. is an acronym for Dead on Arrival. If someone is injured and then dies on the way to the hospital, that person is D.O.A..

But ideas and objects can be D.O.A. too. If you order a new computer, but it arrives broken, you could say it was D.O.A.. It was probably OK when it was mailed, but it was dead by the time it arrived to you. An idea can also be D.O.A. if it seemed like a good idea when you thought of it, but by the time you start explaining it to someone, you can tell it’s a bad idea. Joey also says that he and his band mates say, “You’re going to be D.O.A.” as a joking threat.

D.O.A.’s Chinese tour dates are below click here to buy tickets or visit D.O.A.’s MySpace page. Go to the Ebaby! blog to see more D.O.A. tour dates in Europe and the US and to read the rest of Jason’s interview with Joey.

Jan 9 – Mao Live in Beijing
Jan 10 – Vox Bar in Wuhan
Jan 11 – Yuyintang in Shanghai
Jan 12 – Castle Bar in Nanjing
Jan 13 – D-22 in Beijing

Is there punk rock in your city? What’s it like? Have you ever thought of an idea that turned out be D.O.A. or ordered something that arrived broken?

 

Comprehension Quiz

  1. A lot of D.O.A. songs are about _.

  2. Since Joey says that he’d like to “stumble accross” a cool Chinese band, you can assume…

  3. Which uses “D.O.A.” correctly?

  4. The company went out of business, so our proposal ____.

  5. In which sentence could “right” be replaced with “you know?”

Comments

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05:35 PM Oct 04 2009 | Reply

juanjo_perez

Guatemala

i couldn't agree more with BeeBee, Chinese culture is one of the most influent culture in the world and if the "american" people can't take it, so screw them!. I don't believe the "american" people are as free as they say. long life to Punk Rock and if you want to listen a very kick ass band i recomendd you Pennywise!! or Rise against too

04:44 AM May 03 2009 | Reply

captivity

Saudi Arabia

cool so interesting

06:55 AM Mar 10 2009 | Reply

UspringU

China

sounds intersting!0

09:44 AM Jan 15 2009 | Reply

Josè Manuel Cervantes G.

Mexico

It´s interesting, everyday we know new things about music and about differences in the English .

05:32 PM Jan 09 2009 | Reply

magic1015

magic1015

China

ohhh i will go to see them in voxbar with friends!

 

08:47 AM Jan 09 2009 | Reply

makkehund

Germany

Well, i think there are so many different culture in every contry an in every part in the world.
So this is a good plattform to talk whitout the news from
TV ore Radio and maby we find out what they didn’t tell us…...

02:26 AM Jan 09 2009 | Reply

SUIXIAO

China

I don't know why you so many forieners say that we Chinese have little right and where you got it. I think you foriegners in Eourope or other western countries also don't have much right. Yes, it's sounds that American have equal rights. But in fact, people only who have enough money can join the selection of President. So it's only the game of people who have much money. And the seletion narrow the range of the people who can join it by making many other rules. So its route is to maintain its own rule of the country by other means. So your rights are only at the appeace. And it seams that you have many rights. But in fact it's not.

 

12:20 AM Jan 09 2009 | Reply

kukuka

kukuka

Ukraine

i hope sometime all of us will have things chinese people have. They are perfect and their sagacity and energy extort the unwilling admiration of their ill-wishers. I take off my hat out of respect.

12:02 PM Jan 08 2009 | Reply

Marcelolic

Marcelolic

Brazil

Here in Brazil we have great names of moviment punk rock as “Ratos de Porão”(Basement of Rats) and “Raimundos”(cover of Ramones);)

11:58 AM Jan 08 2009 | Reply

Marcelolic

Marcelolic

Brazil

The moviment punk rock always talked about political issues,here in Brazil mainly,I like it.Certainty the music it's a good form to mobilize the people on mankind mistakes Smile

06:02 AM Jan 08 2009 | Reply

leaf2660

China

BeeBee,I'm agree with you,that's what i want to say.

10:29 PM Jan 07 2009 | Reply

nch

China

Friends!Not all people share the same interests,but we can make friends with peson who do not have our interests!

08:53 PM Jan 07 2009 | Reply

zoebaby

zoebaby

China

if i don't make a mistake the topic is "is there punk rock in your city?" so what your guys are talking about? hey,guys that's not the issue…and whatever happened in china that 's none of your bussiness..right?

05:25 AM Jan 06 2009 | Reply

centoir

centoir

Philippines

Yep, Lots of local band here with the same as DOA. I enjoy the lesson you know? Its incomplete without ebaby. Right?

03:45 AM Jan 06 2009 | Reply

BeeBee

BeeBee

China

Good lesson(_)

10:35 PM Jan 05 2009 | Reply

BeeBee

BeeBee

China

Erm… Why you guys all focus on politics particularly…? China is quite different from what you think or learn from the reports and books written in 50’s and 60’s… Here is not a prison. Yes, Chinese people are quite reserved and even restrained… But it shouldn’t be explained only by the reason that the government gives few rights to its people. The character of our nation plays an important part in explaining why, i think. This style of living has lasted its life for 5000 years. And i think it’s ok. Because we are not Americans or Europeans or other racials, we are Chinese… Thanks for your consideration for chinese people. But, at least i think, you should not require us chinese have the same attitude and character ,towards politics and other aspects in life, as people in your country…

07:56 PM Jan 05 2009 | Reply

cooller

cooller

China

i don't know what happened…..

06:59 PM Jan 05 2009 | Reply

harchinSuper Member!

Mongolia

 action my chinese friend!!

06:55 PM Jan 05 2009 | Reply

foxing

foxing

China

Sealed

03:14 PM Jan 05 2009 | Reply

Alex Paiva

Brazil

 "I truly hope that,Chinese goverment can let the people got more freedom,nd the rules can be changed cause the way i see ,chinese people have more duty's than they own right's,Must be  tought to do whatever the Wise Guys order u to do,etc.