There is one band though that has managed to hang together all these years, and that is the Vancouver outfit D.O.A. From the early years back in the 70s until today, they are still out there railing against the system. With their own label, Sudden Death Records, they are able to regularly produce CDs as well as provide a home for another bands who are too alternative for other companies.
In an effort to let people today know what the band was all about back in their earlier days they have compiled footage of the band performing at various locations along the West Coast. The final result, Smash The State: The Raw Original D.O.A. 1978-81 has been put out in conjuncture with MVD Visual on a new DVD.
The DVD contains excerpts from five separate gigs, a T.V. shoot, and some Bonus Shit. Of the live gigs the first one recorded in 1980 at On Broadway in San Francisco and The Anarchist Anti-Canada Day concert in Stanley Park Vancouver in 1978 have the best sound and video quality. Of the other three, neither the sound nor the video quality is good enough to be anything more then annoying. In one case, the vocals are lost completely, in another, the sound is like mud and you can't distinguish the individual instruments, and in the third, you can barely discern the band the video quality is so bad.
The two live gigs that are good, and the two songs shot in studios (one being the video for the song "World War 3" included in the Bonus Shit) give an indication of what the band is capable of. What's interesting is the Anarchist Picnic is from early in the Band's career – in fact it marked their first appearance as a four-piece band – and the contrast between that gig and the one in 1980 at On Broadway shows you how quickly they developed into a polished and effective band.
In 1978 they were a high energy punk rock band but they lacked the cohesion to be completely effective. Joe Shithead's vocals were mainly just shouted out and he wasn't able to do much more in terms of modulating his voice. You could see the potential they had to be a really good punk band if they were to stick together and keep working at it.
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