Joe Keithley of D.O.A.’s punk-turned-politician doc gets new trailer & screenings

Something Better Change, the new documentary about Joe “Shithead” Keithley of D.O.A. that follows his journey from hardcore frontperson to elected Green Party politician, came out last year and is now set to get its Vancouver and Montreal premiere screenings this May, at Rio Theatre on 5/24 (including a Q&A with Joe) and BBAM! Gallery on 5/29, respectively. Along with the announcement comes a new trailer, which you can watch below, and U.S. screenings are being promised too.

Choice quote from the trailer: “People didn’t necessarily wanna vote for Joe Shithead. I think what happened [is] they went, ‘Well, we usually vote for shitheads, so why not Joe Shithead this time?'”

Something Better Change was directed, written, and produced by Scott Crawford (Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington DC, 1980-90, CREEM: America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine), and co-produced by Paul Rachman (American Hardcore). It stars Duff McKagan, Ian MacKaye, Henry Rollins, East Bay Ray (Dead Kennedys), Penelope Houston (Avengers), Keith Morris, Beto O’Rourke, Jello Biafra, and more.

Speaking about it, Our Band Could Be Your Life author Michael Azerrad said, “Joe Keithley’s journey from cultural politician to politician is a lesson in applied punk: the guy is a lifer, he literally practices what he preaches. That’s what makes ‘Something Better Change’ such an inspiring movie — and goodness knows, it couldn’t be more timely.”