Prairie dog hack Stephen LaRose wrote to several musicians who played at the venerated rock club at 1326 Hamilton Street, known by various names throughout the years: The Schnitzel Haus, The Venue, Channel One, The State and The Distrikt, asking for their remembrances. Here’s the memories of one Joe (Joey Shithead) Keithley, Long-time punk-rock singer-songwriter and leader of Vancouver-based D.O.A., president of Sudden Death Records, and the British Columbia New Democratic Party candidate in the riding of Coquitlam-Burne Mountain.
I certainly remember the Schnitzel Haus, we laughed when we arrived, because it was strange to play in back of a restaurant/deli run by a middle aged couple after having just done a month of playing punk rock dives across North America,
We played that show with The Extroverts who rocked and we became life long friends.
Over the years we likely played there 10 times. The name changes were strange as I would look on the contract and see we were playing a new venue in Regina! But when I looked more closely at the contract I would see that same old familiar address on Hamilton. Ahhhhh, it was like going home again.
Let’s raise a toast to the Schnitzel Haus!
Joe