Door d’Or Asks:
Do You Believe in Rock n’ Roll?
by Dakota CrvYaris
For Immediate Release
July 19, 2025
Fresh off their first show together in more than twenty years, the last thing the members of left coast indy band Door d’Or expected was a fake cover story in Car and Driver.
“It’s quite a surprise, I must say,” said drummer and amateur schvitzologist Darin Steinkey from his cedar sauna perch at Crystal Pool. “You know, we just go out there, play our asses off and hope for the best. If the fake accolades come, you know, we’ll take them. But that’s not what we’re in it for.”
As soon as yours truly entered The Coda in Victoria BC, the vibe was there. The bar was hopping, the conversations flowing, the laughing loud. On a Tuesday, you say?
Yes. That is what I say.
When reached for comment on the show, lead singer and recent 50th birthday boy Mat Geddes said, “What you want? I can’t hear you, I’m in my fifties and Tuesday night was really loud!”
Opening their newest project with Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s classic “Cortez the Killer,” the band signalled they are not fucking around. They slipped into “Get on With Life,” (inspired by Kurt Vonnegut and a bass and guitar riff Steinkey says will become a song someday) and rolled right into the grungy groove “Ornithological Naturalist.” After the Tommy Douglas-inspired “Mouseland,” the bass kicked in on The Tragically Hip’s “Escape is at Hand for the Travellin’ Man.” In homage to Gord Downie, Geddes belted out, “Maybe hang back, maybe, maybe!” Set one concluded with the original and edgy “Fibre Optics.”
“I mean, music and lyrics and art hold messages that are different for everyone,” Geddes said. “Fibre optics connect our world at light speed, and we can harvest our own light to travel as consciousness. Where we’ll go, we’ll go.”
The band took a break while Geddes (aka thegediknight) did a solo acoustic set, choosing “Shake the World” and “Walk on Water” as long-term selections from his deep catalogue to bookend the debut of “The Dripline.”
During the break, this reporter talked to everyone in the room, none of whom had any inclination of the coming cover story in Car and Driver, so the quotes he got are irrelevant. This reporter did find out, however, that Mick B. came straight from work and washed up in a sketchy hose somewhere, Ian F. didn’t show up until 7:30 because he figured no respectable band would hit the stage at 6:30 in the afternoon, and Geoff H. didn’t think the first set was loud enough, saying, “IT WASN’T LOUD ENOUGH!”
After three more originals by Geddes: “Shades of Blue,” “Kintsugi,” and “Let’s Open the Door to Our Hearts,” Ryan Clayton (guitar), Mike Ison (bass), and Steinkey retook the stage and the band treated the audience to their version of “Taj Mahal,” a nod to their Canadian brothers in Sam Roberts Band.
Of the three songs that contained overdubbed talking, “Phenomenology” worked the best, and then the band took off, rocking into Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” and their punk pop “What You Want?” two anti-war protest songs.
“My CRV is much like our music,” said Ison through his interpreter. “Compact, practical, horizontal back door that opens at inopportune times.”
As both he and the interpreter were speaking English, it was a little odd, but this seasoned rock reporter got the gist, I’m sure.
The band closed the show with their lockdown-inspired “Shelter,” which flows from steady rock to Dead-esque jams, ending with the glorious pronouncement, “Here comes the sun.” It was a true highlight for this road-weary correspondent, filled with a classic Pacific Northwest yearning for the light.
All in all, this newsy was thoroughly entertained—and not just by the band; the vibe in the crowd was joyful, electric, slightly inebriated.
“Just how we like it! What a bunch of relics!” Geddes said before teeing off on the 14th hole at Gorge Vale. “Our friends and family are the best, and we are so, SO grateful for such an amazing turnout.”
As for attaining a fake cover story for Car & Driver, Steinkey says, “It’s all part of the rock n’ roll lifestyle, you know? When I’m cruising to the gig in my 2012 Yaris, I smile and think, It’s going to be so easy to park this baby.”