X
X is an American rock band from the first wave of American punk rock, formed in Los Angeles in 1977. While they achieved only limited mainstream success, they were widely considered one of the most influential, accessible and tuneful of Los Angeles' many punk bands. Their 1980 record Los Angeles resonated so loudly with the citizens of the city that it is named after, that the band received an Official Certificate of Recognition from the City of Los Angeles in acknowledgment of their important contributions to Los Angeles music and culture. They were hugely influential on various genres of music, including punk, hardcore punk, and folk.
Original members were Exene Cervenka (born Christine Cervenka, vocals), John Doe (born John Duchac, bass and vocals), Billy Zoom (born Tyson Kindell, guitar) and DJ Bonebrake (born Donald J. Bonebrake, drums). After Zoom retired from the band, Tony Gilkyson replaced him on guitar. Zoom reunited with X in 1998. The original line-up tours after having reunited in the early 2000s.
Their first four albums had a hard-driving sound that occasionally flirted with rockabilly and blues; one critic suggests that X "were not just one of the greatest punk bands, but one of the greatest live rock acts of all time." By the time of their fifth album, Ain't Love Grand!, the band had taken a more mainstream hard rock-oriented direction, and began to appear on shows such as American Bandstand. X, however, had previously appeared on television for a 1984 performance on Late Night with David Letterman.
In many ways from songwriting to performances X's first albums were distinctive when compared to many of their punk peers (except Cervenka, all band members had previous musical experience before forming X). One critic writes that X were "too self-conscious, artsy and ambitious to simply spew" in typical punk fashion.
1977-1979: Formation and Dangerhouse era
X was founded by bassist/singer John Doe and guitarist Billy Zoom. Doe brought his poetry-writing girlfriend Exene Cervenka to band practices, and she eventually joined the band as a vocalist. Drummer DJ Bonebrake was the last of the original members to join.
X's first record deal was with independent label Dangerhouse, for which the band produced two singles, "Adult Books" (1978) and "Los Angeles" ("We're Desperate" was the b-side to "Adult Books"). The Dangerhouse session version of "Los Angeles" was also featured in a Dangerhouse compilation in 1979 called "Yes L.A." (a play on the now-famous No Wave compilation No New York), a picture disc that featured other early-punk-era LA bands like the Weirdos and Black Randy.
1980-1981: Los Angeles and Wild Gift
As the band became the flag bearer for the local scene, a larger independent label, Slash Records, signed the band to issue its first LP. The result was their first LP release, Los Angeles (1980) (produced by The Doors' keyboard player, Ray Manzarek). It was a minor hit and was well received by the underground press and mainstream media. Much of X's early material had a rockabilly edge. Doe and Cervenka co-wrote most of the group's songs, and their slightly off-kilter harmony vocals remain perhaps the group's most distinctive element. Their lyrics tended to be straight-out poetry, with comparisons to Charles Bukowski and Raymond Chandler were made from the start.
X The Unheard Music
Their follow-up effort, 1981's Wild Gift, broadened the band's profile when it was named "Record of the Year" by Rolling Stone, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and the Village Voice. Wild Gift, like their debut album, was released on Slash records, and was similar in musicial style, although Wild Gift featured shorter, faster songs; arguably their most stereotypically punk-sounding record.
1982-1984: Elektra era and The Knitters
X then signed to Elektra in 1982 to release Under the Big Black Sun, which marked a slight departure from their trademark sound. While still fast and loud, the album's country leanings were evolving and its raw punk sound was channeling raw guitar power chords. The album was heavily influenced by the premature death of Exene Cervenka's elder sister Mirielle (Mary) in an automobile accident in 1980. Three songs on the album, "Riding With Mary", "Come Back To Me", and the title track all directly relate to the tragedy. A fourth, a high-speed version of Leadbelly's "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes", was indirectly attributed to Exene Cervenka's mournful state of mind years later. The stark black & white cover art and title were also a reflection of the somber mood of the band during this time. Nonetheless, this album remains Exene's favorite X album
"You know, my favorite record is Under the Big Black Sun, so everything else is kind of . . . I'm saying if I had to sit down in a room and put on an X record which I don't generally do I have recently listened to some X records but I generally don't listen to myself the record I would pick to listen to would be Under the Big Black Sun.
1983 saw the release of the More Fun in the New World album. X slightly redefined their sound with this release, making it somewhat more polished, eclectic and radio-ready than in previous albums. Some of the band's fan base[who?] from their earliest LA area gigging days were disappointed, feeling the band had taken a more commercial approach. With the sound moving away from punk rock, the band's rockabilly influence became even more noticeable, along with some new elements like funk on the track "True Love pt. II" and Woody Guthrie-influenced folk protest songs like "The New World" and "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts." The record received critical praise from Rolling Stone and Playboy, who had long been stalwart supporters and fans of X and their sound.
A side project of some of the band members was Poor Little Critter In The Road in 1985, under the name The Knitters: X minus Zoom, plus Dave Alvin (of The Blasters) on guitar and Johnny Ray Bartel (of The Red Devils) on double bass. The Knitters were devoted to folk and country music; their take of Merle Haggard's "Silver Wings" "may be the definitive version."
Despite the overwhelmingly positive critical reception for their first 4 albums, the band was frustrated by its lack of wider mainstream success. Billy Zoom had also stated that he would leave the band unless its next album was not more successful. The band decided to change producers in search of a more accessible sound. Their 5th record, Ain't Love Grand, was produced by pop-metal producer Michael Wagener. It featured a drastic change in sound, especially in the polished and layered production, while the band's punk roots were little in evidence, replaced by a countrified version of hard rock. The change in production was hoped to bring the band more chart success, but although it got somewhat more mainstream radio play than their earlier releases, it did not represent a commercial breakthrough. Zoom left the group shortly thereafter in 1986, the same year in which the feature-length documentary film, X The Unheard Music was released.
Zoom was initially replaced by Alvin on guitar. The band then added a 5th member, guitarist Tony Gilkyson, formerly of the band Lone Justice. By the time the band released its 6th album, See How We Are, Alvin had already left the band, although he plays on the record along with Gilkyson. Like Ain't Love Grand, the album's sound was fairly far removed from the band's punk origins, yet featured a punchy, energetic, hard-rocking roots rock sound that in many ways represented a more natural progression from their earlier sound than the previous record had. After touring for the album, X released a live record of the tour entitled Live at the Whisky a Go-Go, and then went on an extended hiatus.
X 2004 concert photo at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco
1993-1995: First reunion, Hey Zeus! and Unclogged
X regrouped in the early 1990s to record their 7th studio album, Hey Zeus!. The album marked somewhat of a retreat from the increasingly roots-rock direction that the band's past few records had gone in, instead featuring an eclectic alternative-rock sound that fit in well with the then-current musical climate. Despite this, it failed to become a hit, although two of its songs, Country at War and New Life peaked at numbers 15 and 26 on the Billboard Modern Rock charts, respectively. The band followed it with an acoustic live album Unclogged in 1995.
1997-2004: Hiatus and second reunion
In 1997, X released a compilation called Beyond and Back: The X Anthology, which focused heavily on the early years with Billy Zoom, included a number of previously unreleased versions of songs that had appeared on their previous albums. At the same time, they also announced that they were disbanding. However, they did a farewell tour to promote the compilation in 1998, with Zoom returning on guitar. The original line-up also returned to the studio for the final time, with Ray Manzarek reprising his role as producer, to record a cover of The Doors' The Crystal Ship for the soundtrack for the The X-Files: Fight The Future. Although the band has any new studio material material since then, it continues to perform live with Zoom on guitar.
'X: The Unheard Music' was released on DVD in 2005, as was the concert DVD 'X: Live In Los Angeles', which commemorates the 25th anniversary of the band’s landmark debut album, Los Angeles.
2005-2007: Reunion of The Knitters
In 2005, Doe, Cervenka and Bonebrake reunited with Dave Alvin and Johnny Ray Bartel to release a second Knitters album, 20 years after the first, entitled The Modern Sound of the Knitters. In summer 2006, X toured North America on the "As The World Burns" Tour 2006 with the Rollins Band and Riverboat Gamblers. Starting in the Spring of 2008, X is touring on their "13X31 Tour", with Skybombers and the Detroit Cobras, with all original members. "13X31" is a reference to their 31st Anniversary.
2008-present: Recent news
X announced in late 2008, via their Myspace.com blog, that John and Exene have been playing and writing new material together. No release date for a new record has been scheduled as of yet.
X are slated to appear at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Sunday, April 19th, and at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Minehead, England from the 15th-17th May where they have been invited to perform by the festivals curators The Breeders.
Solo material
Over the years, both Doe and Cervenka have released solo albums, with Doe moved more toward roots music in his solo work. While Cervenka's solo albums have also been in a more folk or country vein, she has also fronted punk bands like Auntie Christ and The Original Sinners. Since 1986, Doe has also maintained a busy second career as an actor, appearing in such films as Oliver Stone's Salvador, Allison Anders' Border Radio and Sugar Town, the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire, Miguel Arteta's The Good Girl, Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights, and the independent feature Roadside Prophets, in which he starred with Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz. He was a regular cast member of the television series Roswell on WB Television Network and UPN
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