X and Me... — Vinyl Magic

So when I started playing with Billy and John before we found DJ, they were doing Carl Perkins songs in the garage. And that was kind of unheard of in the late seventies. That music was considered pretty dead. So American roots music was always something that X played. John taught me how to sing by pulling out an acoustic guitar, and we'd sing Hank Williams songs. That's how he was trying to teach me how to sing.
Exene Cervenka

***Los Angeles (1980) signed by John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom, DJ Bonebrake***

We were trying to recapture the freedom and dangerousness that rock and roll had. Short songs. Fast and loud and wild. But I think what defined it was that freedom. You could do anything you wanted. It wasn't codified into one type of punk rock.
John Doe

Formed in Los Angeles in 1977 by John Doe and Billy Zoom, X is one of the great American punk rock bands. Their roots are rockabilly and hard core country, the music of Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, George Jones, and Johnny Cash, not the country cosmopolitan pap that mostly emanates these days from Nashville. They released seven studio albums from 1980-1993, and their debut Los Angeles (1980) was produced by The Doors' legendary keyboard player Ray Manzarek on a paltry $10,000 budget. X blisters a version of The Doors' "Soul Kitchen" and Ray even plays an organ solo on "The World's A Mess, It's In My Kiss." Ray enjoyed the band so much he produced their first four albums, and they are all great records.

***More Fun In The New World (1983) signed by X***

I saw X many times over the years and they are an incendiary live act. In 1983, they performed at the Ontario Theater in Washington DC, a converted movie theater, capacity maybe five-hundred seats. X was touring in support of More Fun In The New World and they delivered an explosive and remarkable show. Though critically acclaimed, X never made a lot of money, nor enjoyed wide commercial success, and they broke up as the band members pursued other interests. John Doe has had a solo career and many roles as an actor (including supporting roles in Road House and Boogie Nights - two cultural masterpieces!), and Exene Cervenka has released solo albums, written poetry, and exhibited her collages at galleries in New York and Los Angeles.

***Under TheBig Black Sun (1982) front cover***

In 1995, X reformed and released a (kind of) acoustic live album Unclogged. I saw them again at the old 9:30 Club, a small venue (maybe three hundred seats) in a run down office building in a seedy part of downtown Washington, DC. This was long before that neighborhood became gentrified, or the 9:30 Club moved to posh, new digs. Tuning up for a song, John Doe asked the crowd, "Does anyone know Johnny Cash? He really needs to sing this song. If you know him, or how to reach him, please see me after the show." The band then launched into a country rock version of "Burning House Of Love" with loping drums that would have made Johnny's long time drummer W.S. Holland proud. It would have been a perfect song for Johnny Cash. If I only knew Johnny Cash. Or Rick Rubin. At the time, Cash and Rubin were recording interesting covers of Beck, Danzig and Tom Waits(and later Nine Inch Nails, Nick Cave, U2, etc.), introducing the wonders and magnificence of Johnny Cash to millennials and hipsters everywhere. You could hear X's undying love of country music underneath their punk rock cacophony. Just like Harlan Howard famously defined country music, punk rock is really three chords and the truth (in three minutes or less).

***Ain’t Love Grand (1985) signed by X***

A side project, The Knitters' Poor Little Critter On The Road (1985) and The Modern Sounds Of The Knitters (2005) with all members of X including Blaster supreme Dave Alvin, reaffirmed their love of country, and included convincing covers of Albert Brumley's "Rank Stranger" and Merle Haggard's "Silver Wings." It doesn't get any more country or soulful than John Doe's earnest vocals and Exene's ringing harmonies.

***The Knitters: Poor Little Critter On The Road (1985) signed by John Doe, Exene Cervenka, DJ Bonebrake, Dave Alvin***

The other band members are equally talented and interesting.

DJ Bonebrake is an accomplished drummer, sometime vibraphonist, and jazz aficionado. He once told me that his favorite jazz drummers and influences were Max Roach, Art Blakey and Elvin Jones, excellent and discerning choices. DJ also told me of being on a commercial flight with the Modern Jazz Quartet in the 1980s, and everyone was in coach except Milt Jackson. Milt was chilling in first class, as any first rate vibraphonist should.

Billy Zoom is an excellent guitar player, occasional tenor saxophonist, and inveterate electronics tinkerer. The Billy Zoom Music and Custom Shop is a world class specialist in vacuum tube audio equipment. Since 1970, Billy and his shop have designed, built, modified, and repaired thousands of guitar amplifiers and studio recording gear. Billy Zoom is truly a gearhead's gearhead.

***See How We Are (1987) signed by John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Tony Gilkyson, Dave Alvin, DJ Bonebrake***

When I met John Doe, I asked him if he was a Baltimore Colts fan (he graduated from Antioch College in Baltimore in 1975). He said, "Hell yes." I mentioned that I knew Baltimore Colt and NFL Hall of Famer Art Donovan and went to college with his son, Artie. I told John that we used to hang at Art's Valley Country Club in Baltimore, and drink Schlitz beer. John exclaimed, "Schlitz? You should be drinking Natty Bo! (National Bohemian, another vintage Baltimore brew)." John signed so many records that I gave him a signed Art Donovan football card. A few days later, my friend Artie saw X perform at the Bottom Line in New York City. Artie said he introduced himself to John Doe after the show, and John said he still had his Dad's football card in his back pocket. That's respect and commitment from a Natty Bo lover and erstwhile Baltimorean.

X...the band is greater than the sum of its parts. Thankfully, they "play too hard when I ought to go to sleep."