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Punk rockers X regroup for Western dates
The original X lineup will regroup for a series of scattered West Coast dates, beginning with an Aug. 17 show at the Roseland Theater in Portland, Ore. Touring in support of Rhino Records' reissue of their first three albums--"Los Angeles," "Wild Gift," and "Under the Big Black Sun"--the eight-date outing will conclude in early November.
One of the pre-eminent punk bands, X in its original form consists of bassist-vocalist John Doe, singer Exene Cervenkova, drummer DJ Bonebrake and guitarist Billy Zoom.
Each of the three reissued discs has extra tracks culled from some 200 hours worth of tapes. In the group's heyday, however, there weren't a lot of spare songs lying around, according to Doe.
"At the time, we recorded a record and that was it," he said. "They weren't looking for B-sides or bonus tracks or any of that kind of crap. We didn't have the time or the money to record alternate versions or DJ mixes or anything like that. We made a record and that was it."
Zoom left the band after the release of its 1986 album, "Ain't Love Grand" (Elektra), and Tony Gilkyson, formerly of Lone Justice, took over on guitar for much of the band's subsequent work. In 1998, Zoom returned to the fold to play occasional live shows.
Doe will be playing solo acoustic shows in between X gigs, starting with a late night show at the Satrycon in Portland on Aug. 17, following X's Roseland concert that same night.
