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Los Angeles-based X heads east for summer tour
The original X line-up--bassist-vocalist John Doe , singer Exene Cervenka, drummer D.J. Bonebrake and guitarist Billy Zoom--regroups this summer for a tour that focuses on the eastern U.S.
The outing opens on June 2 in Dallas and heads east to visit clubs in Austin and New Orleans. From there, it ventures into Florida and up the East Coast.
Zoom left the lauded '80s-era Los Angeles punk band after the release of its 1986 album, "Ain't Love Grand," and Tony Gilkyson, formerly of Lone Justice, took over on guitar for much of the band's subsequent work. In 1998, when Elektra Records reissued the X catalog, Zoom returned to the fold to play occasional live shows.
"The reason he left was because he burned out, he got disgusted," Doe said in a recent liveDaily interview. "And it's difficult not to get those feelings when you've worked real hard, and maybe you don't get as much reward as you think you should. It happens to a lot of people. I think the X reissues that Elektra did in 1998 was the beginning, when we started to have some contact again."
Doe--who recently released his fourth solo album, "Dim Stars, Bright Sky"--said in the same interview that he enjoys revisiting the old X material.
"It's a win-win situation: we have fun, and if the audience digs it, all the better," he said.
