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When someone utters the term ‘punk rock,’ you get a pretty specific image in your head. Despite the outsider appeal (especially in the late ’70s), there were still codified ways of how to sound and what to dress like. X said fuck all to that and did their own thing. Instead of using the UK blueprint as a template, the band drew from sources like country and rockabilly. They worked with Ray Manzarek and covered a Doors song. Two records in they signed to a major label (Elektra, same as The Doors). They melded four completely different personas into a living, breathing organism that underscored the adage of the sum being greater than the parts.
Just three years shy of celebrating their golden anniversary, the band’s had quite a ride over that time. Aside Billy Zoom’s sabbatical from 1986 to 1999, it’s been constant lineup with undeniable chemistry. X isn’t the old band where two principals ended up divorcing, but Exene Cervenka and John Doe were able to keep their focus on the music in sharp vision regardless of what extraneous issues cropped up, and the way their rough-hewn vocals weave together to make a tapestry of sound is still intact.
After Alphabetville had the unfortunate timing of being released right when the pandemic was kicking into full gear, they regrouped once more and while Smoke & Fiction isn’t an instant classic, it’s certainly got some strong material. “Sweet Til The Bitter End” has the full fret workout expected from Zoom while DJ Bonebrake anchors the songs with his crisp and economical playing. I’m sure people wouldn’t have minded an evening of just early material but the four songs plus “Water & Wine” from the prior record certainly wasn’t filler and checked the boxes of what you’d expect from an X song.
No surprise however that early gems “Adult Books,” “The Unheard Music,” “White Girl” and of course “Los Angeles” got the crowd (or some of it) out of their seats and dancing. It’s no shocker that the crowd likely preferred the convenience of having a chair to sit on but it was a weird juxtaposition to see an OG punk rock group playing to a bunch of mostly seated people. The band still has some left in the tank at least.
The encore began with the highlight of the entire evening, just Exene and John sharing an old-style mic and playing “See How We Are,” a still highly relevant look at how wrong our country is at times. Thanks for the ride, X!
Dead Rock West reprised their tour support role they fulfilled in 2016, the last time I saw X. If you’re gonna cover a bunch of Everly Brothers songs you better know how to sing, and Cindy Wasserman and Frank Drennan easily met that mark. It’s a bit more daunting to play in a somewhat cavernous theatre as compared to the Brighton Music Hall but they won over the crowd with their easy going banter between the songs that were carried by just an acoustic guitar and their vocals.
