John Doe describes X as “a rock and roll band that loves songs”

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, FEB. 3, 1984

By Steve Newton

“They were so close it was scary,” claims X bassist John Doe of the near-identical musician’s ads he and guitarist Billy Zoom ran in a Los Angeles paper back in 1979. The eerie similarity of the two advertisements brought the players quickly together, and after meeting lead vocalist Exene at a poetry workshop, Doe discovered the fourth ingredient of X–drummer D.J. Bonebrake–at an L.A. nightclub.

“Billy had wanted to play with a drummer who used a marching snare,” explains John, “and when I found D.J. at the Masque, he was using one. Fate, that’s what it is.”

And fate might have had something to do with the band’s choice of producer. Former Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek has been behind the making of all four X albums, including their latest release, More Fun in the New World.

“He came to see us at the Whiskey A-Go-Go,” recalls Doe, “and we discussed a lot of artistic ideas and realized that he was a brilliant man. We needed a producer, and he was very interested in us because he just saw something that was meaningful to him and to the audience. So we just started working together, and haven’t stopped yet.”

The members of X–who play the UBC SUB Ballroom this Monday with fast-rising local act Actionauts–come from a variety of musical backgrounds. John played in “a lot of awful bar bands” in Baltimore before moving to LA. Illinois- and Iowa-bred Zoom was in an R&B band and had his own rockabilly group, and Bonebrake–the only Los Angeles native–was part of a local symphony orchestra there.

Exene, originally from Florida, is an avid painter. She did the artwork on the cover of the latest X LP. And she and John often collaborate on the group’s inner sleeve drawings. In fact, the band’s latest video for “True Love Part II” is “sort of like describing a painting,’ according to Doe. Their fifth video, it has been receiving medium rotation on MTV since its release late last year.

Jon Doe, who describes X as “a rock and roll band that loves songs” believes that the L.A. music scene is “very eclectic” even though some of its most noted clubs have shut down.

“The Whiskey is closed and the Starwood is closed, but other than that there’s half a dozen clubs that have music four or five nights a week that is very good.

“And it’s the home of so many different kinds of bands–from the Blasters to Black Flag to X to Joan Jett. The Go-Go’s and the Motels. There’s always been a wide range of music in Los Angeles.”

And a wide range of names too. Doe points out the reasoning behind the choice of X.

“It piques people’s interest, because it’s not ‘The Somebodys’ or ‘The Something or Others’ or ‘The This’s & the That’s.’

“X is everything,” he says. “X marks the spot. X is the unknown quantity. X is ‘sign at the X’. X is the symbol for Christ. X is just X, you know.”

So X is supposed to mean different things to different people. But has the name ever caused problems for the band?

“Well, one time in BAM–Bay Area Music Magazine–they called us S. But other than that, no.”

Vancouver followers of X will remember them from two previous local appearances, and Jon Doe hasn’t forgotten either.

“Actually, the springiness of the Commodore Ballroom is one of our most vivid memories. I was out there at both gigs with the Modernettes and Subhumans, and it was really wild.”

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