Los Angeles legends X have been intermittently active since 1977, and they are among history’s greatest punk bands. Right now, they’re getting ready to call it a day, and they’re giving one last victory lap. Later this summer, X will release Smoke & Fiction, which they say will be their final LP. After that, they’ll head out on a farewell tour of North America.
It’s truly amazing that X lasted as long as they did. John Doe and Exene Cervenka were boyfriend and girlfriend when they started X with guitarist Billy Zoom and drummer DJ Bonebreak. They recorded their 1980 debut album Los Angeles and its 1981 follow-up Wild Gift with Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, and they’re among the best documents of that era’s punk rock. X’s performances in the Penelope Spheeris documentary The Decline Of Western Civilization will make your hair stand on end. From there, X helped pioneer the punkier side of alt-country and influenced countless bands. Doe and Cervenka married and then divorced, and X kept going.
X went through a few member changes over the years. They tried and largely failed to go commercial, though their cover of “Wild Thing” had a cultural moment when it was used in the movie Major League. (It’s now Jon Moxley’s entrance music in AEW.) X broke up and reunited a few times over the years. They went quiet after the release of the really good 1995 live acoustic record Unclogged, but they’ve been touring pretty steadily since 2004. In 2020, they surprise-released Alphabetland, their first original-lineup LP in 35 years. Now, they’re following that one with Smoke & Fiction, and that’ll be that.
X recorded Smoke & Fiction with big-deal producer Rob Schnapf, and their new single “Big Black X” flashes back to the freewheeling, rockabilly-infused punk rock of their early records. Exene Cervenka’s voice sounds as intense and titanic as ever. The song bursts with energy, and its video, from Shane McKenzie and Gilbert Trejo, flashes back to their old iconography. If X are capable of summoning that fire on record, I hope I get to see what they can do onstage in this final tour. Below, check out the “Big Black X” video, the Smoke & Fiction, and the dates for the farewell tour. (Those dates haven’t all been announced yet, so the band’s final show probably won’t be the Columbia, South Carolina gig.)
TRACKLIST:
01 “Ruby Church”
02 “Sweet Til The Bitter End”
03 “The Way It Is”
04 “Flipside”
05 “Big Black X”
06 “Smoke & Fiction”
07 “Struggle”
08 “Winding Up The Time”
09 “Face In The Moon”
10 “Baby & All”
TOUR DATES:
6/24 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour
7/06 – Kansas City, MO @ The Uptown
7/07 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
7/09 – St. Louis, MO @ Del Mar Hall
7/10 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
7/12 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Varsity
7/13 – Chicago, IL @ Square Roots Festival
7/14 – Chicago, IL @ Fitzgerald’s
7/16 – Detroit, MI @ The Masonic
7/17 – Kent, OH @ The Kent Stage
7/19 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
7/25-26 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent
7/28 – Costa Mesa, CA @ Pacific Amphitheatre
7/30 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up
8/19-20 – Menlo Park, CA @ The Guild Theatre
8/22 – Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory
8/23 – Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory
8/25 – Portland, OR @ The Aladdin
8/28 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
8/30 – Denver, CO @ The Summit
9/01 – Albuquerque, NM @ The El Rey
9/22 – Derry, NH @ Tupelo Music Hall
9/23 – Boston, MA @ The Wilbur
9/25 – Albany, NY @ Empire Live
9/26 – Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall
9/27 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Jergel’s
9/28 – Falls Church, VA @ The State Theatre
9/30 – Philadelphia, PA @ Keswick Theater
10/01 – Patchogue, NY @ Patchogue Theatre
10/02 – Norwalk, CT @ District Music Hall
10/04 – New York, NY @ TBA
10/05 – Middletown, CT @ Harbor Park
10/18 – Austin, TX @ The Paramount
10/19 – San Antonio, TX @ Empire Live
10/21 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
10/22 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
10/24 – Memphis, TN @ Minglewood Hall
10/25 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl
10/26 – Birmingham, AL @ Iron City
10/29 – Charlotte, NC @ The Neighborhood Theatre
10/30 – Columbia, SC @ The Senate
Smoke & Fiction is out 8/2 on Fat Possum.
