My two favorite people in the world play in my favorite band..

Took a Writers Extension class with Ulin. X is my all time favorite band. The literate landscape for LA is so important to our history. My family is 5 generations Los Angeles. I can say X saved my life during the Regan era...

@jefmay3053

4 жыл бұрын

whole heartily agree

@warrenbutterfield4208

Жыл бұрын

Reagan was a Godsend. He saved your dodgy life during his era and like his ingrate jackass daughter your head is STILL to far up your Commie ass to see it. LA is still a shithole

Exene, you were the face of the band. I still remember watching you on late night tv when I was a kid. Your style is what made the group stand out for me! X would not have been X without you!!!

I love your voice exene. You are hypnotic.

I saw X more than 50 times all over LA and In NY with the blasters and REM and Red hot chili peppers and with black flag and the minutemen and so many more, i was at the whiskey agogo in hollywood when they recorded the live LP got to go back stage and hang out with them, Billy was the best guitar players in punk history.

@markwhite3442

2 ай бұрын

Billy 👀

Their harmonies are inimitable. Great band and a great time in history.

I grew up listening to these guys. It's so cool that they're still at it.

So grateful to you both for doing this interview and gracing us with a few songs. Your voice is still so beautiful, Exene!

Exene's extraordinary description of '70's los angeles was the real reason X was so good. Exene was truly one of a kind with a keen sense of the magical. Also her style was so rad. #Love4thePlugz

I had everything on vinyl. Then cassettes. Then c.d.s and shows on both coasts for decades and never saw/ heard a bad show including solo work and spoken word performances and the knitters were always special too. So many blurry memories.

Wow! At about 5:00, John describes my experience with "wanting to be a songwriter" exactly!!! My inner critic and my idea that I had to write something that was as good as my inspirations and heros, effectively meant I could never write songs!!! I wonder how he got around that to write those classic X tunes!!!

I really loved this, I just wish that you could actually hear the questions and comments at the end.

John and Exene are just the BEST. I have read the book twice and it's very good, lots of stories from the people that lived them.

Great chat and it was great to see the whole band about a week back play live! Man they still have the passion!!!

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

John should’ve had a bigger film career! He’s a magnificent actor!

@bigrigJim

Жыл бұрын

He really is quite good. He could probably carry a whole film as a leading man, if they found the right character and story for him.

@nurknanker6105

Жыл бұрын

As a joke I gave him an oscar meyer weiner whistle for his performance in slam dance.

I loved the book and all the different perspectives. I used to see John Doe back in 1990, 91, and 92 at his McCabe's Guitar Shop acoustic shows. X is probably my favorite band of all time. As for the various authors in Under the Big Black Sun, they thought of themselves as misfits, art students, and outcasts, but they failed to identify what they truly were... and that is extroverts. Many of the performers and scenesters, at their core, wanted to be the focus of attention. Cutting your hair in wild styles, wearing crazy clothes, it's all a function of wanting to be noticed. There is nothing wrong with that, but not ONE of the authors would admit to it. Not one. Threre was another kind of outcast that the Rush song "Subdivisions" talks about -- the nerd, the unattractive, the sci-fi devote who would never/could never stand out with wild clothing and crazy hair or get on a stage. Both types of young people are cut from the same cloth, but with different personalities and different paths. Henry Rollins and Kristine McKenna stand out in the book, because they are able to evaluate from somewhat of an outsider's perspective. Exene is poetic. John is also poetic in spots, and somewhat evasive in others -- but definitely interesting. Pleasant Gehman's essay is a perfect example of the "extrovert" phenomenon at work. Chris D. weaves a history that shows how thoughtful and literate the "punks" could be, before the "hard core" invasion injected the whole scene with a violent streak. It all happened from 1977-1980 - just a blink of an eye. Well worth the read for people like me who came of age in the L.A. suburbs and grabbed hold of alternative rock in the late 1980s via firehose, X (still making good music) and later the grunge movement.

@guydark2061

Жыл бұрын

Why would performers NOT admit they want to be noticed? Whether it was David Byrne in an oversized suit, David Lee Roth in spandex, or the shirtless RHCP with socks on their junk, it's all showbiz. Iggy Pop is a stage name and The Ramones wore matching uniforms.

X change my life Bless John Excene Billy DJ and Ray Manzerek

Living in SoCal late 70's into the 80's was great. Super fans of all the wonderful British bands of that era, then finding X and others and realizing we had our own exciting scene. The sun shone bright and it lit the sheer space that abounded. LA had a true baked charm that fed any young person the milk of possibility. Saw X at the Whisky in 2002 or 3 and they were awesome! Made me smile as much as Billy. 😃

Great interview!!! I loved Exene's "life imitates art" moment of the "mindless fan who wanted (and GOT!) her dress"!! By the way, Exene, the song you couldn't remember that had that lyric was "Real Child of Hell" from Under the Big Black Sun! :)

In 2022 I just watched the movie and I thought it was very cool and I shared it and I saw you guys back then I was part of it all on the East Coast and when you came to the Lower East Side you blew me away the first time I heard you live at Irving Plaza Club 57

wow I’m so grateful for this

I Love this book: X + all of the full cast-of-characters ~ what a scene! Such a part of my teen years. Incidentally, I've met + continue to meet folks from that era ~ all super-great, interesting stories...

Legends.

Punk Legends 🤘🔥🤘

My personal favorite song is the have nots , mostly due to the fact they mention an obscure bar in Detroit called the aorta , it was down the street from bookies which catered to punk and new wave bands by night and gay bar by day. The aorta didn’t have a theme like that the juke box was strictly oldie Rock and roll and Motown and was a stop we made after checking out bookies . In between these bars was a hardcore sex club called the hellfire club that had leather gear and a ton of dildoes and sex toys on display in front and a door that separated the looky loos from the serious participants .

Lol! Dr Eugene Scott, the rev? Used to come to Perrino's where I was working for lunch, spend like 100 bucks in drinks, lunch, smoke cigars. I was cashier at the time.

Please don't carry your cellphone so close John Doe, we all want to have each other for as long as possible!

@warrenbutterfield4208

Жыл бұрын

But But But… he’ll miss your ass-kissin’ call

totally agree RS does not support punk rock LA PUNK ROCK SAVED MY LIFE

@MajorCulturalDivide

5 жыл бұрын

Here is a quote from RS: "X prattles a great deal about soul, but it is hard to think of another band so well-received whose music is so directionless and abrasively unemotional." Rolling Stone is always at least 20 years behind the curve.

Yes " day of the locust " reference!

John Books on the early LA day are spectacular

Your content is cool :)

They made punk, rockabilly, and bluegrass sound like one music. Maybe it always was.

Listen to your own voice John..❤

Ironically my Grandpa was a LAPD in 1939 who worked at the Building, once a police station on Venice, Now Beyond Baroque

Good vibes lol

26:41 bookmark

They are good friends with my uncle and parents Herman Senac Jeff Senac and Gladys Senac

@Tucko1

4 жыл бұрын

Herman is awesome. I haven't seen him and Susan for quite a while...

Always thought of X as the punk Jefferson Airplane

@LEO91968

4 жыл бұрын

Yeah! Exene is a little like the earlier Gracie Slick!!! Hypnotic!!!

@warrenbutterfield4208

Жыл бұрын

Jeff that comment drips with alarming holographic reality !!!

It surprises me how The Cramps never get any mention at all.

@warrenbutterfield4208

Жыл бұрын

Ah yes THE CRAMPS 🧟‍♂️ They were one of the wildest and best shows I’ve seen in decades. They signed a few things for me from their tour bus after the show. They were pretty exhausted. They poured it all out on the stage. I have no idea where that champagne bottle 🍾 went up on the stage. It was getting a work out from Luxe….. and let’s not even talk about the poor microphone🎤

L.A but specifically Hawthorne- THE capital of rockNroll.

punk didn't take off like hippie cuz most of it's kinda ugly-sounding not sure with x's music, it is beautiful but dark

Baby boomers cosplaying as anarchists.

I love X but they need to call it a day with this acoustic and semi acoustic crap. If Billy needs to sit on a stool to play then retirement is coming.

@HumGuitar

7 жыл бұрын

I really enjoy the acoustic versions and the Knitters album. I think John, Exene, and DJ still have the talent and dedication to continue to do shows, but they just need a new guitar player to replace Billy. I've seen some recent (2014-2015) clips of X in concert with Billy playing live and electric, and it was terrible. I love Billy Zoom, but he was playing like he hadn't practiced the songs in 20 years. I wouldn't mind Billy sitting on a stool if he'd just play the songs well.

@costernocht

7 жыл бұрын

Just wait til you get old.

@roddyflot

7 жыл бұрын

I'm closer to 60 than 50.

@bava67

7 жыл бұрын

I`ve seen X many times starting from way back. I`ve seen them on good days and bad (Like many bands) and their performances have run the gambit from excellent to not so much. Even in the past years. I love them.

@johngrepo9976

7 жыл бұрын

andy black ,hell no! So different listening in person than a video bite.. I know from experience