Page 10

 

The Other Press

AN INTERVIEW

 

by Dan Hilborn

How do you take any
band seriously when their
new album includes such
intriguing titles and lyrics
as When Our Love Passed
Out On the Couch and
“This midnight I will turn
into a beer?’’

I had been thinking of
interviewing the Los An-
gelos band X after first
hearing that they would be
playing at the Commodore
Ballroom Nov. 12, but after
repeated listenings to their
second album ‘“‘Wild Gift’'I
began to doubt that I knew

exactly what they were
singing about. My doubt
was strong enough to keep
me from arranging the in-
terview until the morning of
the concert and that was
only accomplished by wak-
ing up the promoter at
home and then forgetting to
ask for a guest pass.
Nonetheless, I ended up
sitting down at the Com-
modore that afternoon with
John Doe, Exene Cervenka
and Billy and Denise Zoom
while DJ Bonebrake pound-
ed his drumset in the

 

 

NOW YOU’RE 19.
YOU THINK YOU
HAVE A CHOICE
IN TOMORROW?
WELL...

So you're on the Provincial Voter's List.
You think you have the right to choose
just because you've registered to vote?
You're crazy. Just look at your nearest
Legislature or Govemment Agency.
Put it off. Don't do it

You have no choice in tomorow.

 

Empire of
yh Bill Bennett

Chief Electrical
Outlet

 

 

“Wild Gift’’ 40,000) but he
concedes that radio, the

John started by telling
me how the band started,
about four years ago with a
drummer who was terrible.
A few months after that
they latched onto DJ ‘‘who-
se been great’’ from The
Eyes, a band that had
Charlotte from The Go-Go’s
in it. Billy,the guitarist,
came to the band from an
ad in The Recycler and
John met Exene at a writ-
ing workshop in Venice,
Cal. John said that the
band is influenced by all
types of good music as long
as it has soul and commun-
icates something personal.
This is apparent in their
new album more so than
the first because X man-
ages to fit a few slower,
soulful (not soul) type songs
in it. The bands X likes to
watch include The Blasters,
The Gun Club and Top
Jimmy and the Rhythm
Pigs, none of which I had
ever heard of before.

He considers the band to
be popular already (the first
album ‘‘Los Angelos’’ has
sold 60,000 copies and
biggest coverage any band
could have, has too narrow
a format. He states for
example that black artists
get very litte airplay and
new music bands such as
The Ramones don’t get
much either. X’s newest
single White Girl, which is
on the album, is played on
the radio in New York and
Los Angelos.

John says he’d like to
have the band known as a
rock and roll band but, “‘it
doesn’t mean anything, and
neither does punk rock. I’d
rather be called new mu-
Sic. =

I asked about the song
Adult Books, ©1978 Billy

.Zoom Music, because it

sticks out as a sort of white
reggae, calypso beat song
with the verse, ‘‘Clifford
shackles Jane, throws her
on the floor, she says no
no yes and he cuts the
chains.’’ John said it re-
minds him of B.B. King.

I decided to try to find
out what it was about the
band that intrigued me so I
asked Billy if he thought
most of their songs were
about parties -but he-didn’t

 

November 27th to December 8th

  
   

eee

John Doe

8)

 

think so. Exene then said,
“If you can’t understand
what they’re about then
I’ve failed as a writer and
there’s no use in me ex-
plaining.’’

With that the band left
for their sound check.

I decided it was safe to
ask Denise a few questions
because she was married to
Billy and probably knew as
mush about the band as
anyone else there. She told
me that there were usually
not many problems with the
police at their shows in the
US except once, Lydia, a
roadie, was arrested when
the L.A. Sherriffs Dept.
made a public intoxication
arrest of everyone as they
left a show. After gleaning
that much the blare of the
song Los Angelos made it
near impossible to ask any
more questions so I decided
to fill my stomach until the
sound check was over.

‘- | returned about a half
hour later to find out for

once and for all what X was
really singing about. I ask-
ed each of the band mem-
bers what they would do if
they ever gave up music.

John, the bass player and
leader of the band, would
work on the railroad and
write books.

Exene, lead singer and
co-writer with John, said
shed write books, and then
added under her breath,
date movie stars.

DJ would be an African
explorer and wander aro-
und.

And Billy said, ‘‘Retire,’’
and then added, ‘‘Why
would I give up music.’’

Anyways, I decided if I
wanted to take X and their
lyrics (‘‘Coca Cola, and .a
Motorola kitchen, nauga-
hyde and a tie die T-shirt)
seriously, I‘d have to accept
that they were just trying to
reflect their own thoughts
about what they consider a