ooh, the sadies! and the soundtrack to the howard zinn. very cool.

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from: http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/1082432.html

Published: May 23, 2008 12:00 AM
X marks a milestone
X comes to Carrboro next week on the '13x31' tour for the band's 31st
anniversary.

Info

Who: X, Detroit Cobras.

When: 8:30 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Cat's Cradle, 300 E. Main St., Carrboro.

Cost: $20 advance, $23 day of show.

Details: 967-9053 or catscradle.com.

By David Menconi, Staff Writer
When long-lived bands do big anniversary tours, there's usually an obvious
decimal number involved -- 25 years, say. So it figures that X, the legendary
Los Angeles punk band, is on the road this year commemorating its 31-year
anniversary. The show comes to Carrboro on Tuesday.

So why 31 years?

"Well, it's the mirror image of 13, which has always been a popular number for
us and our crowd," says bassist John Doe over the phone from his home in
Bakersfield. "And Billy [Zoom] had children on our 30th anniversary last year,
so we were in flux and couldn't do it then."

Whatever the reasons why, the venture is more than worthwhile. X launched the
tour, dubbed "13x31," with a spectacular performance at South By Southwest back
in March. Most bands soften up after a few decades, but the buzzsaw roar of
Zoom's guitar, D.J. Bonebrake's on-the-one drumming and Doe and Exene Cervenka's
wounded vocal yelps honestly sounded better than ever.

Doe agrees that the South By Southwest gig was well above average from his side
of the stage, too. Even better, that has continued.

"I don't know what's happened lately," Doe says. "It's not that we were playing
badly before, but it seems like a little shot of energy has come our way and
we're having a really good time. Usually when you're having fun and not thinking
about things so much, that's when you do your best. We're even working on a few
new songs, believe it or not. We might do some recording next year."

It's been 15 years since X released an album, and more than 20 since the
original Doe/Cervenka/Zoom/Bonebrake quartet recorded. But even in the band's
recorded absence, X has continued to exert influence beyond its modest sales.

X was a keystone band for the grunge bands that broke through in the early
1990s. As one of the first bands to connect the dots between Hank Williams,
Chuck Berry and Joey Ramone, X also served as inspiration for the
alternative-country and roots-rock bands that emerged later in the '90s. And
more recently, groups such as the Detroit Cobras (X's current opening act) have
emerged playing similarly stylish roots-punk with a touch of noir.

In the absence of new X albums, the members have spent much of the past decade
on solo projects that bear little resemblance to the mother band. Doe's most
recent solo album, last year's "A Year in the Wilderness," was quietly
meditative, setting his desperate howl amid moody pop arrangements. His upcoming
projects include a straight-up country record with the Sadies (Neko Case's
sometime backup band), plus the soundtrack to Howard Zinn's "A People's History
of the United States."

Meantime, Doe will spend the next few weeks on the road playing "We're
Desperate," "Los Angeles," "The Once Over Twice" and other X classics from the
urban jungle. Reconnecting with the original impulses of songs written 30 years
ago isn't always easy.

"Well, the experience obviously isn't as close," Doe says. "But the well is
deep, my friend. Sometimes you're playing a role, or sometimes you can draw from
completely different experiences or situations that might make you feel the
same. There will always be a new president, another war. People will always be
[expletive] to each other, or wonderful to each other. If you don't have real
problems, you'll manufacture them.

"I mean, I'm not moving from apartment to apartment like I was in 1977," he
continues. "But everybody still moves. You focus on the audience rather than
yourself, which is a good thing. The fact that there are 16- to 50-year-olds in
our audience is pretty great. If it was just 20 people in their 50s showing up,
we would not be doing this anymore. The secret to our longevity is that once
it's done, it's forgotten. I only remember the success stories."