HOLY SHIT ! ! Thirty-five years of punk rock is shocking ! ! It’s not like that’s all we’ve done but there have only been a few short breaks in the rough & tumble action that started back in nineteen and seventy-seven.
People everywhere want to know what is was like in Los Angeles in 1977 but honestly there is no way to re-create that feeling or time. All of LA was in a state of decay & disrepair. The second ‘O’ on the HOLLYWOOD sign had fallen down. Venice was filled w/ burned out Viet Nam vets & hippie drug casualties, the canals were fetid swamps but along side all that were the greatest thrift stores imaginable. Farrah Fawcett was the poster girl. There was still a restaurant in the shape of a brown derby hat. Hollywood Blvd. hosted all the rest of the rejects, drug addicts & people on the make, (at least that has remained the same).
The pieces of the punk rock chronicles that I’ve read play fast & loose w/ the facts & only sensationalize events that we all thought were cool & meaningful. It definitely was a time where the possibilities seemed endless, everyone involved made a contribution & in retrospect was a beautifully naïve era. Few of us thought it would last more than a couple of years & in a way we were right.
By the time Black Flag recorded Wasted in 1978 things had already started to change. “Hardcore” was rearing it’s ugly head. The violence became more real, people developed real addictions, became junkies & died rather than the teenage/mid-twenty angst that it all began w/. Everyone who has survived should take just a small measure of pride in being part of a scene that still carries influence. Maybe we should make a t-shirt that reads; “I survived the LA punk rock scene”.
One thing I know is that we, in the band X, are incredibly grateful that we’re still here, able to play loud & fast, make a living at something we love & still do well, get to tour the world in support of Pearl Jam, play the Hollywood Park Race Track, put our hands in cement on Sunset Blvd., maybe even have our t-shirt worn by the villain of a big time movie, and the list will, hopefully, go on & on & on.
THANKS FOR YOUR VIGILANT SUPPORT
yours,
JD (I hope the rest of the band agrees)
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Note: X is currently touring Europe with friends Pearl Jam. Amsterdam today and then on to Rock Wertcher 2012 and... More shows are being added throughout Fall 2012. details coming soon on shows page.