"Strength is very important. Anger is not. And I'll tell you something: right now is the time, especially for young people, to not have any fear". That is Exene Cervanka, lead singer with one of the greatest rock groups of all time X, speaking to me.
When X were breaking out of the L.A punk scene in the late 1970s, women were either baby dolls or punk bondage Queens. Exene was neither. From Los Angeles thru Wold Gift and on, she dismantled emotional fascism and along with partner John Doe, the dichotomy of love, in artistic and valid rock formats. Today she says, "Me and John are always at each other, but mostly we're kidding."
I had an amazing opportunity to speak with the legend . A woman in rock who I have always admired and in ways emulated. Having done so many interviews with rocknyc you'd think it would be a walk in the park by now. Speaking with the legends who soundtrack your youth is a completely different event. It was great to hear such positive and wise words coming through just as loud and clear 30 years later.
"OK, hows the tour going? Chaos or under control?"
"It's going pretty well, it's not too grueling. We're playing pretty much every night, but there are some travel days, to get a little rest. The shows are great, the RES and The Force are amazing, it's a great mixture of young people and older people and middle people, and people listening to feel something. The ears that are passionate and have a good experience, and we just want to bring that out."
"Is it sending you on a sentimental journey back in time?"
"No because I've never stopped playing music since I was 20 years old, so how can I be on a sentimental journey? X has been doing this for 35 years, this is real to us. This is what we do. This isn't a sentimental journey; this is our lives."
"The album, "Los Angeles", is there any specific reason you went with this release for this current tour?"
"No, I think we just wanted to do something because we're playing the movie, the documentary first. And so then we said 'And then we'll play that in its' entirety, and then we'll play a bunch of other songs.' So we just made it into a little program."
"Was the documentary in the works all along?"
"Well in the early 80s, there was a lot of attention on the punk scene then, because it was a revolutionary movement and was important and all that, and then students from UCLA wanted to make videos about us and we didn't really take it very seriously but further on we realized they were serious. Eventually they finished and it was called The Unheard Music and I'm glad they did it because I think as far as documentaries go, it's really good. It really is a good capture of that time and the music business. And it focuses on us, and it also focuses on the bigger picture. I'm a documentary fan. I love any kind of documentary, pretty much.
You really just gotta step back. It's like when you see a picture of yourself and you go 'Oh wow, I've got bags under my eyes', or something like that. And you go 'oh that's a cute picture of me'. And to watch yourself on film, talking candidly and being drunk or being silly or making mistakes or saying something you don't believe any more. It's difficult but I'm still proud of that time, of that movie. I don't really have a problem with it. I love it, I think it's really good."
"You haven't faltered your philosophies since back then at all; there was no posing on your part- you've remained true to who you are."
"I'm hanging in there. Strength is very important. Anger is not. And I'll tell you something: right now is the time, especially for young people, to not have any fear. Fear is what they feed on and that is what punk was about. The things we did back then, I look back and think, 'Man- we were fearless motherfuckers.' But now it's hard to be that- you're being watched, you're being monitored. There's a TSA and there's all these weird drugs laws and repression and disasters and there's poverty and injustice and economics and it's very difficult to not be afraid. And I know a lot of young people especially have become that and if they don't they've got nothing. And it's like 'Gee I'm sorry', but that's unfortunately what it takes and it has to be terrible before we wake up; I don't know why that is but you shouldn't take it personally- it'll take each and every one of us to fight back."
"And with your persona, you've passed all that along, that fearlessness."
"Always be yourself. Never be afraid to be yourself is a good message for young women especially. I think that's a really good thing to say because individuality it what's under attack."
"What're your passions and motivations right now?"
"Playing a lot of shows until the end of the year. We're gonna go down to South America with Pearl Jam in November. And we're also playing in Costa Rica and Mexico City, so we're playing like fifty countries in a month. And it's a pretty amazing tour, there's some days off so I'm really looking forward to going to see some archaeological sights and museums and seeing these places and talking to the people in Peru. Then we have a bunch of shows in December, and then after we get back and New Year's is over and all that, I've got a lot of things plan and you'll find them, they'll be out there. We've a few things planned, there's a series of benefits I want to do when I get back and I'm really looking forward to that, I'm planning that out now. I'm working with people I haven't worked with before, people I've met on the road. This woman Catherine Grey, who's a bass player and I really love her playing and now we're gonna work on a project together. Things like that. You've gotta make your own fun, you've got to be self-motivating. That's the hard thing about being an artist or musician. If you don't self- motivate, you won't get anything done and you will fail. You've gotta be constantly working, constantly looking for new things to do and keeping yourself amused and excited and awake. 'Hey I love that person, I'm gonna go right up to them and say 'hey do you want to play drums with me?'' and they'll go 'yeah, sure!' and you'll go 'alright, see me at my house tomorrow.' That's what you gotta do. You cannot be afraid; you have to be fearless."
"Are you going to continue with writing?"
"I do a lot of writing. I've been doing a lot of writing lately. I always write- I've always written, I always will. Write write write. And that doesn't mean it's all good, or all songs, or all poems. You write to write."
"Getting along with the boys okay?"
"Oh I get along with them great. Me and John are always at each other, but mostly we're kidding. There's quite a dynamic there and I value it highly."
"What're you listening to lately?"
"I've been listening to a lot of old '78 recordings. I listen to the same things I've always listened to. There's a lot of young people playing jazz now that I like a lot, and there's this band Petunia from Canada that I like, Frank Fairfield, a Southern California/Los Angeles guy who's really amazing, playing songs on banjos and fiddle and violin, guitar and singing like crazy. This guy is just unbelievable. I'm still into The Blasters and all the stuff I was ever into, but I am looking for what new bands are doing and unfortunately most of what I know about it is just what people are telling me. So I'm sure to collect email addresses and 'send me your record!', that kind of stuff. I think there's a lot of amazing music coming out right now, because the self expression/individuality think is there. You say 'what is new with rap and punk' and what's new, really. The rock n' roll thing is still kind of limping along but I think right now is the time for people to come up with a whole new musical idiom because there are things before us and we're like 'why didn't I think of that?'
Those of us that survived (in the punk scene), we really survived. We all have our moments when we make mistakes, but if you survive through that and you've survived this long and you still are remaining true to what you believe in, like Jello Biafra; I look up to him. There's still people around like Penelope Houston from the Avengers, I see her frequently and she's awesome. We've survived and we're strong people apparently. Lucky people, too."
"Anything you've ever wanted to say or get out there?"
"I really do appreciate the college radio and the underground press and everything they've done; they keep our culture going. And it's people like you out there that show that there's more than manufactured culture."