John Doe Marks The Spot

Thanks to MyrnaLynne for this. Click on the link to read the entire article.

from Rhino Records website

John Doe Marks The Spot
X’s punk icon goes beyond and back
by John Srebalus

Punk rock never dies. It just has kids. That goes for the music and the people who make it. OK, maybe they’re not all running around procreating, but you can be sure that the best of them aren’t sitting on the front porch waiting for sweet death to afford them a bull session with Sid Vicious.

Movement and challenge seem to be threads running through the denim of John Doe’s life. He left Baltimore for Los Angeles in 1976 to be a songwriter. And songs he wrote. Along with then-wife Exene Cervenka, he penned scores of them for X, the band that would put LA punk on the map. After seven X albums, a handful of solo and side projects, and numerous film roles, John moved to the outskirts of town, where he now lives with his wife and three daughters. He continues to act and make music, appearing in the TV show Roswell and holding down at least a couple of bands. He’s even doing a few late-summer live dates with X. As the very un-punk cliché goes, as much as things change, they have a way of staying the same. And that also goes for X’s first three albums — Los Angeles, Wild Gift, and Under The Big Black Sun. With angst ablaze and energy undiminished, they still sound like a fresh response to the stale sounds of rock’s status quo. To be sure, they’ve only changed for the better, getting the expanded, remastered Rhino treatment. And as far as punk being alive and well, there’s really no question. But just for grins, let’s ask John Doe…