X Marks Their Final (?) Houston Spot At White Oak Music Hall

What more can you say about X? As venerable an institution as exists in punk rock music — or hell, punk rock … or hell, *music*. The celebrated Los Angeles punk outfit returned to Houston with their original lineup — John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom, and D.J. Bonebrake — and their fiercely independent aesthetic for the third time in five years.

When your debut album (1977’s Los Angeles) is still regarded as one of the greatest records of the 20th century, one could rightly expect some aloofness, but they still play shows to a few hundred folks, like last night at White Oak Music Hall (hell, Zoom still comes out and sets up his own pedal rig). Because that’s what they do.

Or did, because to hear Doe tell it, this tour, supporting their latest release (Smoke & Fiction), will be last of its kind. Already tagged as the band’s final studio album, S&F also marks the end of X’s grueling schedule playing to (mostly) clubs and dragging their asses around in vans 75-80 times a year.

But don’t take my word for it, just read Glady Fuentes’s excellent interview with Doe from last week. And while it’s true for many groups (Kiss, Mötley Crüe, The Eagles, Kiss again, Mötley Crüe again), we have no reason not to believe him. 47 years for any band, even one occasionally derided for being “too poetic” for punk, is a hell of run.

Seen live, they’re a band of few words, ripping through opening numbers that pulled from all over their catalog (but leaning heavily on 1981’s Wild Gift (“Adult Books,” “White Girl,” “In The House That I Call Home”) with no chit chat. The first words I recall were offered when Cervenka introduced “Ruby Church.”

Those new songs, like “Church” and “Sweet Til the Bitter End,” are classic X: hard-driving guitars, thundering drums, and Cervenka and Doe wailing with their distinctive harmonies. On the other hand, “Flipside” recalls the melodic efforts of See How We Are.

Cervenka eschewed her usual sundress for patched jeans and an X hoodie, while Doe will always look like a gas station attendant from a Jim Jarmusch movie. Bonebrake sported a porkpie hat like your hipster uncle, and Zoom’s sartorial transition into Colonel James from Boogie Nights is almost complete.

The banter increased some as the show rolled on. Doe and Exene reminisced about their first Houston appearance — at Numbers, as it turns out. Doe asked who in the crowd had heard of Numbers, which … come on (!). Apparently the marquee read “X Featuring Exene,” which led to supposition that they were performing at a strip club.

Hardly a rare sight in Houston in 1981.

It was a short set, owing as much to the breakneck nature of their songs (Smoke & Fiction clocks in at 28 minutes in its entirety) as to the band’s advancing age. Zoom, as in other recent gigs, played while seated, and Exene exited the stage a couple times; once during “The Hungry Wolf,” which was a good place for a Bonebrake drum solo. Not to be confused with his vibraphone solo during the encore, or the Billy Zoom sax solos (“Come Back To Me” and “I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts”).

But the high point for me was Exene and Doe coming out to perform (after some brief mic issues) “See How We Are.” The title track of a 1987 album that — frankly — didn’t get a lot of love, thanks to its emphasis on American over aggro. It’s poignant, direct, and has always meant a lot to me.

If this does turn out to be X’s last pass through Houston, they’ve done all right by us. Recent years have demonstrated pretty brutally that there’s no permanence in anything, and those things we cling to — music, art, friends and family — fall away in time. We’re lucky to have as many memories of Mme. Cervenka et MM. Doe, Zoom, and Bonebrake as we do.

And if they swing back through here in 2026, forget I said anything.

click to enlarge

Doe!

Photo by Violeta Alvarez

Personal Bias: Despite possessing several “X” T-shirts, I was not That Guy last night.

The Crowd: Punk’s not dead, but it definitely has a curfew.

Overheard in The Crowd: “I was at that Numbers show.” “No you weren’t.”

Random Notebook Dump: “Nausea” still has the desired(?) effect of making me queasy.

SET LIST
Your Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not
In This House That I Call Home
Because I Do
I’m Coming Over
Adult Books
Water & Wine
Sweet Til the Bitter End
White Girl
Beyond and Back
Ruby Church
The New World
The Hungry Wolf
Smoke & Fiction
Flipside
Breathless (Otis Blackwell cover)
Los Angeles
Nausea
Johny Hit and Run Paulene
Motel Room in My Bed
Soul Kitchen (Doors cover)

ENCORE
See How We Are (Exene and John Doe acoustic)
Come Back to Me
I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts