X’s music is letter-perfect

The seminal Los Angeles punk band X doesn’t rehearse anymore — and no, says founding member Exene Cervenka, it has nothing to do with laziness or unforgiving schedules.

She, John Doe, Billy Zoom and D.J. Bonebrake have scrapped practice time because 31 years after they first pooled their musical talents, it’s no longer necessary. The four musicians have moved beyond reading music and now rely on reading each other.

“I can’t describe it,” says Miss Cervenka. “I just see in [John’s] face that he wants me to sing this song with him, or I feel something in his voice that says he’s going to go down low for this part and wants me to go up high.”

The chanteuse explains that being attuned to each other in this way not only makes the performances better, but also improves her life as an artist.

“If I forget a word, John knows I’m forgetting and sings it for me,” she says. “It’s really great because not everyone gets a chance to have an artistic partner in life; a lot of people work alone as artists. I don’t feel like I’ve ever been alone.”

Miss Cervenka’s musical companionship began in 1976, when she and Mr. Doe met at a poetry workshop in Venice, Calif. Back then, the untrained vocalist had no idea that she and her new friend would still be playing music together decades later — or that someday they would marry and divorce.

In the beginning, Miss Cervenka says, “we just loved each other’s writing and wanted to work together on songs.”

The duo soon became a quartet when Mr. Zoom, a guitarist, and Mr. Bonebrake, a drummer, joined the singer and her bassist buddy.

With Miss Cervenka and Mr. Doe leading the way as the songwriting core, the band shoved its way into Los Angeles’ burgeoning punk scene and cleared out some sonic turf for itself by combining raucous punk energy with lyrics both poetic and intelligent, solid musicianship and influences from other genres, including country and rockabilly.

X released its debut album, “Los Angeles,” in 1980 and soon followed it with a string of others that helped cement the band’s place in that city’s music history.

Now there are many years between Miss Cervenka and that first record — and even more miles between her and the fast-paced city where she first made her name. She lives in Jefferson City, Mo., with her husband and Original Sinners band mate, Jason Edge.

However, life for the 52-year-old songstress is anything but a dreary drag. On the contrary, she keeps a dizzyingly full dance card. There are always tours to be undertaken with her various musical acts, poems and spoken-word pieces to be recited, countless things to be written, collages to be created and exhibitions of her artwork and journals to be arranged. (She’s included, for example, in the Claremont Museum of Art’s exhibition “Vexing: Female Voices From East L.A. Punk,” opening this weekend.)

When Miss Cervenka has a rare slice of downtime, she spends it doing a lot of “normal things,” she says, like sending e-mails, making phone calls and doing chores. Downtime is infrequent, though — and this is mostly by choice. To the musician, barreling down the road from one show to the next just feels natural.

“It’s been my life since my early 20s,” she says.

At the moment, Miss Cervenka is out on the second leg of X’s 13—31 Tour, which boasts the band’s original lineup in celebration of its 31st anniversary. (Yeah, the musicians took a few years off, but who’s counting?)

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