X have announced their final studio album, Smoke & Fiction, arriving August 2nd via Fat Possum Records.
The L.A. punk legends also released the video for lead single “Big Black X,” a reflection of the band’s formative years in Hollywood.
Exene Cervenka assumes lead vocals for much of the track, with her lyrics recalling memories and vignettes from the early days. Exene’s iconic harmonies with singer/bassist John Doe kick in during the chorus, as Billy Zoom holds down slick rockabilly riffs alongside the steady rhythms of drummer DJ Bonebrake.
“X is a great band name; also a bad idea sometimes when it gets lost in print or on the marquee,” Exene said in the press announcement for the album. “Gotta have a sense of humor. We all did in the early days. Los Angeles was a carnival of weirdness back then, with left over traces of silent movie stars, long haired hippies, bikers, and brand new self-defined punks doing anything we wanted. When we started touring the country we found like-minded people everywhere, and somehow they all found us. Even if the X was lost on the old marquee.”
The old-school edits in the music video harken back to the excellent 1986 documentary about the band, X: The Unheard Music, and the clip was purposefully meant to evoke the old docs and videos of the classic punk rock era.
“Inspired by ’80s video art and the great punk documentaries of the time; shot on VHS, edited tape to tape, using Polaroids + 35mm photos, smashed together with analog video mixers and CRT televisions,” commented directors Gilbert Trejo and Shane McKenzie. “It’s a tornado of the past and present — Ed Colver’s photos were a blast to video mix and they are the glue holding it all together.”
X will be supporting their final album with an extensive US farewell tour that kicks off on July 7th in Kansas City, Missouri, and runs all the way through an October 30th show in Columbia, South Carolina (get tickets here). Even more dates are still to be announced.
Pre-order Smoke & Fiction via Fat Possum Records. Below you can stream the video for “Big Black X” and see the album art, tracklist, and full list of tour dates.
Smoke & Fiction Artwork:
Smoke & Fiction Tracklist:
01. Ruby Church
02. Sweet Til The Bitter End
03. The Way It Is
04. Flipside
05. Big Black X
06. Smoke & Fiction
07. Struggle
08. Winding Up the Time
09. Face in the Moon
10. Baby & All
X’s 2024 Tour Dates:
07/06 – Kansas City, MO @ The Uptown
07/07 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
07/09 – St. Louis, MO @ Del Mar Hall
07/10 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
07/12 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Varsity
07/13 – Chicago, IL @ Square Roots Festival
07/14 – Chicago, IL @ Fitzgerald’s
07/16 – Detroit, MI @ The Masonic
07/17 – Kent, OH @ The Kent Stage
07/19 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
07/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent
07/26 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent
07/28 – Costa Mesa, CA @ Pacific Amphitheatre
07/30 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up
08/19 – Menlo Park, CA @ The Guild Theatre
08/20 – Menlo Park, CA @ The Guild Theatre
08/22 – Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory
08/23 – Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory
08/25 – Portland, OR @ The Aladdin
08/28 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
08/30 – Denver, CO @ The Summit
09/01 – Albuquerque, NM @ The El Rey
09/22 – Derry, NH @ Tupelo Music Hall
09/23 – Boston, MA @ The Wilbur
09/25 – Albany, NY @ Empire Live
09/26 – Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall
09/28 – Falls Church, CA @ The State Theatre
10/01 – Patchogue, NY @ Patchogue, Theatre
10/02 – Philadelphia, PA @ Keswick Theater
10/03 – New York, NY @ Town Hall
10/05 – Middletown, CT @ Harbor Park
10/18 – Austin, TX @ The Paramount
10/19 – San Antonio, TX @ Empire Live
10/21 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
10/22 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
10/24 – Memphis, TN @ Minglewood Hall
10/25 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl
10/26 – Birmingham, AL @ Iron City
10/27 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
10/29 – Charlotte, NC @ The Neighborhood Theatre
10/30 – Columbia, SC @ The Senate