{"id":1038,"date":"2011-10-20T10:44:48","date_gmt":"2011-10-20T10:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/skylight.gr\/administrator_wordpress\/index.php\/2011\/10\/20\/x-qthe-unheard-musicq-silver-anniversary-special-edition-on-dvd-and-blu-ray-december-13\/"},"modified":"2011-10-20T10:44:48","modified_gmt":"2011-10-20T10:44:48","slug":"x-qthe-unheard-musicq-silver-anniversary-special-edition-on-dvd-and-blu-ray-december-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/2011\/10\/20\/x-qthe-unheard-musicq-silver-anniversary-special-edition-on-dvd-and-blu-ray-december-13\/","title":{"rendered":"X “The Unheard Music” Silver Anniversary Special Edition on DVD and Blu-ray December 13"},"content":{"rendered":"


The iconic L.A. band X changed the face of punk music with their vibrant, original style…
We see the band at its peak in this legendary film, which took five years to make.\u00a0 As vital today as the day it was released 25 years ago, THE UNHEARD MUSIC – preserved by the Sundance Collection as a “seminal independent film” – provides an indelible record of underground America in the Age of Reagan.\u00a0 This innovative and unconventional film puts us inside the world of X using a striking, visionary style reflecting the uncompromising passion and raw energy of their music.\u00a0 Includes seventeen X classics from their critically hailed first four albums: Los Angeles, Wild Gift, Under the Big Black Sun, and More Fun in the New World.<\/p>\n

Trailer:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RDnLBlescsc<\/p>\n

“White Girl”: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5qrjpNeDzsg<\/p>\n

Available for the first time in HD, this Silver Anniversary Edition of one of the greatest rock films ever made includes a new film transfer and 5.1 mix, plus never-before-seen Xtras: a 25th anniversary dialogue with John Doe & Exene Cervenka; an inside look into the making of the film with Angel City Productions (circa 1983); a raw outtake of a live performance of the song “Some Other Time”; the original theatrical trailer; and a replica of the original souvenir song book.<\/p>\n

DVD Info \/ Purchase Link: <\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.seeofsound.com\/p.php?s=MVD5262D<\/p>\n

Blu-ray Info \/ Purchase Link:\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.seeofsound.com\/p.php?s=MVD5271BR<\/p>\n

Source: http:\/\/www.seeofsound.com\/<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

More info:<\/p>\n

X
The Unheard Music
Silver Anniversary Special Edition
Press Kit Documents
October 2011<\/p>\n

For more info contact:
Bill Morgan
Angel City Media LLC
15515 Bowdoin Street
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
310.418.1980
masspro@aol.com<\/p>\n

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 2
The Unheard Music
Silver Anniversary Special Edition<\/p>\n

\u201cThe punk-rock era\u2019s LAST WALTZ…assembled with Scorsese-like care….\u201d
Boston Globe<\/p>\n

The iconic L.A. band X changed the face of punk music with their vibrant, original style.
We see the band at its peak in this legendary film, which took five years to make. As
vital today as the day it was released 25 years ago, THE UNHEARD MUSIC \u2013 preserved
by the Sundance Collection as a \u201cseminal independent film\u201d \u2013 provides an indelible
record of underground America in the Age of Reagan. This innovative and
unconventional film puts us inside the world of X using a striking, visionary style
reflecting the uncompromising passion and raw energy of their music. Includes
seventeen X classics from their critically hailed first four albums: Los Angeles, Wild Gift,
Under the Big Black Sun, and More Fun in the New World.
Available for the first time in HD, this Silver Anniversary Edition of one of the greatest
rock films ever made includes a new film transfer and 5.1 mix, plus never-before-seen
Xtras: a 25th anniversary dialogue with John Doe & Exene Cervenka; an inside look into
the making of the film with Angel City Productions (circa 1983); a raw outtake of a live
performance of the song \u201cSome Other Time\u201d; the original theatrical trailer; and a replica
of the original souvenir song book.<\/p>\n

For Release on Blu-Ray and DVD by MVD Entertainment.
Target Street Date: 13 December 2011
An Angel City Production
X
THE UNHEARD MUSIC
Starring JOHN DOE EXENE CERVENKA BILLY ZOOM D.J.BONEBRAKE
Director of Photography KAREM JOHN MONSOUR Production Designer ALIZABETH FOLEY
Co-Produced by EVERETT GREATON Produced by CHRISTOPHER BLAKELY
Written & Directed by W. T. MORGAN
Contact: W. T. (Bill) Morgan 310.418.1980 \/ masspro@aol.com
X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 3
The Unheard Music
Silver Anniversary Special Edition
Liner Notes by writer\/director W. T. Morgan<\/p>\n

A quarter-century ago THE UNHEARD MUSIC premiered at Sundance.
To get there, Angel City Productions \u2013 Chris Blakely, Everett Greaton, Alizabeth Foley
and I \u2013 spent a lifetime in wolf years shacked up with X and their uniquely charged punk
poetry. We found kindred spirits in John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom and D. J.
Bonebrake, and tried to capture lightning in a bottle during that electrifying run when
they made Los Angeles, Wild Gift, Under the Big Black Sun and More Fun in the New
World.<\/p>\n

It may be loud, but it\u2019s folk music: of the people, by the people, for the people. Punk
broke down barriers between audiences and bands. Fans formed bands; bands were fans.
Bands like X did their own artwork, leaflets, album covers. You could say it was a revolt
against commercialism, or artists remaking society in their own image, but it was more
than that. DIY was\/is a way of life and a toolkit for navigating a warlike world of mass
media conformity where commodities rule and corporations are granted more rights than
humans.<\/p>\n

This was our first film, and we put everything we had into it \u2013 blood, sweat, 96 tears in
24 hours, our bottom dollars, thousands of film fragments…I\u2019d say everything but the
kitchen sink, but there is a sink in We\u2019re Desperate. It\u2019s literally and figuratively handmade:
shot on film, cut on film, fx created in-camera \u2013 analog all the way.<\/p>\n

John Doe once observed that most people today react to X with either: \u201cThey changed
my life\u2026\u201d or \u201cWho?\u201d This film is for both of those groups.<\/p>\n

THE UNHEARD MUSIC is a kind of time capsule, so for this Silver Anniversary special
edition, we have sought to preserve the original intent and intensity of the film without
adding too much of a revisionist backward-looking perspective. Even the extras are
mostly of their time, captured in the heat of the moment, our vision at the time of the
zeitgeist swirling around us.
This is the way it was. The time has passed but the spirit lives on.
W. T. Morgan<\/p>\n

Los Angeles, 2011
X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 4
WHAT IS \u201cTHE UNHEARD MUSIC\u201d ABOUT?
It\u2019s about the rock group X
It\u2019s about the L.A. music scene in the 1980s
It\u2019s about life in the underground
It\u2019s about the business of music
It\u2019s about American culture in the Age of Reagan
It\u2019s about turning life into art
(and vice versa)
It\u2019s about 90 minutes<\/p>\n

THE UNHEARD MUSIC is more than a look at one band and their work.
Beyond that, it is an examination of the L.A. music underground, the ferment where
American music is constantly being reinvented.
Beyond that, it is a wildly funny expose of the music industry: skewering recording and
radio execs who claim to be the vanguards of new ideas, but who stop short of actually
encouraging any.
And beyond that, the film explores the \u201cunheard music\u201d of the American cultural cosmos
\u2013 the barrage of sounds and images that provide the rarely remarked-upon background for
our lives.<\/p>\n

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 5
THE UNHEARD MUSIC
Selected Press Quotes From Its Original Release<\/p>\n

\u201c…[T]he punk-rock era\u2019s LAST WALTZ…assembled with Scorsese-like care…. Rarely
do films capture or convey the spirit and edge of the best rock \u2018n roll. This one does.\u201d
— Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe
\u201cA stunning new film about this rebellious band…more GUERNICA than documentary.\u201d
— L.A. Daily News
\u201cEasily one of the best rock \u2018n roll movies ever made.\u201d
— David Menconi, Boulder Daily Camera
\u201cThe best rock film of the 80\u2019s.\u201d
— Michael Nash, High Performance
One of the most absorbing and well-crafted films ever made about rock and roll….
Destined to rank as a classic in rock \u2018n roll movies and innovative filmmaking.\u201d
— Russell Smith, Dallas Morning News
\u201cDazzling imagination and technique.\u201d
— Todd McCarthy, Daily Variety
\u201cTHE UNHEARD MUSIC doesn\u2019t just shake, rattle and roll; it spits, sweats and snarls,
grabbing viewers by the scruff of their shirts and playfully tossing them into a group of
feverish slam dancers.\u201d
— Jeffrey Ressner, Hollywood Reporter
\u201cSets new standards for anyone thinking about making a film on rock music…. Don\u2019t
miss this movie!\u201d
— Frank Blank, Philadelphia City Paper
\u201cBursting with raw creative energy and open defiance of conventionality…part
rockumentary, part concert video, part hallucinogenic experience….\u201d
— Dann Gire, (Chicago) Daily Herald
\u201cCaptures the revolutionary spirit of L.A.\u2019s fertile underground music scene…provides
viewers with a greater understanding of the forces that shape contemporary rock and
roll.\u201d
— Gene Stout, Seattle Post Intelligencer
\u201cOne of the most brilliantly original films in years. It may be close to a masterpiece.\u201d
— Nicholas Griffin, Daily Trojan
X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 6
\u201cUnlike any film you\u2019ve ever seen. Saying it\u2019s about X is like saying WAR AND
PEACE is about Russia….\u201d
— Steven Gaydos, Pasadena\/Altadena Weekly
\u201cOffers fascinating glimpses into X\u2019s personal mythology, home lives, rehearsal process
and eclectic musical background with exciting performance footage and inventive visual
effects.\u201d
— Patrick Goldstein, L.A. Times
\u201cAudacious, personal and experimental filmmaking, an uncivilized animal full of noholds-
barred creativity.\u201d
— Michael Dare, L.A. Weekly
\u201cA free form chronicle that\u2019s as savage and compelling as the band\u2019s music.\u201d
— Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer
\u201cAn innovative, turbo-rhythmed kaleidoscope that sent me reeling beyond and back.\u201d
— Bob Strauss, Movieline
\u201cA stunning new film, compelling and fast-paced.\u201d
— Jonathan Taylor, L.A. Daily News
\u201cBrooding, sarcastic, funny…as vital and fun as STOP MAKING SENSE was lean and
cool.\u201d
— Jerome Weeks, Houston Post
\u201cThe best film I\u2019ve seen about the current musical generation.\u201d
— Billy Ciofi, Music Connection
\u201cAs unique a rock movie as X is a band…. Most reminds one of Dylan\u2019s DON\u2019T LOOK
BACK….
— Charles Cross, Seattle Rocket
\u201cA mad hatter of a band profile.\u201d
— Austin Chronicle
\u201cA rousing plea for individuality.\u201d
— Dallas Times Herald
\u201cA sarcastic salvo against middle-brow rock.\u201d
— Michael Spies, Houston Chronicle
\u201cAn accomplishment not to be missed.\u201d
— Kathy McTee, Daily Texan
X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 7
\u201cBy all means don\u2019t leave THE UNHEARD MUSIC unseen.\u201d
— John Lewis, Dallas Observer
\u201cThe film explores the \u201cunheard music\u201d of a culture, an outcast generation, a pioneering
rock band, and, through that band, the unheard music of their dark and silent interior
world. In the last scene, ragged, bleary-eyed Exene, hair in her mouth, head rolling,
sings: \u2018There are some facts here which refuse to escape\/I could say it stronger, but it\u2019s
too much trouble…the world\u2019s a mess; it\u2019s in my kiss….\u2019 Her fragile, oddly hopeful final
message reminds us that we are surrounded by a world in turmoil, and we lead
bewildering, exhausting lives. Meaning is found in the most fundamental of forces: a
kiss.\u201d
— Joan Anderman, The Weekly (Seattle)<\/p>\n

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 8
THE UNHEARD MUSIC<\/p>\n

Production Notes<\/p>\n

Although it uses elements found in concert films, sociological studies, music videos,
documentaries, science fiction pictures, industrial films and comedies, THE UNHEARD
MUSIC doesn\u2019t fit neatly into any of these categories. The film is as fluid and resistant
to labels as its subject matter: the vivid Los Angeles underground of the 1980s, where
American music \u2013 and American culture \u2013 were constantly being reinvented. THE
UNHEARD MUSIC takes a long, detailed, and funny look at this scene, but focuses on
the group that critics singled out as the leader of the underground pack \u2013 a four-person
rock band with the enigmatic name X.<\/p>\n

Directed by W. T. Morgan, the film began shooting in 1980 \u2013 before MTV existed.
Morgan and his partners in Angel City Productions were chronically short of funds, and
put everything they had into making the film. Painstakingly shot and assembled over the
next five years, THE UNHEARD MUSIC premiered at the 1986 Sundance Film Festival.
During its theatrical run and first home video release it received thunderous acclaim, but
after a series of distributors went out of business, it largely disappeared. But, much like
X, THE UNHEARD MUSIC developed a powerful cult following, and its innovative
storytelling and stylistic techniques \u2013 as well as its DIY (Do It Yourself) punk spirit \u2013
exerted artistic influence far beyond its commercial fortunes.<\/p>\n

Today traces of the film\u2019s pioneering approach can be found across the media spectrum.
Morgan himself progressed from hand-made effects (created in-camera, and on ancient \u2013
and borrowed \u2013 animation stands and optical printers) to creating more groundbreaking
films, television, interactive multimedia, theater, videogames and Disney attractions.
Others who contributed to the film would go on to productions ranging from Peter
Gabriel\u2019s \u201cSledgehammer\u201d video to the features JFK, SPINAL TAP, and LITTLE MISS
SUNSHINE. The extended X family (a close-knit group of friends, family and
colleagues known as The Wolves) would go on to play major roles in such films as
DANCES WITH WOLVES and THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy.<\/p>\n

THE UNHEARD MUSIC screened anew at the 2007 Sundance festival as part of the
Sundance Collection, a select group of seminal independent films preserved at UCLA\u2019s
Film and Television Archive that include BLOOD SIMPLE, STRANGER THAN
PARADISE, KILLER OF SHEEP, and RIVER\u2019S EDGE.<\/p>\n

THE UNHEARD MUSIC is an Angel City Production: written and directed by W. T.
Morgan, produced by Christopher Blakely, co-produced by Everett Greaton, designed by
Alizabeth Foley (who also appears in the film as \u201cPaulene\u201d). Director of Photography is
Karem John Monsour; editors are Morgan, Kent Beyda, Charlie Mullin and Curtiss
Clayton. Music is by the film\u2019s stars \u2013 X: John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom, and
D. J. Bonebrake.<\/p>\n

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 9
The Filmmakers (Angel City Productions)<\/p>\n

Writer-Director W.T. MORGAN\u2019s first film, THE UNHEARD MUSIC, had its world
premiere at the 1986 Sundance Film Festival. He then directed A MATTER OF
DEGREES, a satirical comedy set at a college radio station featuring Arye Gross, Tom
Sizemore, Judith Hoag, Christina Haag, John Doe, Wendell Pierce, John F. Kennedy Jr.,
Kate Mailer and Michael Imperioli, which premiered at the 1990 Sundance festival.
Morgan co-wrote 500 NATIONS (an eight-hour documentary miniseries hosted by Kevin
Costner) and SPIRIT (with Peter Buffett), and directed 500 NATIONS: THE FIRST
AMERICANS. He has written screenplays and partnered with Michael Blake, author of
DANCES WITH WOLVES, to develop film projects. He has created video games and
interactive experiences for Time Warner, Walt Disney Imagineering, Microsoft and IBM.
He is a longtime member (and former chair) of the board of directors of the Actors\u2019 Gang
theater company (co-founded by Tim Robbins). Along with screenwriting and ongoing
work for Walt Disney Imagineering, current works-in-progress include documentaries
about Barack Obama and Indian Country, and SEE HOW WE ARE, a sort-of sequel to
UNHEARD MUSIC.<\/p>\n

Producer CHRISTOPHER BLAKELY formed Angel City Productions in 1980 with
college buddies Bill Morgan and Everett Greaton to produce THE UNHEARD MUSIC.
Before that he was president of the Entertainment Law Society at U.S.C. and was actively
involved in developing film projects. Today Chris runs a successful California video
production company, Main Street Media.<\/p>\n

Co-Producer EVERETT GREATON was a music aficionado, film studies major and
popular student D.J. at Stanford University, where he met future Angel City colleagues
Bill Morgan and Chris Blakely. Everett followed up THE UNHEARD MUSIC by
pursuing interests in music and world travel. He is currently web master for a large L.A.
law firm.<\/p>\n

Associate Producer\/Production Designer\/Actor ALIZABETH FOLEY created the role of
\u201cPaulene\u201d \u2013 the fictional character who opens the film. Behind the camera, she helped
create other memorable scenes, including the stills animation and house-moving
sequences. She has continued to work on both sides of the camera as a producer, writer
and sometime actor in such varied projects as A MATTER OF DEGREES,
COLUMBUS, 500 NATIONS and the upcoming SEE HOW WE ARE.<\/p>\n

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 10
X
\u201cX emerged from the punk ferment of 1977 with a fast, careening, intensely focused
sound that perfectly caught the dark undercurrents of the L.A. psyche,\u201d writes Chris
Morris, author of Beyond and Back: The Story of X. \u201cThe group\u2019s depth and originality
won them the praise of local and national critics \u2013 yet the indifference of radio
programmers and record buyers kept them (to quote their song, \u201cThe Unheard Music\u201d)
\u2018locked out of the public eye.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

By the late 1970s the live rock \u2018n\u2019 roll music scene in Los Angeles had gone stale and
institutional. With the appearance of a cramped, funky basement club called the Masque,
a new alternative music scene was born. That scene soon exploded outward into a
network of tiny nightspots stretching from the Chinatown district to the ocean \u2013 the
Whisky a Go Go, Starwood, Madame Wong\u2019s, Hong Kong Caf\u00e9, Club 88. In these
offbeat gathering places, young musicians came together to express a revolutionary spirit
of creativity.<\/p>\n

Groups like Fear, the Screamers, the Germs, the Alleycats, the Plugz, the Skulls, and the
Bags sprouted up, playing short, stark, feral slices of musical life. A fertile period of
fresh ideas and inspirations began in the L.A. rock scene, which at that point was
associated in the minds of the public with the laid-back sound of the Eagles, Linda
Ronstadt and Fleetwood Mac. The subculture developed into a vital and radically
original musical and social experience.<\/p>\n

Although many of these young bands faded rapidly, a few found independent record
labels willing to expose their volatile and risky new music to the public. Some \u2013
including the Go Gos, the Blasters, Los Lobos, Black Flag, Red Hot Chili Peppers and
others \u2013 would achieve wider notoriety. But the band commonly acknowledged as the
leader of the pack was X.<\/p>\n

As recounted in THE UNHEARD MUSIC, X bassist and singer\/songwriter John Doe met
writer\/singer Exene Cervenka at the Beyond Baroque poetry workshop in Venice,
California. Guitarist Billy Zoom linked up with Doe through virtually identical ads in a
local classified newspaper. Drummer D. J. Bonebrake was recruited as their drummer
from another Masque band, the Eyes.<\/p>\n

X released their first single, \u201cWe\u2019re Desperate\u201d\/\u201cAdult Books\u201d, on the small
Dangerhouse label at the height of L.A.\u2019s punk rock ferment. The band went on to
release its first album, Los Angeles, in 1980 on independent Slash Records (an offshoot of
an underground L.A. magazine), followed the next year by Wild Gift. Both were
produced by Ray Manzarek of the seminal L.A. band, the Doors (Ray first saw X play
after hearing that they closed their sets with a scorching version of \u201cSoul Kitchen\u201d).
These albums brought X\u2019s high-tension introspective music to the attention of critics.
Los Angeles was chosen Album of the Year by the L.A. Times critics; Wild Gift won
X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 11
similar kudos from the New York Times as well, and was included in Time magazine\u2019s
list of the ten best albums of the year.<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s shift to Elektra Records in 1982 brought their music to a broader audience, as
they remained a mainstay of critic\u2019s polls. Their first Elektra album, Under the Big Black
Sun, narrowly missed pulling off an Album of the Year three-peat, while their fourth
album, More Fun in the New World, returned them to the top.<\/p>\n

This is where THE UNHEARD MUSIC leaves X \u2013 never having compromised their
music to gain larger audiences. As director Morgan noted at the time of the film\u2019s
release, \u201cIf X seems closer to the musical mainstream today [in 1986] than they did in
1980, it\u2019s not because their music has changed. X is still out there doing what they\u2019ve
always done. If they\u2019ve gone from outsiders to insiders, it\u2019s because the mainstream
heard what they were doing and moved to include them, not the other way around.\u201d
In the intervening years, X\u2019s fortunes have waxed and waned. Although they have never
achieved the commercial success that many believe is their due, they continue to be
hugely influential and respected among their peers and fans. As was once said of the
Velvet Underground, not many people may have bought their records, but they all went
off and formed their own bands. Even X formed an ad-hoc acoustic sub-band \u2013 the
Knitters \u2013 joining John, Exene and D.J. with Dave Alvin of the Blasters and stand-up
bassist Johnny Ray Bartel.<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s personal lives have evolved since the completion of the film: John and Exene
divorced, but remained close friends and colleagues. Today John has three daughters,
and has balanced a respected solo musical and acting career with his ongoing X and
Knitters duties. Exene met and married actor Viggo Mortensen, with whom she has a son
(born the same day in the same hospital as John Doe\u2019s first daughter!); after moving for
awhile to the middle of the country she has recently returned to Southern California,
balancing her X and Knitters duties with a vibrant solo career and as a celebrated graphic
artist. Billy Zoom left the band shortly after the movie\u2019s premiere, but later reunited with
his original cohorts; the father of twins, he runs his own recording studio. Like Billy
(seen expertly noodling a clarinet in the film) D.J. Bonebrake has always displayed
remarkable versatility (check out his marimba \u2013 and percolator \u2013 playing in several
scenes) in addition to his powerful inventive drumming; he plays multiple instruments
with a staggering array of side bands.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s fortunes followed a similar arc, its fate forever joined with that of its subjects.
Upon its first theatrical release, THE UNHEARD MUSIC received rave reviews (see
attached selections). Its run in several cities was extended many times over. Seattle was
one example of what seemed at the time to be a surprising hot bed of interest in the film
(later, the mystery of that attraction was solved when grunge \u2013 a post-punk sound
pioneered by Nirvana, Pearl Jam and other Seattle bands \u2013 exploded onto the scene).
X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 12<\/p>\n

Many who weren\u2019t at first fans of the band found the innovative filmmaking appealing.
Following one screening, a studio executive told the director that if he didn\u2019t get a threepicture
deal with a major studio out of the film, she would leave the business.
Six weeks later, she left the business.<\/p>\n

It has now been thirty-one years since filming began on THE UNHEARD MUSIC
(twenty-five since its first release), and in December of this year a 25th anniversary
special edition Blu-Ray and DVD will be released by MVD Entertainment.
It has also been thirty-one years since the release of X\u2019s landmark first album (qualifying
them for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame \u2013 are you listening, voters?).
Morgan once described them as \u201cthe bastard child of Dylan and the Sex Pistols\u201d. Today
the original members of X continue in their live shows to blow the roof off with their
lyrical intensity \u2013 carrying forward the torch of raw rootsy poetic rock and roll.<\/p>\n

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 13
THE UNHEARD MUSIC
Credits<\/p>\n

X
THE UNHEARD MUSIC
An Angel City Production
Written and Directed by W. T. Morgan
Produced by Christopher Blakely
Co-Produced by Everett Greaton
Associate Producers Alizabeth Foley
W. T. Morgan
Director of Photography Karem John Monsour
Production Designer Alizabeth Foley
Music by X
Original Songs by John Doe & Exene Cervenka
Editors Charlie Mullin
Kent Beyda
Curtiss Clayton
W. T. Morgan
Starring John Doe
Exene Cervenka
Billy Zoom
D. J. Bonebrake
Featuring Ray Manzarek
Rodney Bingenheimer
Brendan Mullen
Frank Gargani
Alizabeth Foley
With Denise Zoom
Dinky Bonebrake
Bob Biggs
Al Bergamo
Joe Smith
Robert Hilburn
Jello Biafra
Tom Hadges
Additional Photography Marino Colmano
Camera Karem John Monsour
Marino Colmano
X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 14
Jeremy Lepard
Jon Huck
Bruce Barrow
Norm Gollin
Stephen R. Johnson
W. T. Morgan
Home Movies John Doe
Billy Zoom
Denise Zoom
Mr. & Mrs. Zoom, Sr.
Stills\/Animation Montage Alizabeth Foley
W. T. Morgan
Animation Consultant Jon Hall
Model Animation Monumental Pictures
Frank Rocco
Les Bernstein
Kurt Zendler
Patt Harrison
Jim Balsam
Jeremy Cushner
Optical Printer Operator Kevin Lombardi
Additional Animation Camera Erik Van Dijk
Doug Henry
Anthony Wilderman
Still Photography Ed Colver
Gary Leonard
Frank Gargani
Debbie Leavitt
Gary Pearlson
Rooh Steif
Ann Summa
Karen Filter
Xerography Michael Hyatt
Sound Designer Craig Smith
Production Sound Mixers Jon Huck
Everett Greaton
Dolby Stereo Re-Recording International Recording
Mixers Wayne Heitman
Matthew Iadarola
Pre-Dubs JDH Sound
Scratch Mix, Transfers SSI
Running Time: 86 minutes
MPAA Rating: R<\/p>\n

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 15<\/p>\n

Backstory
THE UNHEARD MUSIC was filmed between 1980 and 1985 in and around Los
Angeles.<\/p>\n

The filmmakers have a lot of history together. Morgan and producer Christopher Blakely
attended the same high school. They ended up in the same freshman dorm at Stanford,
where they met co-producer Everett Greaton. All three spent six months in Florence
studying, among other things, Italian film. After a series of extended stays in Italy and
New York, Morgan returned to Los Angeles, where one of the first people he met was
Alizabeth Foley, who would become an integral part of THE UNHEARD MUSIC on
both sides of the camera \u2013 and his wife.<\/p>\n

While still in Europe, Morgan had spent a month in Paris writing a spec screenplay,
broke and living in a vacant apartment with only two records for entertainment: Never
Mind the Bollocks, Here\u2019s the Sex Pistols and Bob Dylan\u2019s Blood on the Tracks. Back in
L.A and living a block from the world famous Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip he
stumbled across a local band he immediately recognized as the bastard child of Dylan and
the Sex Pistols \u2013 X.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnstage they struck me as a kind of chiaroscuro creative chaos. John and Exene were
these primeval voices howling into the darkness, while Billy Zoom looked like he\u2019d just
stepped down from the rock god pantheon, blond and glowing, flashing this million
dollar smile while tearing through these incredible licks with the greatest of ease. And
D.J. just pounding furiously on the drums. I was blown away. It sounds corny and
overblown now \u2013 and a bit strange to wax nostalgic about punk \u2013 but I felt like I\u2019d
stumbled into a post-apocalyptic Cavern Club and was seeing my generation\u2019s version of
the Beatles (still in their leather-jacket phase).<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen their first album (Los Angeles) came out I wore out the grooves on it [yes,
Virginia \u2013 this was the age before CDs and itunes]. Not only were the songs amazing,
but X\u2019s producer had been a member of my previous favorite L.A. band \u2013 Ray Manzarek
of the Doors. Not to mention that prior to becoming a filmmaker my greatest ambition
was to be a poet, and there was some serious neo-beat poetry going on there. I said, \u2018I
don\u2019t care what happens, I have to do something with these people.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Then occurred one of the many meaningful coincidences that seemed to mark this project
from the beginning. At the time Morgan was living off option money for unmade film
projects, studying directing and acting under Lee Strasberg, and getting involved in
political activism through Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda\u2019s Campaign for Economic
Democracy, who had recently vacated an office space in Ocean Park (not far from
Beyond Baroque, the poetry center frequented by John and Exene, and occasionally by
Morgan). Morgan took over the space, but needed partners to cover the rent, and found
one in his college friend Chris Blakely, a law school refugee who, as it happened, wanted
to do a documentary about the music business. Before they knew it they had joined<\/p>\n

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

16 forces, brought in Everett Greaton and Alizabeth Foley, made a deal with X, and THE
UNHEARD MUSIC was born.<\/p>\n

The project immediately stalled when the first shoot \u2013 the sequence documenting the
recording of the \u201cWhite Girl\u201d single \u2013 drained every penny in the Angel City bank
account. But the deaths within days of each other of John Lennon and Darby Crash \u2013 not
to mention the election of Ronald Reagan \u2013 spurred the film team to seize the moment
and capture X and the L.A. punk scene before it disappeared.<\/p>\n

As it happened, the making of THE UNHEARD MUSIC would take five hard years,
echoing the struggles X faced in getting their music into the public ear. The filmmakers
worked with begged and borrowed equipment, recruited themselves and friends as crew,
and called in every favor they could. Shooting proceeded in fits and starts, depending
upon the current cash flow.<\/p>\n

Angel City had to battle on two fronts to win over potential investors: one faction was
dubious that music should ever been seen (shooting began before MTV existed); others
wanted to see more of a traditional rockumentary, with a neat, upbeat feel \u2013 as one noninvestor
put it, \u201ca New Wave Rocky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being forced to shoot over time, and to do most of the work themselves, turned out to be
a plus. \u201cNot only did we end up documenting the band\u2019s organic growth during their
prime,\u201d Morgan notes, \u201cbut having to build the film in a more modular way led me to
push to make every new sequence different in tone and style. It became more of a
dynamic collage, drawing on every period in film history. It didn\u2019t hurt that we were
amateurs \u2013 in the best sense of people who do it for love \u2013 and hadn\u2019t yet become jaded,
or allowed ourselves to get talked out of fresh, untested ideas. Which was what the DIY
[Do It Yourself] Movement was all about, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always liked the idea of reinventing the rules. Many of my favorite films are from
the period when filmmaking was young \u2013 the early silent movies, from Melies to Murnau
to Eisenstein and Keaton, when nobody knew the rules, so they did whatever they
thought would work. We didn\u2019t know what not to do, so we improvised. More seasoned
hands kept telling us, \u2018You can\u2019t do it that way,\u2019 but we were young and arrogant, so we
ignored all the sage advice. I liked the notion of the Keystone Cops comedies \u2013 where
they\u2019d hear fire engine sirens, rush over to shoot the fire, then figure out later what to do
with it. You see that philosophy throughout the film \u2013 things like the house-moving
sequence, which was triggered when Alizabeth and I were grabbing a bite at three in the
morning and saw a house drive by; or the \u201cJohny Hit and Run Paulene\u201d sequence, which
was inspired in part by an actual hit and run we witnessed \u2013 again, late at night (we all
lived like vampires back then) \u2013 while dining at Johnny\u2019s Pastrami in Culver City; or the
flurry of images at the end of \u201cI Must Not Think Bad Thoughts\u201d, when I was unable to
sleep and sat up all night shooting single frames off the television.\u201d<\/p>\n

The filmmakers cut corners everywhere. Most of the film was shot on weekends and at
night, partly to take advantage of policies by equipment houses and local film schools,
X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 17
who would lend them equipment for free to shoot \u201ctests\u201d \u2013 which would inevitably end
up in the film. \u201cI think we had a negative shooting ratio \u2013 we reused everything at least
twice,\u201d jokes Morgan.<\/p>\n

THE UNHEARD MUSIC utilizes a wild panoply of styles, spliced and splintered with
animation, stock footage, a silent movie pastiche, quick cuts from TV commercials,
corporate industrials and news programs, home movies, concert and interview footage.
One of the distinctive techniques \u2013 ubiquitous today, but shocking back then \u2013 is the
machine-gun pace of montages to create a densely-packed blizzard of images, some
flickering past for only a fraction of a second.<\/p>\n

But the ordering of the images is anything but random. Forced to plan each shoot
carefully, Morgan scripted and blocked the film many times over. \u201cI really did think of
this as a narrative film with documentary material. Although there are elements of
cinema verite in the approach \u2013 especially in the \u201cReal Child of Hell\u201d sequence, where
you see a song being born before your eyes \u2013 the movie has more in common with
Cubism and multimedia than it does with most documentaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avoiding and even mocking (pre-SPINAL TAP) many documentary conventions,
Morgan worked to avoid clich\u00e9s, including the most-hallowed \u2013 the straightforward
talking head interview. \u201cI\u2019d much rather try to capture somebody behaving in their
environment \u2013 like wildlife in a nature film \u2013 than see them interrogated. It\u2019s more of a
conversation, where the band members invite you into their world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDocumentaries tend to put people under microscopes,\u201d says Alizabeth Foley. \u201cBut it\u2019s
more interesting to see how X dealt with the raw material of life that\u2019s available to
everybody, and then turned it into art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spontaneity was encouraged. Having heard that Billy Zoom played jazz clarinet (!),
Blakely brought his own clarinet to one of the shoots. Billy picked it up and promptly
blew a beautiful improvisation loosely based on \u201cStardust.\u201d On the day of an interview
with D.J. Bonebrake, he happened to be giving a vibraphone lesson, which was also
captured on film, as was later noodling on various TV themes (which became a fun
sequence in the film, but created headaches for the music rights supervisor).
Alizabeth Foley does double duty on both sides of the camera, appearing in the film as
Paulene, a fictitious character [though don\u2019t tell her that!] whom Morgan describes as \u201can
archetypal \u2013 and over-identifying \u2013 X fan.\u201d The character was inspired by the confluence
of several factors: an anonymous fan letter from an emotionally disturbed young woman
convinced that all of the songs were about her; an actual hit and run accident in front of
Johnny\u2019s Pastrami witnessed by Morgan and Foley, where a woman was tossed or fell
from a speeding car, and then run over; and the lyrics to X\u2019s song, \u201cJohny Hit & Run
Paulene,\u201d which found pulp friction in the collision of punk outcasts, drugs and violent
rape. In Foley\u2019s mind it all crystallized in two key lines:<\/p>\n

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 18<\/p>\n

She wasn\u2019t what you\u2019d call living really
But she was still awake\u2026.<\/p>\n

The filmmakers enjoyed their first reward at the 1984 Filmex, held as part of the Olympic
Arts Festival, where THE UNHEARD MUSIC was screened as a \u201cwork-in-progress.\u201d
One of only three films in the festival to sell out (overflowing despite being a midnight
show), the film received a raucous ovation. It then premiered in its final form at the 1986
Sundance Film Festival; then screened again at Sundance in 2007 when it was selected
for the Sundance Collection, a group of \u201cseminal independent films\u201d preserved at UCLA
Film Archives. Now, upon the 25th anniversary of its first commercial release, THE
UNHEARD MUSIC arrives in a special edition Blu-Ray and DVD featuring a new HD
transfer and never-before-seen Xtras.<\/p>\n

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 19
Bios<\/p>\n

Angel City Productions<\/p>\n

W.T. MORGAN (writer\/director): Bill Morgan is not a Creationist, Beat archivist, or
team doctor for the Boston Red Sox, despite what Google says.
THE UNHEARD MUSIC (Sundance Collection) was his first film. It premiered at
Sundance in 1986 and played at the first Sundance Film Festival in Tokyo. A MATTER
OF DEGREES, a satirical comedy set at a college radio station featuring an ensemble
cast including Arye Gross, Tom Sizemore, Judith Hoag, Cristina Haag, Wendell Pierce,
John Doe, John F. Kennedy Jr., Kate Mailer and Michael Imperioli, was developed at the
Sundance Filmmaker Lab and premiered at the 1990 Sundance festival.
Morgan co-wrote 500 NATIONS, an eight-hour documentary miniseries about the
history of American Indians hosted by Kevin Costner. The CBS series was nominated
Best Special of the Year by the National Television Critics Association and spawned a
CD-ROM for Microsoft (created by Morgan), which a CNET poll ranked second among
the all time best CD-ROMs. In 2004 he directed a Discovery Channel special, 500
NATIONS: THE FIRST AMERICANS, which aired in conjunction with the opening of
the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. while at the same
time, at the other end of the National Mall, SPIRIT: THE SEVENTH FIRE \u2013 a live
multimedia \u201cjourney in dance drums and song\u201d (co-created with Peter Buffett) played to
sold-out crowds. Featuring an all Native American cast, the show was based upon the
earlier SPIRIT, which drew raves during a series of PBS broadcasts and live tours.
Morgan was senior writer\/producer of two landmark interactive multimedia projects for
IBM and Robert Abel\u2019s Synapse Technologies: COLUMBUS, installed in the Library of
Congress to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the epic encounter between Native
Americans and Europeans; and its sequel, EVOLUTION\/REVOLUTION. He served as
senior vice president of inscape, the Time Warner videogame company behind the
graphically rich role-playing games, THE RESIDENTS\u2019 BAD DAY ON THE
MIDWAY, DEVO\u2019s ADVENTURES IN THE SMART PATROL, DROWNED GOD,
ASSASSIN, and the worldwide hit artificial entity, CREATURES.<\/p>\n

Morgan became a filmmaker after being steeped in the films of Bertolucci and Fellini at
Stanford University\u2019s overseas program in Florence, Italy. Living in Rome during the
Aldo Moro affair, he wrote a script about terrorism and Italian television that not
surprisingly failed to unlock American studio coffers. But it did land him another
screenwriting gig. Upon his return to America he trained with Lee Strasberg and
embarked upon an odyssey through music, film, interactive multimedia and theater. He
is a longtime member \u2013 and former chair \u2013 of the board of directors of the Actors\u2019 Gang
theater company (co-founded by Tim Robbins), and co-founded a company to develop
film and television projects with Michael Blake, Oscar-winning author of DANCES
WITH WOLVES, whom he met through X.<\/p>\n

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 20<\/p>\n

He continues to work as a screenwriter and director (making, as he jokes, \u201cMore films
you haven\u2019t seen\u201d), and as a writer\/director on projects for Walt Disney Imagineering and
other companies. Upcoming projects include documentaries about Barack Obama and
Indian Country, and SEE HOW WE ARE, a sort-of sequel to UNHEARD MUSIC.
Morgan lives in Los Angeles with adulthood sweetheart and partner in Angel City \u2013
Alizabeth Foley.<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER BLAKELY (producer): Chris Blakely is a fifth generation Californian,
born in Santa Monica, whose after-school jobs included working in a Hollywood market
\u201cbagging groceries for Broderick Crawford.\u201d He was a Classics major at Stanford,
studied \u201cclassic film\u201d in Italy, and returned to the States determined to enter the motion
picture industry. Instead, he enrolled in law school. At U.S.C. he was president of the
Entertainment Law Society. His law degree came in handy during production of THE
UNHEARD MUSIC.<\/p>\n

Today Chris runs a successful California video production company, Main Street Media.
He is married to Elizabeth Blakely, a business and tax attorney who also worked on the
film. They have two children.<\/p>\n

EVERETT GREATON (co-producer): Everett grew up New England, and came to
California to attend Stanford University, where he majored in film. After graduation he
worked in a San Francisco law firm as a paralegal, spending his free time traveling
through Mexico and Latin America. He came to L.A. to work on THE UNHEARD
MUSIC. He is currently web master for a large L.A. law firm, and continues to pursue
his interest in music and world travel.<\/p>\n

ALIZABETH FOLEY (Associate Producer, Production Designer, \u201cPaulene\u201d): Alizabeth
created the role of \u201cPaulene\u201d \u2013 the fictional character who opens the film. Behind the
camera, she served as associate producer and production designer and was instrumental
in creating the animation and house-moving sequences. She has continued to work on
both sides of the camera as a producer, writer and actor in such varied projects as A
MATTER OF DEGREES, COLUMBUS, 500 NATIONS, and upcoming projects with
husband W. T. Morgan.<\/p>\n

ALSO: Many who contributed to THE UNHEARD MUSIC went on to illustrious
careers, including cinematographer John Monsour, who invented a device used to
synchronize film and video; second-unit cameraman Steven R. Johnson, who directed
\u201cPee Wee\u2019s Playhouse\u201d and Peter Gabriel\u2019s \u201cSledgehammer\u201d video; editors Kent Beyda
(SPINAL TAP), Charlie Mullen (THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION), and
Curtiss Clayton (DRUGSTORE COWBOYS); apprentice editor Joe Hutshing, who won
an Academy Award for editing JFK; and Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, directors of
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, who provided footage of the Masque and environs.<\/p>\n

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 21
X
EXENE<\/p>\n

\u201cIn August of 1976 Exene moved to Los Angeles, because she knew she had to get out of
Florida. She arrived in town with $80 in a paper bag and wound up living with 5 people
in a 1-room apartment in Ocean Park. A short time later she began working in Venice in
the library at the literary arts center, Beyond Baroque, where she was allowed to live
upstairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cX, the punk band formed in 1977 by Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom, and D.J.
Bonebrake, came along just in time for those of us coming of age in the mid-70s who
were discovering that the conventional path through life wasn\u2019t an option. In Los
Angeles at that point in time our numbers proved to be legion, and we found each other at
L.A.\u2019s seminal punk Petri dish, The Masque.\u201d \u2013 Kristine McKenna (www.xtheband.com)
Exene and John were married in 1980, around the time her sister \u2013 a major influence in
her life \u2013 died in a car crash while headed to an X show at the Whisky a Go Go.
It is at this point that production on THE UNHEARD MUSIC began, which ended up
documenting the band\u2019s fortunes over the course of their critically-acclaimed first four
albums \u2013 LOS ANGELES, WILD GIFT, UNDER THE BIG BLACK SUN, and MORE
FUN IN THE NEW WORLD.<\/p>\n

Soon after the film\u2019s completion, John and Exene divorced, although they continued as
partners in X, creating such landmark albums as SEE HOW WE ARE.
In 1986 Exene met actor Viggo Mortensen in New York City on the set of
SALVATION! Viggo played Exene\u2019s husband in the film, and soon adopted the same
role in real life. Though they later divorced, they have a son, Henry, a recent college
grad, who was born on the same day in the same hospital as John Doe\u2019s first daughter,
Veronica.<\/p>\n

Exene has published a number of books of poetry, is a respected graphic artist, and
continues to record and to perform with X, The Knitters, and as a solo artist, including
the recent The Excitement of Maybe.<\/p>\n

JOHN DOE<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Doe (is that your real name?) was dreamed up in Los Angeles in January or
February \u201977 after an exhausting trip from Baltimore on Halloween, \u201976. He settles in
Venice, CA (\u2018cause that\u2019s where the Beats lived), goes to the Venice poetry workshop
and meets Exene. X band starts, records a single, gets more popular (1979 there was a
line around the block at the Whisky) signs to Slash Records and by 1981 the L.A. \u201cpunkrock
explosion\u201d is all but over. X\u2019s first two records have poetry and hard rock; it<\/p>\n

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 22<\/p>\n

connects with the audience\u2019s guts and brains and the critics really like it. X signs to
Elektra, make five more LPs, some videos, tour the U.S. and Europe, appear on network
TV, make a film (THE UNHEARD MUSIC), abuse body and soul, write about it,
connect with more and more varied audiences and the critics move on to someone new.
\u201c[Since the release of the film] J.D. has been in some films, taken some acting classes so
as not to completely embarrass himself, signed as a solo artist, remarried and had three
children [with a little help from Gigi]. Finding Los Angeles no longer inspiring, he moves
\u201cto the sticks,\u201d records first solo record (while X takes an overdue vacation), [acts in] a
few dozen films, movies and TV shows, [does] three more solo records as The John Doe
Thing, another X record, and countless tours. Rhino re-issues entire X catalog and J.D.
makes a long-awaited but mostly ignored acoustic record w\/ lots of guest star\/friends
singing and playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe latest chapter [2004 and solo record # 6] begins w\/ a desire to make an electric
record that is utterly simple, musically and lyrically. Not wanting to return to punk rock,
\u201cold music\u201d makes a comeback in the J.D. vocabulary. Loving the collaboration of the
last record, J.D. calls some other friend\/guest stars. Over a two-week period in April, the
musicians and singers came to Dave Way\u2019s Way Station in the hills of Los Angeles to
sing and play all together in one very small room. Hardly any \u201cfixes,\u201d over-dubs, no autotune
and everything given to the moment of the song and its players. This is the Muddy
Waters record he always wanted to make. This is a record I think Bob Dylan would like.
This is a record of songs that have the style of the blues and country w\/out the selfconscious
modernisms, show-off solos or purist traps. \u001f\u001fHope you like it and see you
out there.\u201d\u001f\u001f\u2014- John Doe 11\/20\/04 (www.xtheband.com) \u001f\u001f
John continues to act, to make acclaimed solo records, including A Year in the Wilderness
and Keeper, and to perform in X and the Knitters.<\/p>\n

D.J. BONEBRAKE<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald James Bonebrake (yes, that is his real name) grew up in the suburbs of Los
Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. He began drumming at the age of 12 and studied classical
and traditional music while playing in various rock n roll bands. DJ entered the Los
Angeles underground music scene in the mid-1970’s when Charlotte Caffey and Joe
Ramirez saw his band, Rocktopus, at Immaculate Heart College. They asked him to join
their group, The Eyes, and it wasn’t long before members of X caught The Eyes playing
at the Masque and asked DJ to be X’s drummer. After several years of touring and
recording X took a brief hiatus and DJ began earnestly building his reputation as a
talented and dependable live performance and recording session musician, playing drums,
percussion, and mallet instruments with a variety of musicians and music groups. Today,
in addition to playing drums with X, and snare\/washtub with the Knitters, DJ is gaining a
reputation as a talented vibraphonist. His two jazz ensembles, Orchestra Superstring and
the Bonebrake Syncopators, include veteran rock and jazz musicians from a broad range
of musical interests.\u201d (www.xtheband.com)<\/p>\n

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 23<\/p>\n

BILLY ZOOM<\/p>\n

\u201cBilly began life as Ty Kindell. His father was a big-band saxophonist and clarinetist.
Billy plays nine different instruments, ranging from guitar to clarinet, saxophone, flute
and keyboards. In 1966 he set out from Savannah Illinois \u2018to seek fame and fortune\u2019 and
landed in Davenport Iowa. There he became a member of the Loved Ones, a popular
group that toured the Midwest playing soul covers. The nomadic Kindell traveled the
country, putting in stints in Boston and San Francisco before landing in L.A. As an off
and on member of Art Wheeler & the Brothers Love from \u201869 to \u201872, he backed up the
likes of Etta James, Johnny \u201cGuitar\u201d Watson, Bobby Day, Johnny Taylor and other soul
legends. Billy today notes that he only later fully appreciated the experience: \u201cIf I had
my druthers, I\u2019d still be playing R&B\u2026I got out of it when they started getting into funk.
I didn\u2019t go there. I didn\u2019t do acid, so that whole Parliament\/Funkadelic thing got kind of
weird for me. I didn\u2019t want to wear the pink feathers and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1971 Zoom landed a gig with rockabilly titan Gene Vincent, who had fallen on hard
times in the psychedelic era. \u201cMusicians in his band were embarrassed about playing
songs like \u201cBe Bop a Lula\u201d in front of people,\u201d Zoom recalls. The thing I remember him
saying the most was, \u201cI can\u2019t believe that somebody who looks like you can play like
that.\u201d I still had hair down to my waist and bellbottoms in those days.\u201d
Zoom\u2019s nascent punk attitude was honed in the early 70s. \u201c70s music really sucked. I
think music sort of died at Woodstock. I think everything between Woodstock and the
Ramones is an embarrassment and needs to be erased from the history books…I started
doing rockabilly [because] I couldn\u2019t get into the glam-rock thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1972 Ty Kindell became Billy Zoom. \u201cI had hair down to my waist and little wirerimmed
glasses, and I decided to change my image. That look wasn\u2019t rebellious any
more. All of the people who threw beer cans at me had long hair now; they were
rednecks on acid. So I cut my hair real short and bleached it a bit, and I got really blue
contacts. I had this friend named Liz who came over\u2026and she just stood there staring at
me and said, \u2018You don\u2019t look like you anymore; you don\u2019t look like Ty\u2026you look like
your name ought to be Billy Zoom or something.\u2019 Then some friends started calling me
that, and it just sort of stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zoom played with a roots band called the Alligators in 72 and 73 before starting his own
rockabilly combo the next year. The Billy Zoom Band recorded on the tiny indie label
Rolling Rock Records, where Zoom proved that \u2013 in addition to being an astonishingly
gifted instrumentalist \u2013 he could sing! But as Billy puts it: \u201cYou couldn\u2019t give away
rockabilly in those days. Nobody really cared\u2026until years later, after the Stray Cats and
all that happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then [as recounted in THE UNHEARD MUSIC] in 1976 Zoom read a review of the
Ramones that trashed them. \u201cIt said the songs were too fast, too shot, too simple\u2026stupid
lyrics, no guitar solos \u2013 and that just sounded like real positive things to me!\u201d So he went
X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC Production Notes October 2011 24
to see the Ramones and something clicked. \u201cIt was like Rockabilly turned to 10 [11].\u201d
Looking to take this a bit further \u2013 \u201cmake it slightly more musical, but not enough to
wreck it\u201d \u2013 he placed an ad in the Recycler and the first person to respond was a singing
bassist named John Doe.<\/p>\n

Fellow axeman Dave Alvin, a founding member of the Blasters who would for a time
replace Zoom in X, marvels at his ability to craft elaborate orchestrations. On stage,
Zoom stuck out like an alien, rock still and grinning a million dollar smile. This was
partly a satirical riff on the grunting and grimacing guitar hero of lore who labored over
the simplest riff. \u201c[Where the guitar player [takes] this solo \u2013 wheedly-wheedlywheedly-
playing lots of notes and making all these faces and shaking his hair\u2026As a
joke, I would play something difficult and just smile and not look at the guitar and act
like it was nothing. To me, that was funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

By 1985, after nine years and five albums, Zoom was tiring of the game and the grind.
\u201cBeing in a band is like being married to three people…without the sex\u2026.I just couldn\u2019t
stand it another day. We were on the road seven or eight months out of the year, locked
in a recording studio two or three months out of the year, and the rest of the time, we
were rehearsing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Billy quit the band to concentrate on Billy Zoom Music, his amplifier and guitar repair
shop \u2013 and producing. But he kept playing music and delighted in confounding bands
trying to cover X songs: \u201cThere\u2019s at least one chord in every X song that nobody can
figure out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tracing his home family picture gallery is like visiting a microcosm of 20th century
music: Dad in blackface with a minstrel band, western group, and swing orchestra; 12
year old Ty wearing Buddy Holly shades, in a Beatles haircut, as the only white guy in a
soul revue, as a hippie with hair down to his waist, as a latter day rockabilly, and finally
with X as the primal punk guitarist. Culminating in the framed t-shirt on the wall with
his rock-god picture and the words BILLY ZOOM \u2013 NICE GUY, PUNK LEGEND.\u201d<\/p>\n

— Adapted from Buddy Siegal, Nice Guy, Punk Legend, OC Weekly Feb 1998
(www.xtheband.com)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The iconic L.A. band X changed the face of punk music with their vibrant, original…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}