X joins Blondie on No Principals Tour, First Show This Thursday at Hampton Casino

It’s been 37 years since punk broke in 1977, and it’s becoming a treat these days to catch the first revolutionaries of the genre live in concert. This Thursday night, fans will not only get to see Blondie, an original member of the CBGB punk scene in New York City, but they’ll also get a performance by X, renowned members of the Los Angeles punk scene in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

X singer and bassist John Doe is thrilled to play with Blondie on the upcoming tour, the first date of which is this week in Hampton.

"I think, you know, X and Blondie are sort of two of the last bands standing," Doe said. "X has all the original members, we still play loud, and, well, relatively fast. Things just go faster and faster. Now the kids play really fast, but we still hold our own, play fast enough."

Despite coming from opposite coasts, the two bands have more in common than their female singers. Both groups grew up with a tremendous respect for the pop music of the 1950's and 60's. Blondie's hit record Parallel lines features plenty of Spector-like sounds, including on the songs “Picture This” and “Fade Away and Radiate.” Likewise, many of X’s songs feature a 50’s and 60’s rock sound, thanks in part to Billy Zoom's Chuck Berry-esque guitar style and use of Gretsch guitars.

Considering this, Doe said he hopes he can get the two singers on for a 60's girl group number before the tour is over.

"I'm really hoping we get to see some collaboration between the X and Blondie camp," Doe said. "The goal is to talk to everyone and get Exene (Cervenka) and Debby Harry to do some Ronnie Spector song or something, get them to do ‘Be My Baby’ or something.”

The years have brought Doe mounds of recognition for his work with X. As time has passed, he said he’s learned a lot about how thankful he ought to be.

"You're a lot more grateful, I think,” Doe said of having a career of more than 30 years. “You know, 1982, things had gone pretty well, pretty quickly, so we all just thought, ‘Oh, this is the way it’s supposed to happen.’ You didn't think getting record of the year a couple of years in a row by the LA Times and being recognized and same with the New York Times, and it's, ‘Uh, yeah, we're cool, this is good.’"

Doe said he’d still like to write and release music with X. Time constraints inhibit this, however. Not only do the two singers have their own solo obligations, but Zoom makes a secondary living making making guitar gear and pedals.

"You know, I've been trying to get that done for a couple years and it may still happen," Doe said. "But i don't know. There’s some of the things that are not necessarily settled. Sure (I'd like a new X record), whether it's a full record or not, I mean there's a few songs over the years both Exene and I have written that could have been or could still be X songs, so maybe someday that will happen. It’s hard to get everybody together.... it’s time commitment- actually carving out that amount of time."

And then there's the question- will it be worth putting out? What if it isn't good enough? Those are questions that go through 59-year-old Doe's head.

 "I think there's, some on everybody's part, there's a little trepidation," Doe said, "'Well, what if it's not as good?' But having said that, it's like, if it's not as good, you just don't put it out. You know, some people have different levels of hang-ups or fears, but that's ok. That’s part of the acceptance."

It has been a few months since legendary Doors keyboardist and X producer Ray Manzarek passed away. Since then, Doe said he doesn't feel different on stage playing certain songs, but he has experienced moments of reminiscence while performing since his passing.

"You know, at the last show that we had, Exene dedicated a couple songs to him,” Doe said, “And it didn't feel different, but I did feel his presence, you know? I felt a little something about it.”

Doe recalled the last time Manzarek played with X at the 2012 Sunset Strip Music Festival in Los Angeles, where the Doors were honored. Manzarek hadn't actually played on more than a handful of the songs he produced during his time working with the group, but Doe insisted that he try to hang with them for the majority of their set that day.

"Ray loved to play, so it was always a good feeling when he was there with us," Doe said.  "i think the last time he played with us I got over ambitious and said, 'Why don't you play on this song, why don't you play on this song,' and gave him eight songs to play on because, fuck, you're here, you might as well play. So he was playing on ‘The Have Nots’, he was playing on 'Adult Books'... He was a little bit overwhelmed. He was like, 'Holy shit, you want me to play on these songs?' that was kind of funny. I can laugh about that now, at the time I was like, ‘Oh, God, I don’t know if this is going to happen.’"

Doe and the rest of X will take the stage at 8 PM this Thursday night, the first night of Blondie and X’s No Principals tour. Tickets are available at http://www.casinoballroom.com.