exene

Save for a few years, X’s core four—from left to right, D.J. Bonebrake, Billy Zoom, Exene Cervenka, and John Doe—has remained the same for nearly five decades.

Photo by Kristy Benjamin

After 47 years together, the influential Los Angeles quartet is calling it quits with a final album and a long goodbye tour. What are they feeling in their last days—and what comes next?

Billy Zoom isn’t particularly sentimental about the impending final chapter of X. Along with day-one bandmates John Doe, Exene Cervenka, and D. J. Bonebrake, the 76-year-old guitarist for the legendary Los Angeles punk band is preparing for one last, long trip out with the group, celebrating their ninth and final album, Smoke and Fiction. And after 47 years in the band, Zoom has earned the right to speak plainly. “This is our retirement fund,” he says of X’s upcoming international tour, which will reach into 2025.

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