Steve Lucas of punk survivors X detail their bloody battle of riots, deaths and rock‘n’roll
AUSSIE punk rock band X leader Steve Lucas reveals why the band is touring again after a ‘bloody battle’ in the music industry.
X HAVE never been a big band on the nostalgia circuit. They haven’t played a vineyard to the Chardy and goats cheese crowd.
“We’ve always been very underground. We’ll never grow in the light of the full sun,” says bandleader Steve Lucas, the archetypal stayer. He’s well weathered without being too leathered. Lucas began the proto-punk rock band in 1977 with co-conspirators Ian Rilen, Ian Krahe and Steve Cafiero. They would meet up in the bowels of a Glebe building “and plot rebellion”. They called themselves X and painted Sydney with the bold red Xs. True anarchists.
Now, 40 years on, Lucas has released a limited edition vinyl collectors release called X-CITATIONS: Best of X. The Early Years 1977-82.
“It’s been 40 years of evolution. I’m trying to remind people of what we set out to do and what it cost us. It was a bloody battle. The politics of the industry … we were at war for a long time. We got dangerously close to selling our souls to the major labels but we didn’t. And semi-obscurity is the price we paid,” he says.
Rock’n’roll is a cruel mistress. She doesn’t give holiday pay, no double time on Sundays, there’s no long service leave and as for superannuation? Forget about it.
“It’s a funny thing now we’re working with a booking agent, the nature of the band is really misunderstood. It’s not your Top 40 Triple M alternative rock band, it’s a capital A authentic band. We were among the first to do the whole DIY thing. We were pioneers, we fought, we won, we lost, we got up and we’d go in again and most of the time we’d get beaten … but it was the spirit of the music at the time,” he says.
“When you write songs like X songs there’s only one thing you can do which is go and play them.”
Along with Rose Tattoo, Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs and bands of that ilk, X were one of the hottest live acts in the ‘80s. “In Sydney we had people climbing up drainpipes to come in and watch us play. We had three full houses in two hours, the amount of bodies that would pass through the gig in a night. We broke the bar tabs in Sydney and held them for many years.
“When we started, half our set was covers. Heavy-handed, moronic takes but we did them. As for originals, the crowds loved Mother, Degenerate Boy, Delinquent Cars, Home is Where The Floor Is was huge. Everything I’ve put on that Best of X record I’ve picked because they were the ones that really got the crowd going. Fantastic stuff.”
In Melbourne, “a strong relationship developed between X and the Prince of Wales Hotel in St Kilda. X would pack the venue night after night. One such night turning away up to 1000 punters because they just couldn’t fit them in! Police divvy vans were brought in to haul people out of the area before a riot broke out,” he explains, before turning sombre.
“There’s a lot of trauma associated with the band,” Lucas says.
Some members of X have passed from this mortal coil. He’s selected Kim Volkman (Love Addicts) and Doug Falconer (Hunters and Collectors) for the X-CITATIONS tour. “Kim and Doug, initially I thought was going to be an odd pairing, but that’s what X has always been about.
“Kim played with Ian Rilen for a long time so he knows his approach to music. He has the melodics. Also, creepily, there is a strong resemblance between the two,” he says.
“And Kim was a no-brainer, nobody has come close to him. He has the intent.”
Let’s see how this tour goes. Perhaps they’ll be enjoying a day on the green this time next year.
Prince of Wales, 29 Fitzroy St, St Kilda. Jul. 14. $44.90. princebandroom.com.au
Originally published as Steve Lucas of punk survivors X detail their bloody battle of riots, deaths and rock‘n’roll