Gothic Theatre
Exene Cervenka and the Original Sinners
EXENE CERVENKA — VOCALS / GUITAR
SAM SOTO — GUITAR
KIM CHI — BASS / VOCALS
JASON EDGE — GUITAR / VOCALS
MAT YOUNG – DRUMS
Exene Cervenka is one of the great treasures of Los Angeles, and it is an auspicious day indeed when she unveils a new band, a new record, and a new batch of songs. That day arrives this June with the release of the self-titled debut album by Original Sinners. Produced by Original Sinners and recorded last winter at Grandmaster Recorders in Hollywood, the album features 13 ferocious new songs that serve as an excellent introduction to the band: Kim Chi on bass, Mat Young on drums, Jason Edge on slide guitar, Sam Soto on guitar, and Exene on vocals and occasional guitar, front and center.
As anybody worth a damn knows, Exene was a founding member of seminal L.A. punk band, X. Though the members of X continue to occasionally play together, they stopped writing new songs as a band in 1993. Consequently, Exene’s linguistic and musical gifts have manifested in many different ways since the late ‘80s. From 1989 through 1992 she fronted the Exene Cervenka Band, which recorded two albums, including “Old Wives Tales.” In 1997 she released “Auntie Christ,” a one-off musical project recorded with Matt Freeman (of Rancid) and the redoubtable DJ. Bonebrake. She wrote several books, including the beautiful and moving “A Beer on Every Page,” which was recently published. Needless to say, Exene’s creative interests move in several directions, and that is one reason she is excited about Original Sinners.
“This is the perfect band for me because it allows me to do all the different kinds of music I love with the same musicians,” she says. “It combines aspects of X, the Knitters, the country stuff, the love songs, and all the music I have wanted to do — everything is mixed in together.”
A crucial ingredient in Exene’s musical style is the unique, slightly discordant approach to vocal harmony she developed with John Doe while both were members of X. It is great hearing her do those harmonies again, and fascinating to hear her doing them for the first time with another female voice. Kim and Exene sound particularly captivating together on “Bringin’ Me Down,” and “One Too Many Lies.”
It is a bonus to have two good singers in a band, and everybody on board here plays well, too. However, the real strength of Original Sinners is rooted in the understanding that the alchemy that is great music is a result of different people ricocheting off one another and shooting out sparks. A band should not be a matched set. A band should be a glorious collision of warring agendas, and that is what happens here.
Here is who the personalities are:
Guitarist Sam Soto was born in 1971 at the air force academy in Colorado and spent the ages of 3 to 18 in Southern California’s Inland Empire. Sam took up the instrument when he was 16. “I learned how to play by playing along with all my favorite records.” From 1991 through 1994 Soto studied painting and sculpture at California Institute Of The Arts and in 1994 joined the band Sluts for Hire. In 1995 the band released “Happiest Band on Earth” on Flipside, then parted company in 1998. “A year after Sluts For Hire broke up a friend told me to call Exene because she was putting a band together. So I called her and we started playing. Her guitar style is very unique, and she invents a lot of the chords she uses,” Soto recalls of those early wood shedding sessions. Exene plays guitar on four tracks on the album, and among them is “Tick-Tock,” a fantastic instrumental she wrote. Soto also writes instrumentals — two of them, “Alligator Teeth” and “Mourning After,” are included here — and he teamed up with Exene to write “Birds & Bees,” a scorching tune with a stop-on-a-dime guitar break.
“The great thing about this band is that the music is so richly textured and multi-faceted,” says bassist Kim Chi, who was born in Los Alamitos in 1969. Her musical education began with the theft of her older sister’s Joan Jett and David Bowie albums, and she spent most of the late ’80s studying English at a Lutheran college in Thousand Oaks. While Chi was in college she took up the bass, and after joining her first band — the all girl pop band, the Mockers — she decided to quit school and focus on music. She then partnered with Mat Young as the rhythm section in The Distillers. In 2000, Chi and Young left The Distillers as a team, and they segued into the Sinners as a team.
“Mat’s really solid and he’s got great surf beats,” says Exene of drummer Mat Young, who was born in San Diego in 1966, and grew up in Arcadia. When he was in the fourth grade Young bought a copy of “Elton John’s Greatest Hits,” and shortly thereafter committed himself to mastering the drums. “The first gig I ever went to was an X show at the Roxy, and they were phenomenal,” Young recalls. Young was 17 when he saw that show, and a few months before he joined his first band, Legion. From there, he went on to stints with Channel Three, ADZ and the Flower Leopards. “Two weeks after I left the Distillers I got the call from Exene.”
Adding an extra layer of icing to this cake is Jason Edge, whose contributions include slide, guitar, and vocals. Born in 1972, Edge grew up in a small town outside New Orleans. Surrounded by music from an early age, Edge began playing drums when he was seven, and joined his first band at 15. He was greatly influenced by the constant stream of live music in New Orleans, particularly big beat rhythms and marching brass bands. In the early 90’s Edge fronted Detroit’s Dementia 13 and later played guitar in St. Louis’ Drunkabilly. He and Exene met two years ago in St. Louis. “I was playing drums in an instrumental surf punk band called the Honkeys and she came to one of our shows,” recalls Edge. He co-wrote “Whiskey For Supper” and sings in unison with Exene on the track.
Keeping everything on course and taking the lead on vocals, guitar, attitude, philosophy, dress code, raison d’etre, penmanship, conscience, and comic relief is Exene. She is the jewel in the crown. Completely without artifice or pretense, Exene is one of the nakedest people we have ever seen. God bless her for that. See Original Sinners when they come to your town and we’ll bet you’ll agree.
