X-----X: Local Boys Did Indeed Make Good At The Beachland
The Beachland Tavern was the site of the last of the four X__X reunion gigs last Saturday, August 23rd. It was quite a show.
John Morton, of the electric eels, originally formed the band in 1978. Originally consisting of Morton on guitar, fellow electric eel Dave E. McManus on vocals, and Mike Weldon (formerly of Mirrors) on drums, the lineup solidified with Morton on guitar and vocals, Jim Ellis on bass, Andrew Klimeyk on guitar and vocals, and Anton “Tony” Fier on drums.
This year, a retrospective entitled “X Sticky Fingers X” (under the name X The Rolling Stones X) was released on Ektro Records. This summer, the band reformed and went out on the road. The current line-up is Morton, Andrew Klimeyk of Ugly Beauty, Rocket From The Tombs/Mirrors/The Down Fi bassist Craig Bell, and Matthew Harris on drums. Opening at the Beachland was singer/songwriter Val Seeley and art rock band Home & Garden.
Val Seeley played first, singing and playing guitar with her own brand of blues. Her audience enjoyed the show, clapping along and requesting songs.
Up next was Home & Garden. People were dancing and singing along. Singer Keith Kornajcik regaled the crowd with stories of the night before in Detroit. They played a high-energy set, including favorites “Monkey Town” and “Heart Of Darkness.”
Then came the main event. X___X took the stage. John Morton, Craig Bell, Andrew Klimeyk and Matt Harris all looked a little road-weary from back-to-back shows in Chicago, Indianapolis and Detroit, but seemed happy to be there.
They opened with the 43-second “Rattler” followed by “No No” which brought late-comers and smokers in from out in street, and concert-goers from the adjacent ballroom to see what all the shouting was about. Morton introduced the next song, “Your (sic) Full of Shit,” saying with a smile, “This is particularly for some people.”
Morton then addressed the packed room, “It’s great to be in the windy city again. Broad shoulders and all that shit,” before the band launched into “Approaching The Minimal With Sprayguns,” with Klimeyk on vocals.
The audience was on its feet, crowding the stage, and were especially receptive to “A” and “Your Full Of Shit”-- you could feel the floor shaking as they stomped their feet and jumped up and down.
Halfway through, the band put down their instruments and gathered around John Morton. He remarked, “In the paper, they said we’d bring power tools,” and pulled out an electric saw cutting a piece of metal pipe into pieces, and handing them out to the crowd. During “Don’t Rock The Flowers/Felt Hammer,” drummer Harris picked up his cymbal and played it while walking through the crowd, never missing a beat.
The excellent set ended with the electric eels’ “Dolly Boy,” and they came back with an encore of the very catchy “Cleveland Sucks,” described by Morton as being “written by Joey Ramone after his death.”
It was a very fun show. Everyone had a tremendous time. The crowd included many music notables, among them, Jamie Klimek of Mirrors and The Styrenes, Dave Atkins of New Salem Witch Hunters, Death Of Samantha/Cobra Verde bandleader John Petkovic, and Chris and Lawrence of This Moment In Black History. Other musicians who are part of the Beachland’s staff also came to watch, such as Rocket From The Tombs/Pere Ubu drummer Steve Mehlman and David Petrovich, of The Very Knees and the Secret Soul Club. It was a night no-one will forget.