X Announce 40 Year Anniversary Tour Dates

X is gonna give it ya, just not in the way you think. 

Back in 1977, as four young men, Ian Rilen, Ian Krahe, Steve Cafiero, and the final remaining living member, Steve Lucas would meet in a basement in Glebe, Sydney to plot out their own rock and roll rebellion. The name that the quartet adhered themselves with was just X - plain and simple, really - and they'd plaster as many inches as they could of Sydney with bold red X's, in an effort to promote their band and any live shows they had approaching.

If you haven't heard of X before, just consider them to be a lesser known version of The Saints but similar in sound.

After releasing their 1980 debut album, the cleverly titled 'X-Aspirations' (which was apparently recorded in five hours, bearing in mind the album is a half-hour long), the pub-rock band promptly disbanded before reforming a few years later but with the original lineup being no more. That album wasn't without any impact on the Australian rock music scene, however, as their debut full-length has since been listed in the 2010 rock and pop compilation book, 100 Best Australian Albums.

Later down the line, X's third and since final album arrived in 1988 under the Mushroom Records subsidiary, White Label, and is more or less unavailable nowadays in physical copies. But this is the digital age, folks! So a quick Google or iTunes search will yield you results on that particular record. 

With a handful of reformations, reunited lineups and various live shows and tours over the years, X have never been too far from a stage in the last four decades. And now, 40 years later from their inception, and still with their pub rock sound and punk-DIY approach, X will be playing six live shows once more come this July and August; with the first show kicking off at the Prince of Wales in St Kilda on July 14th.

Frontman Steve Lucas has now called upon Kim Volkman (from Love Addicts), and Doug Falconer (of Hunters and Collectors) to join him in delivering the best of X's back catalogue to old and young rockers alike. 

You can find X's 40th-year-anniversary dates below:

Friday JULY 14 – Prince of Wales - Melbourne

Friday JULY 21 – Factory Theatre – Sydney

Saturday JULY 22 – Transit Bar - Canberra

Saturday JULY 29 – The Triffid – Brisbane

Thursday AUGUST 3 – Mojo’s – Fremantle

Friday AUGUST 4 – Rosemount Hotel – Perth

Saturday AUGUST 5 - The Gov – Adelaide

All tickets are on sale now through the venue websites.

Much like the band, Yes, you'd think that having a name like X this would be a tricky one to google, but nah, not really!