Living in a complete shithole has inspired many a musician to write about their hometown in a less than flattering mannerâthink The Standellsâ famous 1966 paean to the fetid glories of Boston Harbor in âDirty Waterâ or the Ramonesâ â53rd & 3rdâ or, like, half the songs The Clash ever wrote. Itâs in this spirit that Zex crank out âSavage City,â the a-side of their forthcoming 7-inch on Brooklynâs Electric Assault Records. The Ottawa quartetâhalf dudes, half ladiesâsplit the difference between NWOBHM guitar action and punk attitude, kinda like Girlschool did back in the late â70s and early â80s. The band features former Germ Attak member Jo Capitalicide (also of Iron Dogs) on guitar alongside vocalist Gretchen Steel, bassist Gab Sex and drummer Tasha. Watch them battle some frat douches for the streets of Ottawa in the world premiere of their new video for âSavage Cityâ and then check out our interrogation of Jo Capitalicide.
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Noisey: Why did you decide to call the band Zex, and what was the runner-up choice?Jo Capitalicide: Itâs short and simple. It has a good phonetic ring to it. The puns one can do with the word Zex, such has âzexual healingâ or âzexy time explosionâ are endless. The last truly good band names where all taken up by the mid â80s.What inspired the song "Savage City"?We live in a slum. Itâs a house divided into six tiny-ass apartments with crazy drug dealers or domestic abuse aggro-types. This neighborhood really gives you the feeling of living in a violent world with everyone pushing against each other for a place to breathe!It looks like you shot parts of the video right out in the streets of Ottawa. Did you get a lot of rubberneckers and/or confused onlookers?Yeah, this was done guerrilla-style with no permits so we really had to rush. We had a lot of help from all kinds of people. It was cold and raining out so there wasn't too many people in the street. Those fight scenes got pretty rough. After a night of fighting in the rain, everyone was bleeding and bruised up.Tell us something interesting, fun or embarrassing about each of your band mates.Gretchen, who sings, is very lively and wacky. Not much of a filter there. Tasha plays drums in many bands. We've known each other for about 13 years. Gab is from up north and quite possibly the funniest person I know.
We've heard that you occasionally get hassled by the police for the way you dress. When was the last time it happened, and what was the outcome?I don't know where you've heard this, but itâs safe to assume any studded-up punk is going to get profiled by the Po'. A lot of people into punk tone down their image with age because they get tired of being treated with prejudice. I know that personally, had I dressed differently, I would have gotten arrested a lot less often! Essentially, the hardcore punk look spells out opposition to law and order. I look at coppers and find myself fantasizing "I wish some nut-job cop would lose his mind and turn the gun on his fellow pig.â More stuff like that needs to happen.In addition to the âSavage Cityâ 7-inch on Electric Assault, you've got another 7-inch called "Wanderlust" coming out on Wired For Sound. Why two 7-inches instead of a 4-song EP?My motto in life is "Quality AND Quantity." Having two different labels from two different countries widens the distribution. You don't wanna blow your load on just one face!
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