John Doe was born in 1977 after he arrived in Los Angeles. His previous life in Tennessee, Wisconsin & Baltimore was a fertile time but new music and social changes led him to events that created a life in art. He graduated from Antioch College in Baltimore in 1975, worked as a roofer, aluminum siding mechanic, and ran a poetry reading series.

John met Exene Cervenka at the Venice poetry, Beyond Baroque, workshop in Nov 1976. He began working with Billy Zoom around the same time. When DJ Bonebrake joined X in mid-1977 the line up was complete. The band X has released ten long play, studio records, twelve singles and three live records from 1978-2026. The film, The Unheard Music, documents the their lives as a band from 1980-83. In 2009 that film was included in the Sundance UCLA Archive of greatest films of all time. They appeared several times on American Bandstand, Solid Gold and David Letterman. As one of the last original punk rock bands standing, they continue to tour. In 1982, when X played a free noontime concert in Fullerton, CA, they caused Orange County’s greatest high school truancy rate to date.

John has released eight solo, long play studio records, three collaborations and is now in the process of recording his latest record, John Doe Sings. In 2017 and 2019, he co-wrote and curated two books on Los Angeles punk rock; Under the Big Black Sun and More Fun in the New World. Under the Big Black Sun spent 11 weeks on the Los Angeles Times best seller list and was nominated for a Grammy. He has appeared in over 60 films and television productions, some of his most notable roles being in Border Radio, Road House, Georgia, Roadside Prophets, Great Balls of Fire, Pure Country and Roswell. He continues to act these days but more sporadically as his touring schedule has become more demanding.

He is currently working on a memoir, continues to write poetry and lives with his wife, artist Krissy Teegerstrom in Austin, Texas.

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All photos by Jim Herrington

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