On Saturday September 8, Seattle legends, X-15 reunited for a free show under Seattle’s Space Needle. I was there. I don’t recall ever seeing X-15 back in their heyday back in the early eighties though I was familiar with some of their songs, including the famous, “Vaporized,” which they did perform.
Though they’re all looking a little greyer and older (aren’t we all?), lead singer Kelly Mitchell, has not lost his vocal abilities. Despite the fact he claimed to be spitting up blood, his voice oscillated from screech, to growl and wail all in the course of a three-minute song.
Meanwhile, the rest of the band (guitarist Eric Alton, bass player Tim Lollar, keyboardist Erik Rohrer, and drummer Todd Fuhs) rounded out the unique X-15 sound including regular vocal contributions to Mitchell’s high-pitched, yet lustful bellowing. At times Alton bullied his guitar to the point where the strings cried out as if almost in pain. The sound very much reminded me of David Gilmour’s playing on Dark Side of the Moon.
Taking this trip down memory land and revisiting my youth and I hope it’s not another thirty years before they play again.
All photos property of Holly Homan, all rights reserved.
