Watch Zex Fight All Of Ottawa In Their "Savage City" Video

Living in a complete shithole has inspired many a musician to write about their hometown in a less than flattering manner—think The Standells’ famous 1966 paean to the fetid glories of Boston Harbor in “Dirty Water” or the Ramones’ “53rd & 3rd” or, like, half the songs The Clash ever wrote. It’s in this spirit that Zex crank out “Savage City,” the a-side of their forthcoming 7-inch on Brooklyn’s Electric Assault Records. The Ottawa quartet—half dudes, half ladies—split the difference between NWOBHM guitar action and punk attitude, kinda like Girlschool did back in the late ’70s and early ’80s. 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 “Savage City” and then check out our interrogation of Jo Capitalicide.

Noisey: Why did you decide to call the band Zex, and what was the runner-up choice?

Jo Capitalicide: It’s short and simple. It has a good phonetic ring to it. The puns one can do with the word Zex, such has “zexual healing” or “zexy time explosion” are endless. The last truly good band names where all taken up by the mid ’80s.

What inspired the song "Savage City"?

We live in a slum. It’s 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 it’s 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.” More stuff like that needs to happen.

In addition to the “Savage City” 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!