X-Men started at the end of 1996, and took their name from the legendary American comic. From the start on, the band was surrounded by mystery - until the beginning of 1998, they never did any real shows, only a few songs at shows were Crivits or GuidingLine played (well, that was a hint about who were involved in X-Men), and always covered their faces by wearing bataclaves (just like the real X-Men do). The band consisted out of a rather big singer, two guitarists, a bass player and a drummer. In 1997 they played on a big festival in Rotterdam, with all kind of Rotterdam punk bands, and one of their live-recorded songs ended up on the 'Heel Erg Punk' CD-compilation.
In November 1997, when also GuidingLine was in the studio (coincidence ?) X-Men, still haven't played any real shows yet, recorded 9 songs, including a Chain Of Strength-cover, of which 7 were planned to appear on a 7" on Commitment Records.
In January 1998 X-Men played their first real show, in De Graal in Amsterdam (of all places -
especially because the singer wore a Feyenoord-shirt, the most popular football club from Rotterdam).
After playing some more shows, appearing with a hidden track on the What We Share compilation-7" on
Reflections Records (doing a hidden track fitted in right with their mysterious image) and after the
7" came out on May 29, 1998, X-Men decided to drop their mysterious image and what already people
had suspected appeared true: X-Men had two Crivits-members (vocalist Jeff and guitarist Sammy) and
three GuidingLine-members (guitarist Ray, bassist Marc and drummer Marcel). After the Summer
of 1998 X-Men added a third (!) guitarist: Robin, who also plays in Oil; and a second (!) bass player,
Peter, also of Oil-fame. In the beginning of 1999 X-Men returned to their mysterious images when they opened
for Floorpunch, and 7 masked band-members were to be found on the stage: 1 singer, 1 drummer, 3 guitarists
and 2 bass-players. After some rumours of the X-Men breaking up, the band choose to carry on their mission, but now as a 4-piece. Sammy, founder of the band, left the band to concentrate himself on his new band Springrain and Robin and Peter returned to Oil. After that, nobody heard of the X-Men again - as they have never officially broken up, it is not impossible that they will re-appear, out of nowhere, to take you by suprise ...
Line-Up
Jeff - vocals (1996-1999)
Sammy - guitar (1996-1999)
Ray - guitar (1996-1999)
Robin - guitar (1999)
Marc - bass (1996-1999)
Peter - bass (1999)
Marcel - drums (1996-1999)
Discography
We Won't Take Part 7-song 7" (Commitment Records, 1998)
Compilations
Heel Erg Punk CD (Tocado Records, 1997)
What We Share 7" (Reflections Records, 1998)
Just Look Around - Chapter 2 CD (Tolerance Records, 1999)
Rats 'n Dikes CD (Out Of Step Records, 2001)
Forever In Our Hearts 7" (Commitment Records, 2004)