X Announces Billy Zoom Stand-In

One day after X revealed that Billy Zoom will undergo treatment for cancer, the band announces a substitute for the guitarist – Jesse Dayton.

Zoom begins chemotherapy for bladder cancer next week. The 64-year-old Zoom was successfully treated for prostate cancer and pronounced “all clear” by his doctors in 2010.

Photo: AP Photo

South By Southwest Music & Media Conference, Stubb’s Bar-B-Q.

You’ll find Zoom playing with X all weekend while the band plays its four-album show at The Observatory in Santa Ana, Calif., through July 12. Dayton, whose musical resume includes playing with Waylon Jennings and The Supersuckers, will take over beginning July 17 in Ridgefield, Conn., and continue through Aug. 3 when X rocks New York’s City Winery. The band has yet to select a guitarist for its remaining festival dates scheduled for August and September.

X manager Mike Rouse set up a GoFundMe account to help pay down Zoom’s medical expenses. The band put out a statement this week saying that contributing “a few bucks” to the fund is “the punk rock thing to do.” We couldn’t agree more.