Kramer and The MC5 in 1969- photo by Leni Sinclair
He’s now kicking out the jams from above high--
Wayne Kramer, the influential guitarist who was one half of the twin-guitar attack and co-founder of Detroit's proto-punk band MC5, died Friday of pancreatic cancer, according to a post on his official Instagram page, at the age of 75.
Along with Fred "Sonic" Smith (Patti Smith's late husband), one of the best-known garage bands of all time made an immediate splash with their debut album "Kick Out the Jams," on which they endorsed the Black Panthers' role in the Detroit riots, and also played outside the troubled 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.
The band’s sound would eventually pave the way for punk rock and later versions of alternative rock, and was especially influential to Iggy Pop and Stooges, The Ramones, The Clash, Jack White / White Stripes, Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, and numerous others.
Kramer was born in Detroit on April 30, 1948, taking up the guitar as a teenager and co-founding The MC5 (short for Motor City Five) in nearby Lincoln Park. The band also featured Rob Tyner on vocals, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson, split in the early 1970’s after recording just two more studio albums (1971’s Back in the USA and 1972’s High Time).
Post MC5, Kramer retreated back to his native Detroit, working with soul force Melvin Davis, but was sentenced to four years in federal prison for selling drugs to an undercover policeman in 1975.
After his prison release in 1979, Kramer would move to New York and played with bands including Was (Not Was), teamed with Johnny Thunder, pursued a solo career, guested with Bad Religion, and even worked as a carpenter.
In 1994, he signed to Epitaph Records to release four records, would play with Mudhoney, and was the on-stage guest of Rage Against the Machine to help on” Kick Out the Jams” at the 2008 National Democratic Convention in Denver.
He remembered fellow inmates by working with Jail Guitar Doors, which helps provide instruments, workshops and prison concerts around the country, and found time for some film score work including on the soundtracks for films, "Talladega Nights," "Step Brothers" and "Eastbound & Down."
In recent years, he recorded with Alice Cooper on the Detroit Stories album, was considering new MC5 music with producer Bob Ezrin, and in 2018 released his memoir, 'The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities'.
That same year, Kramer took MC5 back on the road to celebrate the band’s 50 Years, with an all-star band lineup which was composed of Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron of Soundgarden, Brendan Canty of Fugazi, Faith No More bassist Billy Gould, and vocalist/harmonicist Marcus Durant of Zen Guerrilla for an amazing run of celebratory shows.
WHM attended that show in Minneapolis but never posted any coverage (as we weren’t approved as media), but we managed to snap a few very low-resolution phone pictures, that we are sharing for the first time.
From the statement on his social accounts: "Wayne S. Kramer 'PEACE BE WITH YOU' April 30, 1948 – February 2, 2024."
| John C ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ X / twitter.com |
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