Wayne Kramer of the
MC5,
Gangwar (with
Johnny Thunders), and Solo artist, songwriter, producer and film and television producer passed away yesterday at the age of 75.
Kramer came to prominence with Detroit rock band
MC5 in the late 60s who he co-founded along with
Rob Tyner,
Fred "Sonic" Smith,
Michael Davis and
Dennis Thompson.
The band recorded two studio albums and a live record as their debut. Click on the links below to listen to the music.
The album debut album was recorded at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit (a place where the MC5 had been the house band) in October 1968 and was released in February 1969. It reached #30 on the album charts in the States.
According to Wikipedia page on this album "The central focus of the album is the band's movement away from the raw, thrashy sound pioneered and captured on their debut release. This was due in part to producer Jon Landau's distaste for the rough psychedelic rock movement, and his adoration for the straightforward rock and roll of the 1950s". In doing so Landau sucked the energy of the band's live performance out of them (something he would also do five years later when he was involved on the production of Springsteen's 'Born To Run' album). In saying that it's worth mentioning "The American Ruse" (an attack on the US Government's concept of "freedom") and "The Human Being Lawnmower" (which exposes the band's opposition to the US involment in the Vietnam War) showed that the old dogs wouldn't be silenced, even if their sound in the studio was not so good.
Lenny Kaye, writing for Rolling Stone in 1971, called the album "the first record that comes close to telling the tale of their legendary reputation and attendant charisma". The album though was an even worse commercial disaster than 'Back In The USA'. Dave Marsh wrote in the liner notes for the 1992 reissue, "Sadly, High Time's 1971 release represented the end of the line for MC5. Hard drugs had entered the band members' lives, and within a year they'd split up, drifting off into various other configurations. At least two members wound up in federal prison on drug charges, and they never did reunite before the untimely death of Rob Tyner in mid-summer 1992.
One of the members who ended up in jail was Wayne Kramer.
In 1975 he was convicted of selling drugs to undercover federal agents and was sentenced to four years. After his release he moved to New York City where he teamed up with
Johnny Thunders (probably not the best move as Johnny was still having "drug issues" in his life) and they formed
Gangwar. It was a rather short-lived project and although there were some studio recordings done they didn't see the light of day until a French release in 1996 called
'Crime of the Century'. There's also few live recordings that are around, not great by any means, but they give a wee flavour of the chaos!
A totally different change of pace in 1981 saw him as studio and touring guitarist for the Self-titled Was (Not Was) debut album.
He moved around the country a bit in the 80s and early 90s working as a Carpenter but always managed to connect with the local music scene in New York, Florida and Nashville, producing and doing session work and by 1994 he was back in Los Angeles kicking off his Solo career with the self-produced album 'The Hard Stuff'. 'Dangerous Madness' followed in 1996, 'Citizen Wayne' in 1997, 'Cocaine Blues 1974-78' in 2000 as Wayne Kramer & The Pink Faries. In 2004 there was even a Free Jazz album with the Lexington Arts Ensemble called 'Lexington'. That's just a snippet of some of the music he was doing in these years.
On May 1, 2009 Kramer attended a sold-out benefit where he was honored for his work with the nonprofit Road Recovery at New York City's Nokia Theater. The following day, on May 2, 2009 he along with fellow musicians Tom Morello, Jerry Cantrell, Billy Bragg, Perry Farrell, Gilby Clarke and Don Was among others, played for inmates at Sing Sing prison.
Following the Sing Sing concert,
Kramer continued the work of
Jail Guitar Doors in the United States.
Kramer,
Billy Bragg and
Margaret Saadi Kramer founded
Jail Guitar Doors, USA in 2009. Thereafter
Kramer provided instruments, workshops, and prison concerts across America. More than 50 penal institutions throughout the United States have benefitted from the organisation.
"Let me tell you 'bout Wayne and his deals of cocaine
A little more every day
Holding for a friend till the band do well
Then the DEA locked him away" - (Strummer/Jones)
Jail Guitar Doors - The Clash
Jail Guitar Doors (Acoutic) - Wayne Kramer
Last year, Kramer announced the upcoming release of 'Heavy Lifting', the first MC5 album since 1971’s 'High Time' and featuring original drummer Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson alongside Tom Morello, Don Was, Vernon Reid and Slash. "At the risk of sounding grandiose, fate has cast me as the curator of the MC5 legacy," Kramer told Uncut last year. "And to be true to the legacy, I have to stay connected to the basic founding principles the MC5 represents: that we have a working-class approach to the art, and that we continue to try to push the music forward to reflect the world that we live in." The album was scheduled for a Spring release, no word if that is still happening.
Kramer died of pancreatic cancer on February 2nd, 2024
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