MC5‘s Wayne Kramer will be taking to the road to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the MC5‘s debut album, “Kick Out The Jams” later this year. Kramer has assembled an impressive list of talent to serve as his backing band on the trek. Collectively billed as MC50, their roster includes:
Kim Thayil (Soundgarden)
Doug Pinnick (King’s X, KXM)
Brendan Canty (Fugazi)
Marcus Durant (Zen Guerilla)
Each night the group will be performing “Kick Out The Jams” in full along with other fan favorites. The tour will run from early September through to late October with dates and details to be announced in the weeks to come. For now, an October 27th show at The Fillmore in MC5‘s hometown of Detroit, MI has been confirmed in advance and tickets will go on sale this Friday, March 09th.
Meanwhile, Da Capo Press will be publishing Kramer‘s new memoir, ‘The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, The MC5, And My Life Of Impossibilities‘ on August 14th. The below official synopsis was provided of the book, which you can pre-order now via Amazon.
“In January 1969, before the world heard a note of their music, The MC5 was on the cover of Rolling Stone. The missing link between free jazz and punk rock, they were raw, primal, and, when things were clicking, absolutely unstoppable.
Led by legendary guitarist Wayne Kramer, The MC5 was a reflection of the times: exciting, sexy, violent, chaotic, and out of control, all but assuring their time in the spotlight would be short-lived. They toured the country, played with music legends, and had a rabid following, their music acting as the soundtrack to the blue collar youth movement springing up across the nation.
Kramer wanted to redefine what a rock ‘n’ roll group was capable of, and there was power in reaching for that, but it was also a recipe for disaster, both personally and professionally. The band recorded three major label albums but, by 1972, it was all over.
Kramer‘s story is a revolutionary one, but it’s also the deeply personal struggle of an addict and an artist, a rebel with a great tale to tell. The ’60s were not all peace and love, but Kramer shows that peace and love can be born out of turbulence and unrest.
From the glory days of Detroit to the junk-sick streets of the East Village, from Key West to Nashville and sunny L.A., in and out of prison and on and off of drugs, his is the classic journeyman narrative, but with a twist: he’s here to remind us that revolution is always an option.”
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