Dec 14

Wayne Kramer

WAYNE KRAMER

 
Wayne Kramer  (born April 30, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer, and film and television composer.  Kramer came to prominence as a teenager in 1967 as a co-founder of the Detroit rock group MC5 (Motor City 5), a group known for their powerful live performances and radical left-wing political stance.  The MC5 broke up amid personality conflicts, drug abuse, and personal problems, which, for Kramer, led to several fallow years, as he battled drug addiction before returning to an active recording and performing schedule in the 1990’s.  Rolling Stone ranked him number ninety-two on their list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time”.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
I am not the only one who feels this way about Andy Colquhoun; as Ken Shimamoto expressed in an online review of his solo CD, Pick up the Phone, America! (I sure wish I knew enough about music to write like this):  “Nobody on Earth plays guitar like Andy Colquhoun.  Well, maybe Wayne Kramer [of Detroit’s MC5 and another running mate of Mick Farren’s for several decades now] and Tony Fate (ex-Bellrays, current Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs) are in the same league, but Andy’s brand of over-the-top rock skronk and acid-blues is totally unique.  As guitarists go, he’s got a deep trick bag:  a huge sound, saturated with fuzz and Echoplex; a monstrous whammy bar attack that skews his snaky, vibrato-laden blues lines and monolithic octaves; ringing harmonics; a deft touch accompanied by a fine melodic sensibility . . . almost a bent-head Jeff Beck (always a name to conjure with in the gtr circles I run in).”
 
(August 2011)
 
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Also in 1978, MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer was released from prison after a drug conviction, and he was invited by Mick Farren to celebrate by performing at a gig at Dingwalls Dancehall that was run by former Pink Fairies roadie David “Boss” Goodman.  To my knowledge, this is the first time (chronologically) that past UARA Andy Colquhoun (guitar) performed with Mick Farren.  Others present include Larry Wallis (guitar) and George Butler (drums).  This concert helped revive Wayne Kramer’s musical career; he has released several more albums over the years and has also appeared in concert with Mick Farren on other occasions.  

 

The tape was thought to be lost for many years but later turned up in a box, marked “Dingwalls”; and several tracks from the show were released by Total Energy Records on a 2000 CD called Cocaine Blues 1974-1978 with an artist name of Wayne Kramer & the Pink Fairies.  This is somewhat misleading, as the concert was actually circa March 1979, and only Larry Wallis had ever performed as part of the Pink Fairies at that point in time.  The complete tape of the concert was released as Wayne Kramer – Live at Dingwalls 1979 on Captain Trip Records in 2001; I don’t have this CD as yet.

 

Other than a song about oral sex that is a little hard to take, Cocaine Blues is quite good and features renditions of the MC5 classics “Ramblin’ Rose” and “Kick out the Jams”.

 
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Otherwise, most of Mick Farren’s latter-day music has been released under the Deviants or Mick Farren and the Deviants.  The Deviants along with Wayne Kramer returned to Dingwalls in 1984, and a record of this concert called Human Garbage was released on CD – mine is the 1997 reissue on Captain Trip Records.  Mick Farren proclaims at the beginning of the show that “we even rehearsed this time”, and he is a little hoarse, plus the sound quality is not perfect; but they are in great form, particularly on “Police Car”, “Takin’ L.S.D.” and “Hey Thanks”. 

 
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Under the artist name Mick Farren and Jack Lancaster, 1995 brought yet another side of Mick with The Deathray Tapes, a live performance consisting mostly of spoken-word material – but this is no 1960’s flower-child poetry reading.  Lancaster had co-founded Blodwyn Pig with ex-Jethro Tull guitarist Mick Abrahams in 1968; the eclectic band here includes Wayne Kramer and Andy Colquhoun, and actor Brad Dourif plays didgeridoo (!) on one song. 
 
(March 2014/1)
 
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MC5 was formed in 1964 by several high school friends, Rob Tyner (vocalist), Fred “Sonic” Smith (guitar), Wayne Kramer (guitar), Pat Burrows (bass), and Bob Gaspar (drums). The two guitarists began experimenting with feedback and distortion in their concerts in 1965, and a new rhythm section joined in 1966, Michael Davis (bass) and Dennis Thompson (drums). MC5 got a regular gig at the Grande Ballroom, where their album Kick out the Jams was recorded live in October 1968.
 
In his 5-star review of the MC5 album, Mark Deming raves in Allmusic: “Kick out the Jams is one of the most powerfully energetic live albums ever made; Wayne Kramer and Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith were a lethal combination on tightly interlocked guitars, bassist Michael Davis and drummer Dennis Thompson were as strong a rhythm section as Detroit ever produced, and Rob Tyner’s vocals could actually match the soulful firepower of the musicians, no small accomplishment. Even on the relatively subdued numbers (such as the blues workout ‘Motor City Is Burning’), the band sounds like they’re locked in tight and cooking with gas; while the full-blown rockers (pretty much all of side one) are as gloriously thunderous as anything ever committed to tape. This is an album that refuses to be played quietly.”
 
(December 2016)
Last edited: March 22, 2021