Courtesy Shore Fire MediaKick Out the Jams, the legendary debut album from Detroit proto-punk band MC5, was recorded 50 years ago in 1968. To celebrate the group’s semi-centennial, founding guitarist Wayne Kramer is hitting the road.
The North American trek will begin in September, and will conclude with a hometown show in Detroit on October 27. The full itinerary will be announced shortly, though you can grab tickets to the Detroit gig this Friday, March 9. Visit MC50th.com for ticket info.
Kramer will be accompanied by a band dubbed MC50, which will include Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty and King’s X bassist Dug Pinnick, plus Zen Guerrilla frontman Marcus Durant. Original MC5 drummer Dennis Thompson, the band’s only other living member, also will perform on select dates.
MC5 guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith, who died in 1994, was married to punk poet Patti Smith for 14 years. Their son, Jackson, was married to Meg White of the White Stripes from 2009 to 2013.
“The message of the MC5 has always been the sense of possibilities: a new music, a new politics, a new lifestyle,” Kramer says in a statement. “Today, there is a corrupt regime in power, an endless war thousands of miles away, and uncontrollable violence wracking our country. It’s becoming less and less clear if we’re talking about 1968 or 2018.”
He adds, “I’m now compelled to share this music I created with my brothers 50 years ago. My goal is that the audience leaves these concerts fueled by the positive and unifying power of rock music.”
In related news, Kramer is writing a memoir titled The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities that will be released on August 14.
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