Showing posts with label MC5. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MC5. Show all posts

5.26.2022

DENNIS MACHINEGUN THOMPSON HAS A NEW FB GROUP JOIN TODAY!



MACHINEGUN IS BACK WITH A BRAND NEW GROUP! JOIN HIM HERE

The MC5 was founded on the notion that rules are to be broken and the 5 could change the world with their music.
"We were the undisputed heavyweights of Detroit in 1966 bar none, and I was proud to be a part of this squad. Damn proud"…MGT

9.17.2019

JOHNNY BEE BADANJEK: ALICE COOPER'S NEW EP BREADCRUMBS


Johnny Bee Badanjek did some hot drumming on Alice Cooper's new EP "Bread Crumbs" and gave us a Bee review tonight! Thanks John! xoK


Johnny Bee: Someone told me that producer Bob Ezrin was trying to get in touch with me. When I came home there was a message from Bob saying to give him a call. I called him back. He was sitting in LA in a Hotel Room with  Alice Cooper. He asked me If I knew of any good drummers in town, I said, I knew hundreds. But, there's only one who has that Detroit sound...that would be me.

They both cheered. He spoke of an upcoming project with Alice that dealt with his roots in Detroit that would include Mark Farner. I said, cool! He wanted to mix things up with players and add a little soul with Rock & Roll.

He said he wanted a solid soulful funky Bass player. I answered, Paul Randolph. Next, he wanted a young hot lead guitar player, I told him his name was Garrett Bielaniec. The final piece was Amp Fiddler, unfortunately, Amp was stranded in England. We also had Nolan Young on Saxophone and Allen Dennard Jr. on Trumpet.

The session was rounded out with Bobby Emmet (Sturgill Simpson) and Bob Ezrin on Keyboards. The fun began with the song selections.



Up first was a song I recorded when I was fifteen years old in Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels. Bob took Shorty Long's version of "Devil With A Blue Dress On" back to the original version (which we adored). and mashed it up The Dirt Bombs version of J.J. Barnes "Chains Of Love.'

Next, a song from a prolific teenager named Bob Seger, the classic "East Side Story," Some of the surprises was the re-working of Alice's "Detroit City" and the collaboration of Alice and Brother Wayne on "Go Man Go."

The Detroit train kept rolling with Suzy Quarto's song "Your Mama Won't Like Me," and finished off with Badass Fred Sonic Smith's song "Sister Anne" (MC5). And this is how Breadcrumbs came to be. It's great having Alice back home!...you can never leave Detroit! ðŸ˜ˆ


4.30.2019

LEMMY AND MOTORHEAD: INFLUENCED BY DETROIT AND THE MC5


A rock legacy spanning forty years came to an end in 2015 when Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister passed away, having been the legendary front-man of Motörhead and only constant member of the band during all that time.

It’s a legacy that might never have happened, were it not for Lemmy being kicked out of his previous band, Hawkwind, having been arrested on the USA/Canada border for drug possession charges.

That controversy was ultimately the final straw for the other band members and their management, which led to Lemmy being fired from Hawkwind in 1975. He later revealed there were also differences of opinion, both personally and musically, during a 2011 interview with Chicago Tribune: "I did like being in Hawkwind, and I believe I’d still be playing with them today if I hadn’t been kicked out", he admitted in the interview, adding that "It was fun onstage, not so much offstage. They didn’t want to mesh with me".

The Birth of Motörhead

Lemmy was keen on a raw sound to his music, one of velocity and volume, "fast and vicious, just like the MC5", the legendary Detroit-based hard rock band who were his inspiration.

His new band was formed with former Pink Fairies guitarist Larry Wallis and Lucas Fox on drums. Nevertheless, choosing "Bastards" as their name wasn’t the best idea, according to their manager, who suggested they would never get a slot on UK chart show, Top of the Pops, with such a name. As such, "Motörhead" was chosen instead by Lemmy, as this was also the title of the last song that he’d written with Hawkwind.

Wallis returned to the Pink Fairies and Fox would also depart, making way for guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clark and drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor before any notable success began to arrive over the following years. However, it was undoubtedly the guttural vocals of Lemmy and his individual bass-playing style that provided Motörhead with a distinct and unique sound in rock at the time, even though that style would inevitably be copied during the emerging era of punk rock during the late 1970s.

Straddling the niches of hard rock, speed metal and punk brought increased popularity, which Lemmy and the band embraced.

With a growing army of fans packing concert venues, the band gradually developed a cult following of their own. "Overkill" became their first track to break into the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, with the album of the same name being their first to find its way into the top 40 UK Albums Chart. "Bomber" was the next single to achieve commercial success, along with the subsequent album and tour of the same name, which brought recognition and new fans from Europe and the US. Motörhead was fast becoming one of the most unmissable rock music acts to see live, packing venues wherever they toured.



Ace of Spades

Amongst the greatest hits released by Motörhead over the years, the lyrics covered a wide range of themes, from war to the battle of good versus evil and from abuse of power to the abuse of substances.

However, perhaps the most famous theme was that of gambling, which made Ace of Spades such a timeless and iconic hit around the world and a true crowd favorite at their gigs, with the raw sound matched by a devil-may-care attitude of taking chances in life.

Fans of this track will already be familiar with the Ace of Spades lyrics, which are undeniably an ode to gambling and the thrill of playing card games. In this particular song, it’s specifically the quickfire game of blackjack and hands being dealt, given the terminology used in the lyrics.

Reading up on such terms associated with this most popular of card games, which are covered in the Betway online blackjack guide, will help you understand what Lemmy means by "Double up or quit, double stake or split", with it becoming clear that he’s referring to staking terms in blackjack as he waits for that elusive ace of spades to be dealt.

Released in October 1980, the Ace of Spades single reached 15 in the UK Singles Charts and the album, again of the same name, reached number 4 in the UK Album Charts, providing Motörhead with their greatest commercial success to date.

Now in great demand, the subsequent Ace Up Your Sleeve tour was accompanied by numerous TV appearances, including the iconic British comedy classic, The Young Ones.



Detroit and Back Again

Given that Motörhead and Lemmy had originally been inspired by Detroit-based band MC5, it’s inevitable that they too would form a strong bond with the American city, regularly performing concerts over the years at numerous venues.

At the very peak of their worldwide fame, their first show in Michigan was supporting Ozzy Osbourne during his US tour at the Wendler Arena in Saginaw. Three days later, the band made their first appearance in Detroit at the Masonic Temple.

Such was their popularity amongst rock fans in the city, Motörhead made a memorable second appearance at the iconic Harpo's in May 1982, headlining during an American tour of their own. That would be the first of many returns to Harpo's over the years, leaving veteran staff with many fond memories.

Indeed, Harpos owner Ron Baltrusz waxed lyrical to Metro Times during a 2017 interview, recollecting his memories of the band playing at his venue along with some amusing anecdotes he shared about Lemmy.

On September 12, 2015, Motörhead played their final Detroit gig at The Fillmore, with Anthrax and Crobot as supporting acts, as part of the Bad Magic tour.

Bomber was played for the first time at any live concert since 2012, while Ace of Spades and Overkill were amongst the closing trio on the setlist. Those who attended were treated to another unforgettable show from one of the most prolific touring bands in rock history.

Lemmy departed this earthly plane just a couple of months after that concert, but those who got to see him perform with Motörhead over the years will cherish the memories they have. His influence in the world of rock and the great sound that he left behind as his legacy is sure to be enjoyed by generations of fans to come.

9.25.2018

DETROIT ROCK PHOTOGRAPHER ROBERT MATHEU DIED


Sad news tonight, the Original Detroit Rock photographer Robert Matheu passed away suddenly September 21, 2018. Details are still pending and we will update this tribute as soon as possible.

Heather Harris Los Angeles Rock Photographer graciously wrote this tribute to Bob for DRNRM tonight...

Robert Matheu, Ron Sobol and Kurt Ingham photo Heather Harris

My colleague, photographer Robert Matheu passed away September 21, 2018 at the house of a friend. He leaves a wife and his three young daughters that everyone who even vaguely encountered Robert knew were the light of his life.

Robert Matheu's photography career includes hundreds of album and magazine covers worldwide. Bob had photographs in PLAYBOY, ROLLING STONE, CREEM, LIFE, TIME, MOJO, MELODY MAKER, HARPERS, VOGUE and THE LOS ANGELES TIMES.

The MC5 Olympia Arena Robert Matheu

He was a documentarian and tour photographer for Iggy and The Stooges, tour photographer for Brian Wilson, photographer of memorable shots, live and studio of George Harrison, Johnny Cash, MC5, The Rolling Stones, The Pretenders, The Clash, Cheap Trick, Patti Smith, Adam Ant, the Stray Cats, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Bruce Springsteen, The Faces, The Who...(whew, out of breath) and so on and so on and continued from 1969 through 2018.

Fred Sonic Smith with Iggy and Sonics Rendezvous Band phot Robert Matheu

His two books of his own and others' photography were Creem: America's only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine by Robert Matheu and Brian J. Bowe, plus The Stooges: The Authorized And Illustrated Story, by Robert Matheu and Jeffrey Morgan.  The official Iggy Pop action figure is based upon a single photo that Robert took at the first reunion of Iggy and The Stooges with James Williamson, Scott Rock Action Asheton and Mike Watt, London, England, May 3rd, 2010.

Ron Asheton (The Stooges) and Niagara Detroit were two of Bob's friends

But even these myriad accomplishments sound a little dry considering whom I'm describing. One of the touchstone continuities of anyone who had anything to do with the Stooges, Robert was the everpresent reminder of the Stooges' Detroit roots, to which his enduring friendship with Iggy Pop was testimonial.

Robert began photographing at the Grande Ballroom and all those other legendary venues that hosted all those other legendary acts from 1969 on. His loyalty to his Detroit friends and clients was equally legendary.


Backstage at Iggy and The Stooges show at the Hollywood Palladium, December 1, 2011- Evita Corby, Robert Matheu, Allie Shields (daughter of Sabel Starr Shields.)

He always seemed to be in a great mood, loved to joke around with one and all, in the audience, in the photographer areas, backstage or just with fellow music fans.

My friend Evita Corby, who James Williamson's girlfriend in the 1970s reminded me of another side of jocular Robert though. When James was onstage, she said Robert was very protective of her, since young beauties like her were a magnet to too many creeps otherwise.

Live rock music, particularly the Detroit-spawned variety meant everything to him and it showed in his spectacular photos of all this city's greatest musicians, then spread his talent to artists worldwide, everywhere.  Rock music past and present has lost one of the good guys who cared passionately about what he shot. RIP Bob

-Heather Harris, 9/24/18

Robert Matheu Website
Robert Matheu Facebook

8.18.2018

MICHAEL DAVIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY: HOW I TOOK DOWN THE MC5!


Michael Davis passed away February 17, 2012 and 6 years later Cleopatra Records has released this book... I read it and I have say it was unvarnished and highly readable. The title is appropriate, but it took all 5 members for the high performance group to stop.

There are all of the deadly sins and quite a lot of humor in the telling of the MC5 and Mike's life. It is as honest as any autobiography I have ever read. Mike is hard on everyone he meets but just as hard on himself...I give it 5 stars as it is light years better than any of these "Detroit" rock books of late. RK


New Book By MC5's Bassist Michael Davis “I Brought Down The MC5” Now Available!

Los Angeles - Famed bass player from MC5, Michael Davis, takes us on a rollercoaster ride of triumph and tragedy in his superb new 350-page memoir titled “I Brought Down The MC5”! The book includes rarely seen photos and original artwork by Davis!

“I basically wanted to be the MC5. The attack! They were really on! They were brilliant!” - Lemmy

MC5 was an American rock band from Lincoln Park, Michigan, formed in 1964. The band line-up consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson.

The MC5's ANTI-WAR political views, rebellious lyrics and complex music positioned them as emerging innovators of the activist musical movement in the United States. Their loud, energetic style of back-to-basics rock and roll included elements of  rock, rhythm and blues, and jazz fusion. Quite a feat for 1966!


MC5 had a promising beginning which earned them a January 1969 cover appearance in Rolling Stone and a story written by Eric Ehrmann before their debut album was released. They developed a legendary reputation for energetic live performances, one of which was recorded as their 1969 debut album Kick Out the Jams.

In 1972, just three years after their debut record, the group disbanded.  The MC5 is often cited as one of the most important American hard rock groups of all time.

Their three albums are regarded as classics, and their anthem “Kick Out the Jams” has been covered by Kid Rock, Presidents of the USA, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Blue Oyster Cult, Bad Brains,  and countless numbers of up and coming young bands.

“For me, Michael was the original cool guy... He belongs in the Hall Of Fame, along with his whole group, for their contributions to American music and its politics.” - Iggy Pop

CHAPTERS:
Intro
Sandals And Needles
The Apple Bites Back
Like A Rolling Stone
Everybody Must Get Stoned
I Can Only Give You Everything
Getting Down
The New York Minute
The Promise Is Broken
Atlantic Crossing
Out Of The Frying Pan
Into The Fire
The Bridge To Nowhere
Delirious Alcoholic Megalosaurus
Play With Fire
The Oven
The Mind Shifts
The Road With No Name
My Time After Awhile
Epilogue

To purchase Michael Davis's “I Brought Down The MC5” book 

CLICK THE LINK BELOW:


7.30.2018

LENI SINCLAIR : THE DOCUMENTARY


Leni Sinclair never had a weekly column in mainstream newspaper indeed her work was published by what we would call the social media of her time yet her work has endured. Through her photographs she documented the changing world around her. And when she wasn’t photographing it, she was driving change by opening galleries, communes, rallies and food co-ops.

It’s a story about standing up for your beliefs and encompasses activism, feminism, civil rights, culture, and art. And while it’s a historical story, it’s very timely.




5.16.2018

MC5 BASSIST MICHAEL DAVIS' NEW AUTOBIOGRAPHY RELEASED POSTHUMOUSLY


Michael Davis passed away February 17, 2012 and 6 years later Cleopatra Records has released this book... I read it and I have say it was unvarnished and highly readable. The title is appropriate, but it took all 5 members for the high performance group to stop.

There are all of the deadly sins and quite a lot of humor in the telling of the MC5 and Mike's life. It is as honest as any autobiography I have ever read. Mike is hard on everyone he meets but just as hard on himself...I give it 5 stars as it is light years better than any of these "Detroit" rock books of late. RK


New Book By MC5's Bassist Michael Davis “I Brought Down The MC5” Now Available!

Los Angeles - Famed bass player from MC5, Michael Davis, takes us on a rollercoaster ride of triumph and tragedy in his superb new 350-page memoir titled “I Brought Down The MC5”! The book includes rarely seen photos and original artwork by Davis!

“I basically wanted to be the MC5. The attack! They were really on! They were brilliant!” - Lemmy

MC5 was an American rock band from Lincoln Park, Michigan, formed in 1964. The band line-up consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson.

The MC5's ANTI-WAR political views, rebellious lyrics and complex music positioned them as emerging innovators of the activist musical movement in the United States. Their loud, energetic style of back-to-basics rock and roll included elements of  rock, rhythm and blues, and jazz fusion. Quite a feat for 1966!


MC5 had a promising beginning which earned them a January 1969 cover appearance in Rolling Stone and a story written by Eric Ehrmann before their debut album was released. They developed a legendary reputation for energetic live performances, one of which was recorded as their 1969 debut album Kick Out the Jams.

In 1972, just three years after their debut record, the group disbanded.  The MC5 is often cited as one of the most important American hard rock groups of all time.

Their three albums are regarded as classics, and their anthem “Kick Out the Jams” has been covered by Kid Rock, Presidents of the USA, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Blue Oyster Cult, Bad Brains,  and countless numbers of up and coming young bands.

“For me, Michael was the original cool guy... He belongs in the Hall Of Fame, along with his whole group, for their contributions to American music and its politics.” - Iggy Pop

CHAPTERS:
Intro
Sandals And Needles
The Apple Bites Back
Like A Rolling Stone
Everybody Must Get Stoned
I Can Only Give You Everything
Getting Down
The New York Minute
The Promise Is Broken
Atlantic Crossing
Out Of The Frying Pan
Into The Fire
The Bridge To Nowhere
Delirious Alcoholic Megalosaurus
Play With Fire
The Oven
The Mind Shifts
The Road With No Name
My Time After Awhile
Epilogue

To purchase Michael Davis's “I Brought Down The MC5” book 

CLICK THE LINK BELOW:


11.15.2016

LETS ALL VOTE FOR THE MC5 2017 ROCK HALL OF FAME INDUCTION!!!


GREAT News from AP just came in today that the Cleveland Rock Hall of Fame has once again nominated the Mighty MC5!!


The number of punk fans who can ID an MC5 song that doesn't begin with a profanity-laden promise of jam-kicking-out is ever-dwindling, but they still feel Important -- one of the defining names of proto-punk -- and no one would be tremendously surprised to find out they'd been a down-ballot inductee a decade ago without anyone really noticing. The Stooges are already in and the New York Dolls haven't been nominated in 15 years, the MC5 seems like a solid pick here.




Legendary Drummer Dennis Thompson feels it is a great honor to be nominated with all the many greats of rock and roll history!

So all of you legions of MC5 fans get on all of your devices and let's share this story world wide... VOTE FOR THE MC5!!!!

AND A BIG SHOUT OUT TO HBO, MICK JAGGER, MARTY SCORSESE, AND TERENCE WINTER FOR USING KICKING OUT THE JAMS ON VINYL!!!
Read MORE




11.11.2015

FLINT MUSIC PROMOTER DAVE WEST HAS DIED

 Dave West (RIP)

Sad news just in....Flint Sherwood Forest music promoter Dave West died at 6:29pm last night.

Dave West played a prominent role in supporting and promoting Flint area musicians during the early days of Michigan Rock & Roll and was particularly involved in our Sherwood Forest concerts.


Dave is best known as the inventor and developer of West Amplifiers, building and maintaining equipment for Grand Funk Railroad, which they used exclusively for many years, and supplying heavy duty sound systems for almost all of the major Michigan bands, including Bob Seger, Dick Wagner, Alice Cooper and the like, as well as dozens of local bands just getting it together. Services pending....

1.27.2015

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS:SHINDIG! MAGAZINE ARTICLE IN ISSUE #45

 destroy all monsters
Subscribe below
Shindig! Magazine Issue #45
submitted by Jon 'Mojo' Mills

“Motherfucker it’s comin’ out of your pay”

The genre breaking band DESTROY ALL MONSTERS featured a cast of Detroit deities including Mike Davis (The MC5) and Ron Asheton (The Stooges). COLIN BRYCE talks with them about art, noise and trees

The genre breaking band DESTROY ALL MONSTERS featured a cast of Detroit deities including Mike Davis (The MC5) and Ron Asheton (The Stooges). COLIN BRYCE talks with them about art, noise and trees

The Destroy All Monsters story began as an art project in around 1974 with the meeting of University Of Michigan (based in Ann Arbor) art students Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw, Carey Loren and front-person (most commonly known as) Niagara. Their love, respect and interest for all things trash, outside, artistic, unconventional, free, unfettered and noisy brought them together and paved the way for sonic excursions and sound treatments that should most probably be described as un-easy listening, or even – as a fitting tribute to their hero Godzilla – monstrous; unless of course you have an ear for that sort of thing. An artistic and musical mix up of Sun Ra (a Detroit area favourite), The Velvet Underground, Beefheart, comic books, Beardsley, Man Ray, countless B-movies (gangster, monster, exploitation) and a healthy distrust and distaste for authority and the mainstream and you’ll very nearly have a half-cup of the kool aid the Monsters were drinking.

After a close encounter at a one of their (very few) performances you may have found yourself in love with the bands mixture of cheap organs, effects, feedback, moaning, saxophone, violin, clanging, bashing, squealing, squalling and their interpretations of classics like ‘Nature Boy’ or even Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’. Alternately you may have wished you skipped dropping that second hit of purple micro-dot.

“The art collaboration was a group of us that jammed in a basement for about a year,” explains Niagara. “No one ever heard or saw us, except at a college art show. The earlier stuff was quirky and funny, in an anti-music way. We invented noise music, so they say.”

Hiawatha Bailey is a long-standing face on the Ann Arbor/Detroit scene, a close friend of the band who worked as road crew/sound man for Destroy All Monsters. As a performer in his own right he also shared many bills as a member of The Cult Heroes. He recalls seeing an early DAM show at the college: “It was kind of ’50s beatnik and way out in a way.”

It is after the departure of founder members Shaw and Kelley that Larry and Ben Miller joined the Monsters and helped to set off a newer, jazzier and refined approach to the art sonics of the earlier incarnation. But it was once former Stooges and MC5 members Ron Asheton and (a freshly released from prison) Mike Davis joined the gang that all bets were off and Destroy All Monsters became a more fully-fledged rock band with Niagara front and centre sipping on her (now legendary) can of Tab, her wild mane streaked and piled atop her head, and dressed in some of the finest mini-skirts, heels and leopard print brassieres the budget of an aspiring artist will allow.

“Mike (Davis/MC5) and I were in together at Lexington,” recalls Hiawatha. “After I was released I ended up staying at a friend’s place at Whitmore Lake on about 100 acres... Mike came up there for New Year after being at his father’s place in Detroit... I had set up some space to play... More people ended up coming over and Ron told me about Niagara.” It was up at this property that the new high-energy version of Destroy All Monsters first began to get it together.

It is without doubt that the signing on of Ron Asheton and Mike Davis and their contributions musically brought Destroy All Monsters out of the artistic shadows and onto the much larger world stage. The increasing profile of all things “punk rock” and the influence of Asheton’s and Davis’s former bands on the new “punk” groups – even though their previous bands had only been broken up a few years at that point – allowed Destroy All Monsters to get their mugs in magazines like Creem, Rock Scene, Bomp and others. Asheton’s knack for a crafty, hypnotic riff and his experience working with one-of-a-kind front persons clearly also helped broaden Niagara’s often monochromatic vocal styling’s and appeal.

You could say that Ron and Mike brought a bit more “chrome” in general to the Destroy All Monsters camp (pun intended). As interesting as some of the ideas of the early DAM incarnation were they were still a group of young artists exploring and learning how to apply their chosen aesthetics. Nothing wrong of course with artistic experimentation and it certainly works for Destroy All Monsters on the early tracks like ‘From Edgar Cayce’ or ‘Silver Noise Kill Kill’.

Shindig! Magazine Issue #45
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

4.05.2014

THE MC5 ON THE COVER OF THE ROLLING STONE


Some called the MC5 (for "Motor City Five," after their home base) the first '70s band of the '60s. The group's loud, hard, fast sound and violently antiestablishment ideology almost precisely prefigured much of punk rock. There was, however, one crucial difference: The MC5 truly believed in the power of rock & roll to change the world. The band first formed in high school and came to prominence in 1967–68 as the figureheads (or "house band") of John Sinclair's radical White Panther Party.

At concerts and happenings the band caused a sensation by wearing American flags and screaming revolutionary slogans laced with profanities. In 1968 the MC5 went with Sinclair to Chicago to play while the Democratic Convention was under way. Its debut LP (#30, 1969), recorded live in 1968, captured the band in typical raw, revved-up, radical form, and embroiled Elektra Records in controversy over the title tune's loud-and-clear shout "Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!"

Some stores refused to stock the album; in response, the MC5 took out strongly worded ads in underground papers and, to Elektra's further distress, plastered one offending store's windows with Elektra stationery on which was scrawled, "Fuck you." Elektra and the MC5 parted company shortly thereafter, but not before the band had cut another version of "Kick Out the Jams," with "brothers and sisters" substituted for the offending expletive. (It was available as a single and on some subsequent issues of the album, against the band's wishes.) READ MORE ON MACHINE GUN'S BLOG

3.25.2014

THE MC5 AND SOCIAL CHANGE: PURE REBELLION AND TOTAL ENERGY

 

Former Professor Mat Bartkowiak designed a university course featuring Detroit band The MC5. He wrote THE MC5 AND SOCIAL CHANGE: A STUDY IN ROCK AND REVOLUTION for that class. It is Dennis Thompson's person favorite of all the MC5 books out there...Mat has graciously signed on as a contributor for our DetRMag...and here is his first entry.....more to come

Author Mat Bartkowiak:

I was in college in the late 90s when I first heard the MC5. I don't know if this if the same for everyone, but that time was a heady one for me. I was really coming into my own sense of politics and defining my own world-view. I was young, I was amped, and I was ready to change the world.

It was in that context, that the MC5 first assaulted my eardrums. I had the intro to "Ramblin' Rose" by JC Crawford played first by my then my co-worker, Matt Conger at the record shop I was working in, and then he cut right over to "Kick Out the Jams."

There weren't any customers in that night, so he turned it up to eleven. That speech by Crawford asking the crowd if they were ready to testify and be a part of the solution, then to have someone in a recording from 1968 none-the-less scream "Kick Out the Jams, Motherfuckers!" and launch into the cacophony of that song...well, let's just say I was ready to turn myself loose on the world that night. I was converted.

Photo courtesy of Leni Sinclair

It was that sense of pure rebellion and total energy that I carried with me for years. The White Panther stories that I vaguely attached to the band only pushed that further.

It wasn't until I started digging into the research that I found that the band became a sort of lighting rod for discussions of authenticity and rebellion during the band's life and since.

Their music was seen by some as a huge ruse; others thought the pulse of rebellion in rock and roll had not only been found but that it was pumping like it was on amphetamines. You could take it or leave it...it was usable. The same possibility for multiple readings and uses went for the stakeholders themselves, too.

 
About Author Mat Bartkowiak:

Before accepting a position in the private sector with Nelson-Jameson, Inc. in 2014, Mathew J. Bartkowiak was an associate professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Marshfield/Wood County. Bartkowiak received his Ph.D. from the Department of American Studies at Michigan State University, his M.A. from Bowling Green State University, and his B.A. from UW-Green Bay. His fourth book, his second co-authored with Yuya Kiuchi of Michigan State University, examines music in counterculture film (due from McFarland in 2015).


3.10.2014

BOOKIE'S & THE DETROIT MUSIC SCENE PART 1

 
The Mutants at Bookie's Club 870, 1978. 
Photo Deanne Nichols

Scott Campbell
March 10, 2014
 
The Detroit original rock scene had fallen on hard times in the 70's. In the mid-60's, Mitch Ryder, Bob Seger, The Amboy Dukes, The Rationals, The MC5, and numerous other bands got record deals and radio airplay. By the mid-70's, new Detroit acts were frozen out of airplay with the death of underground radio and record labels weren't signing. A band could earn a living playing five 45 minute sets per night but they had to be AOL radio rock hits. Typically, a band would get a song list from the bar owner and NO original songs were allowed.

By early 1977, new bands such as The Sillies, The Romantics, and a new MC5 fronted by original singer Rob Tyner were looking for anywhere to play original sets of their own music. The Sillies rented The Kramer Theater on Michigan Avenue east of Livernois to do a real concert with themselves in between the new MC5 and an opening set by Destroy All Monsters with Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton and original MC5 bassist Michael Davis. The show drew 1,000 people but most of the money was mysteriously missing from the till, leaving Sillies founder Scott Campbell $1,000 in the hole.

Much as bars were a step down from theater concerts, a nightclub that would host original concerts in the style of NYC's Max's Kansas City or the Whiskey A Go Go in LA was needed for Detroit. The trick was finding a place and making it successful.


2.28.2014

WE TOOK A STAND! DENNIS THOMPSON ON THE MC5 45TH ANNIVERSARY


WE TOOK A STAND!

Other times we made some terrible mistakes. No one can ever accuse us of not exploring the possibilities though. This is our legacy, as I see it.

I have done many things since the breakup of the group. I did stints with Sirius Trixon & The Motor City Bad Boys, lived in Hollywood and played in the original New Order with Ron Asheton of the Stooges and Dave Gilbert of the Rockets. I did a tour in 1981 with the New Race with Ron Asheton & Deniz Tek of Radio Birdman fame. The last pro tour was in 1998 with Wayne Kramer, Scott Morgan , Deniz Tek and Gary Rasmussen as Dodge Main and with DKT/MC5.

I have programmed and set up CNC machining centers making different prototype parts for everything to the Sidewinder Missile bracket for the F-15 Eagle fighter jet, to the turret gear rack for the M1-A1 Abrams tanks that went to the Persian Gulf War in 1990.


I re-designed the full size animatronic robot animals on the stage at Major Magic’s All Star Pizza Review, co-produced the music and programmed their movements. I was commissioned to hire everybody from machinists, welders, and seamstresses to build, clothe, assemble, and install four more complete stage set-ups of 12 different characters in four other franchise locations in the country.

The last 12 years I have been working hard and fast writing two books simultaneously. Book number one’s working title, “An American Night in The Round”, is a full length novel which I refer to as a cross between satire and speculative fiction. Twelve years in the making, I hope to finish this tome in a year or two.


Book number two is currently titled, “A Walk in The Woods”, and is a generous collection of short stories, philosophical musings, and inspirational essays documenting my spiritual journey, and commenting on the struggles of life in Modern America. Currently in the editing stage, this book should be available for publishing by in 2010 I hope. I will also publish a book of blog posts in a year or so.

And last but not least I started my own production company named MGT Multi-Media LLC. and am looking forward to releasing my first solo music CD next year if time permits. We will be a full range media company. More on this later.

So in summary, I should hope the legacy of the MC5 is that of inspiring and encouraging exploration, using your imagination, and having the fortitude to pursue your hearts ambition.

A legacy of bold pursuit of all things possible and to stand tall for what is right, even if the price seems high.

In closing there is only one thing left to say and that is: “Let me be who I am…and let me “Kick out the Jams! Mother F**ker’s!

“Look, I really don't want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you're alive, you got to flap your arms and legs, you got to jump around a lot, you got to make a lot of noise, because life is the very opposite of death. And therefore, as I see it, if you're quiet, you're not living. You've got to be noisy, or at least your thoughts should be noisy and colorful and lively.” Mel Brooks

Thank you to the fans after 45 years for keeping the 5 alive....

Rest in Peace my brothers

Rob Tyner
Fred Smith
and
Michael Davis

MGT




2.25.2014

MC5'S WAYNE KRAMER ON A BAND CALLED DEATH


Written by RetroKimmer

I did some work for the Death Band when they first reunited in 2009. I made their first blog page and taught them a bit about social networking. They took it from there and have done a fantastic job..There is a documentary about them.. A Band Called Death. Death was the first black punk band in Detroit in 1974.

Back in 2009, I played their music for Dennis Thompson and he really liked it but had never heard of them...I often wondered what Wayne thought of them.

Just now I saw a deleted scene from the Death Band documentary and Wayne Kramer says it very well..(as usual!)...



Retrokimmer is a successful writer, show promoter and new media agent. Kimmer’s blog, Retrokimmer.com, is about pop culture and it’s retro evolution into today’s hottest trends. She loves blogging about music, art, scandals, crime, stars, books, history and more...

2.06.2014

DENNIS THOMPSON THE MC5 RETOOLED: JON LANDAU AND TARTAR FIELD

AUTHOR DENNIS THOMPSON

We had just completed the recording of our first album in the recording studio. Jon Landau produced this album “Back In The USA”, our second record. Jon ran a very tight ship. He virtually changed our lifestyle. We had moved again, this time from Ann Arbor to a small, mainly German farming town by the name of Hamburg, MI.

Quiet and most rural, we gave ourselves some room from the party crowd and all the traffic in general. We needed the change of scenery. Jon was a music writer for Rolling Stone and we were his second recording project ever. He had us running laps around the house and eating a low fat, high protein diet. He also tried his best to run a no drinking and drugging regimen as well. We rehearsed like men possessed and that was a good thing. I have to say now in perfect 20-20 hindsight, that what Jon did for us was actually quite beneficial in many ways.

I was not into this guy at all. I used to call him a Fascist and an amateur. I wanted a professional producer with a proven track record, but once again the powers that be overruled me again. I felt he was anal retentive and was driven to total perfection partly because of his lack of experience, so he overcompensated.


The tunes were too tinny sounding and lacked punch. The music lacked that fullness that we were known for. There was no improvising. We may have overdone that on the first album. I felt very strongly about this. Jon’s heart was 100% in the right place. He wanted a hit single from this band and he knew we needed to change to accomplish this. We confused our fan base. (More on this period later folks.)

The songs were also all 3 minutes long or shorter, and this flew in the face of our first album, KOTJ, where the songs were on average 4-7 minutes long. In retrospect, we did need to clean up the timing and the tightness of the tracks. I will be the first to admit this.



I had to play to a metronome and we layered the tracks as opposed to playing as a group. This felt alien to me. I adapted to this format in a short time, but I still did not like it. Now, years later, many of our fans think it was our best album out of the three. We could have done a hell of a lot better with a pro, but would we have been as tight? I doubt it. All in all, as a result, what you see and hear on the tapes of the Tartar Field performance is a direct result of that conditioning.

Now I think everything is as it should’ve been, because that is the way life comes at you. So here you have it, the first time we played the new tunes off “Back in the USA” or what many people call “The White Album”. We did this in front of a large audience at Tartar Field, Wayne State University, mine and Michael Davis’ alma mater.

Remember that this band was always evolving, we never stood still, and this chapter is just as different as the one before it, and the one that followed it (the High Time Period). “Gotta Keep Movin”, my, oh my…wait till I tell you of the Jac Holzman and Elektra period!

The drama is even better…MGT


MC5 playing Looking At You live at Tartar Field 
on Wayne State University Campus in Detroit on 
July 19th, 1970 TURN YOUR VOLUME UP NOW!

1.31.2014

DETROIT DOWN UNDER: DENIZ TEK'S STORY


** Deniz Tek has done SO much to promote Detroit Rock n Roll 
around this planet! Dr. Tek is our legend piece today......***

Deniz Tek is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter and a founding member of Australian rock group Radio Birdman. He has played in many of the underground rock bands of the 1970s including Australian bands The Visitors, and New Race but is most known for exerting his burning Detroit style guitar influence over the punk rock genre in Australia.

Tek was raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. He spent 1967 in Sydney, Australia with his family and was greatly attracted to the Australian landscape, moving there permanently in 1972 to begin his medical studies at University of New South Wales in Sydney.


Dr. Deniz Tek is a trained ER doctor and ex-navy flight surgeon who currently splits his time working in emergency departments in hospitals in NSW, Australia and Hawaii, USA while still taking time to record and tour.
 

In the late '60s, Ann Arbor became somewhat of a nexus for rock music, hosting festivals which drew performers from all around the world such as Pink Floyd, Janis Joplin, Johnny Winter, Captain Beefheart, and a personal favorite of Tek's, The Rolling Stones.


Tek was heavily influenced by the underground scene of Ann Arbor, which included bands such as The MC5, The Stooges, The Rationals, Frost, Mitch Ryder, Carnal Kitchen with Steve Mackay, The Up, SRC plus jazz greats Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, Archie Shepp and Yusef Lateef.


IN 1972 when Deniz moved to Australia he took his love of Detroit Rock n roll with him introducing thousands of young Aussies to our favorite music and taught them about our corridor to the City I 94...


1974-78 Tek proceeded to form a new band with long time friend Rob Younger, with the addition of Chris "Klondike" Masuak, Warwick Gilbert, Pip Hoyle and Ron Keeley, and called themselves Radio Birdman, after a misheard Stooges lyric.

 
The Radio Birdman sound was unconventional and raw... it echoed the Motor City influences of Tek's youth. 
 

Birdman are often attributed with the initiation of the Australian indie rock scene, as after being repeatedly rejected from various clubs and bars in the Sydney area, Birdman took it upon themselves to record and release their first recording Burn My Eye, and distribute it out the back of the band members' station wagons.

 
Radio Birdman began a world tour in 1977 traveling to England and playing a few shows around London as well as recording their second album Living Eyes, until in 1978 the band broke up mid-tour.


READ MORE ON WIKI

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