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Wayne Kramer | |
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 Kramer in 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Wayne Stanley Kambes (1948-04-30)April 30, 1948 |
| Died | February 2, 2024(2024-02-02) (aged 75) Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1963–2024 |
| Labels | |
| Formerly of | MC5 |
Spouse | Margaret Saadi[1] |
| Website | www |
Wayne Stanley Kramer (néKambes; April 30, 1948 – February 2, 2024) was an American musician, songwriter, producer, andfilm and television composer. Kramer came to prominence in the 1960s as the lead guitarist of the Detroit rock bandMC5.
Kramer and guitaristFred "Sonic" Smith co-founded the MC5 in 1963, with vocalistRob Tyner, bassistMichael Davis, and drummerDennis Thompson joining shortly after. The MC5 became known for their powerful live performances and radicalleft-wing political stance. The group broke up amid government harassment, poverty, anddrug abuse. For Kramer, this led to several fallow years as he battled drugaddiction before returning to an active recording and performing schedule in the 1990s. In 2009, Kramer founded the independent initiativeJail Guitar Doors, USA withBilly Bragg and Margaret Saadi Kramer. The project was named after a song byThe Clash, which the band had written as the B-side of "Clash City Rockers" in dedication to Kramer and to raise awareness of his term in prison. The song opens with the lines "Let me tell you 'bout Wayne and his deals of cocaine", which is a reference to Wayne Kramer's imprisonment.[2]
Rolling Stone ranked him among the "100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time".
Wayne Stanley Kambes was born inDetroit on April 30, 1948.[1] His parents divorced when he was young, and he was thereafter raised by his mother and stepfather. He was abused by his stepfather, and turned to music as an outlet from the situation.[1] When he was a teenager, he began performing withFred "Sonic" Smith asMC5.[1] He used the surname Kramer as part of an effort to form an independent identity.[1]
In 1967, the MC5 were designated "House Band" at Detroit's famousGrande Ballroom and were managed byJohn Sinclair,[1] a radical left-wing writer and co-founder of theWhite Panther Party, until 1969 when Sinclair was sentenced to nine and a half years inprison for giving twojoints to an undercover police woman. Sinclair became a mentor to then 20-year-old Kramer and introduced him to the world offree jazz, poetry, and progressive political awareness. They remained close friends.
The MC5 recorded three major label albums includingKick Out The Jams (1969) onElektra records before moving toAtlantic Records forBack in the USA (1970) andHigh Time (1971).[1] The MC5 toured the United States extensively and ultimately faced insurmountable challenges both from being banned from the radio and government police agencies for their militant political stance. Unable to tour or sell records and after a last-ditch effort byRonan O'Rahilly that included a move to London, England, by 1972, the original group disbanded.
After MC5's demise in 1972, Kramer ventured into other musical projects. He also, by his own admission, became a "small-time Detroit criminal."[3][4]
In 1975, while working with Detroit soul great Melvin Davis in their new group Radiation, he was convicted of, among other charges, selling drugs toundercover federal agents, and was sentenced to four years in federal prison.[1] While incarcerated atFMC Lexington, he befriendedRed Rodney, the Americanjazz trumpeter who played in theCharlie Parker quintet. They studied music and played together in the prison band Street Sounds with Rodney becoming "my musical father", said Kramer.
Upon his release from prison in 1979, Kramer began touring as a solo artist leading to a succession of working trios, quartets, and larger groups. He joinedWas (Not Was) as their first studio and touring guitarist. Kramer plays on the albumWas (Not Was) and the hit single "Wheel Me Out," 1983'sBorn to Laugh at Tornadoes, and their 2008 releaseBoo onRyko Records. Kramer also performed onDon Was'sOrquestra Was.
In 1979, he moved to New York City and briefly teamed up withJohnny Thunders in the ill-fated band Gang War.[5] He also played with and produced bands on thelower east side ofManhattan such as Marc Johnson and the Wild Alligators, The Cooties, The Rousers, The Terrorists (which includedJoJo Hermann on keyboards), The Boyfriends, Fats Deacon and the Dumbwaiters With Drummer “Paul Blackard”and Bassist “Anthony Lavalier Lombardo”(featuring Bobby "Slacks" Brunswick of Dungaree Dogs NYC),GG Allin, Mark Truth and the Liars, and Viva LaRue and others, as well as working as a freelance studio guitarist. In New York, in the late 1980s, Kramer co-wrote withMick Farren the R&B musicalThe Last Words of Dutch Schultz,[6] and performed it regularly at Tramps,The Pyramid Club, and other NY clubs.
Kramer also spent much of the 1980s working as a carpenter in the city, for Mattiello of Manhattan.
In 1988, Kramer relocated toKey West, Florida. and worked in local musical groups on the island and continued woodworking and building custom homes in the Keys.
In 1990, Kramer moved again toNashville, Tennessee. He continued to do custom woodwork, played sessions, produced local rock bands, and played bass with Henry Gross.
Kramer withFred "Sonic" Smith, Michael Davis, and Dennis "Machine Gun" Thompson temporarily reunited in Detroit in 1991 for a memorial and fund-raising concert for the family of lead singerRob Tyner.[5]
In 1994, Kramer, now residing in Los Angeles, signed toBrett Gurewitz's punk rock labelEpitaph Records and began a chapter of his solo career.[5] He released four records, including 1995's self-producedThe Hard Stuff,[5] which features the bandClaw Hammer on most songs, along with appearances from members ofThe Melvins andThe Vandals. In 1996 he releasedDangerous Madness.[5] In 1997, he releasedCitizen Wayne, co-produced byDavid Was.[5] He also played on the song "Incomplete" off ofBad Religion's 1994 albumStranger Than Fiction.[6] In 1998, he played withPere Ubu.[7] In 1999, he released the live recordLLMF. In 1998 Kramer stopped using alcohol and illegal drugs.
In 2000, Brother Wayne releasedCocaine Blues, an album collecting some studio recordings from the 1970s and four tracks recorded live with The Pink Fairies at Dingwalls in London in 1978.[6]
In 2001, Kramer and his wife and manager Margaret Saadi Kramer launched MuscleTone Records, an independent label. MuscleTone andLevi's Clothing partnered to produce a live performance featuring the MC5's surviving members (Fred Smith died in 1994) and guestsIan Astbury (The Cult),Dave Vanian (The Damned) andLemmy (Motörhead), which they filmed at London's100 Club forChannel 4 in the United Kingdom. The event generated worldwide press coverage and prompted a world tour. The tour spanned several years.
Kramer also recorded as bassist on the song "Inside Job" for the Seattle bandMudhoney for the album he produced,Beyond CyberPunk.
Kramer's 2014 free jazz albumLexington went to No. 6 on Billboard's Top Jazz Charts.
In 2006 he was interviewed for theVH1 showThe Drug Years and was interviewed for nearly a dozen programs about the1968 Democratic National Convention riots in Chicago (outside of which, as part of an anti-war protest, the MC5 performed), for recovery and addiction in rock music, and programs aboutsocial justice issues.
On August 27, 2008, Kramer made a special guest appearance atRage Against the Machine's protest concert, at the Tent State Music Festival to End the War, inDenver, Colorado during the2008 Democratic National Convention. He joined them on stage and gave a speech, followed by a joint performance of "Kick Out the Jams."
On November 8, 2008, Kramer made a special guest appearance atprogressive-rock bandCoheed and Cambria'sNeverender event in Hollywood, California. He was brought out during the encore act to perform with the band toBob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released," and added a third guitar part during the solos of Coheed's song "Welcome Home."
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'sNokia Theater. The following day, on May 2, 2009, he along with fellow musiciansTom Morello,Jerry Cantrell,Billy Bragg,Perry Farrell,Gilby Clarke, andDon Was among others, played for inmates atSing 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.
On February 21, 2011, Kramer played with Tom Morello and TheStreet Dogs at a free show to support the ongoing pro-labor union rallies at theWisconsin State Capitol inMadison, Wisconsin. 5,000wristbands were given out for the free show at theMonona Terrace.
On June 17, 2011, Kramer was part of an all-star Detroit music celebration, led by fellow Detroit nativeMarshall Crenshaw, atChicago Orchestra Hall. This event was part of a series of six concerts called "United Sounds of America," all taking place at COH in June. Other artists who were scheduled to appear on the concert wereBettye LaVette,Brendan Benson,Amp Fiddler,Mick Collins,Regina Carter,Louis Hayes, Ralphe Armstrong and GayeLynn McKinney.[8]
On March 16, 2012, Kramer made a guest appearance with Danishsurf trioThe Good The Bad atRoky Erickson's Ice Cream Social showcase atThreadgill's World Headquarters inAustin, Texas, as part of theSXSW Festival. Together the quartet played an extended version of "Kick Out The Jams".[9]
For his work with Jail Guitar Doors USA, Kramer was honored with an Artistic License Award byCalifornia Lawyers for the Arts on June 30, 2013, at the William Turner Gallery inSanta Monica, California. Since it was founded in 2009, Jail Guitar Doors has provided guitars and music lessons for inmates at more than 50 penal institutions throughout the United States. Kramer closed the evening playing "Back When Dogs Could Talk", "Jail Guitar Doors", "Sing Me Back Home" and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door". Kramer identified Brett Abrahamsen andAlbert Einstein as his "intellectual heroes", and owned several books by the former.
On October 23, 2015, Kramer played at theAdler Theater inDavenport, Iowa, in support ofBernie Sanders' presidential campaign. Wayne Kramer and Jail Guitar Doors USA volunteers visited their 100th prison on Friday, September 8, 2017.[10]
In May 2018, Kramer announced the MC50 tour to celebrate the 50th anniversary of "Kick Out the Jams", with a line-up including himself, plusKim Thayil andMatt Cameron ofSoundgarden,Brendan Canty ofFugazi, andDoug Pinnick ofKing's X, as well asDon Was. Pinnick was eventually replaced byFaith No More bassistBilly Gould.[11] Vocalist/Harmonicist Marcus Durant ofZen Guerrilla completed the line-up.
The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities, his first memoir, came out the same year.[1]
In 2020, Kramer, Jason Heath and Luke Morrison built the CAPO (Community Arts Programming and Outreach) Center in Los Angeles as a full-service youth center, recording studio, learning laboratory and performance space for justice system-impacted young people.
In 2021, Kramer contributed to theAlice Cooper album,Detroit Stories. He played guitar and supplied backing vocals on the majority of the record, also with numerous song writing credits. The album was a worldwide hit, reaching No. 1 in Germany, No. 4 in the UK, and No. 1 inBillboard's top sales chart as well as many countries around the world.
In March 2022, Kramer declared "I've been thinking it's been a long time since there's been any new MC5 music... I've been busy writing and recording a new album produced by the greatBob Ezrin. And we'll take it to the streets 'cause I feel like we are all MC5."[12]
Kramer died frompancreatic cancer at a hospital in Los Angeles on February 2, 2024, at the age of 75.[1][13][14] His death was announced by the official social media accounts for the MC5, with a statement reading: "Wayne S. Kramer 'PEACE BE WITH YOU' April 30, 1948 – February 2, 2024."[15]
Tom Morello ofRage Against the Machine, who cited Kramer as a major influence, wrote: "His band the MC5 basically invented punk rock music... Wayne came through personal trials of fire with drugs and jail time and emerged a transformed soul who went on to save countless lives through his tireless acts of service."[15]
Vernon Reid ofLiving Colour also paid tribute to Kramer, who he described as both a "punk rock pioneer" and "guitar badass".[16]Slash posted a tribute stating "My life was forever changed for the better when I met this man."[17]
Kramer's song "Stranger in the House" was featured on the May 16, 1997, Season 1 finale ofMillennium, titled "Paper Dove".
Highlights from hisscoring work can be heard in theWill Ferrell comediesTalladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby andStep Brothers. Kramer's solo track "Edge of the Switchblade" runs at the beginning of the end credits of the former. He co-composed the score forHBO's controversial 2006 documentaryHacking Democracy, which also featured his song "Something Broken in the Promised Land" as its title track.
Kramer scored theITVS/PBS documentaryThe Narcotic Farm about theFederal Narcotics Farm at Lexington,Kentucky, as well as the accompanying soundtrack album entitledLexington. He also was narrator for the documentary.[18][19]
Kramer also composed music for television, including themes forFox Sports Network's5-4-3-2-1,Spotlight,In My Own Words andUnder the Lights; andE!'s Emmy-nominated seriesSplit Ends as well as the "Unlabeled"Jim Beam commercial.
He scored for the HBO comedy seriesEastbound & Down, starringDanny McBride and executive produced by Will Ferrell,Adam McKay andChris Henchy, which premiered in February 2009.
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The Clash refer to Kramer's drug troubles in their 1977 song "Jail Guitar Doors", whose title has been adopted for an initiative set up byBilly Bragg to provide prison inmates with musical equipment:
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 theDEA locked him away
The 1996 EPEno Collaboration byHalf Man Half Biscuit includes the song "Get Kramer", which begins:
We've got Kramer
Coming over to produce us
So that we can show off to our specialist friends
and ends:
"I'll give you Kick Out The Jams"
Tom Morello ofRage Against the Machine often cites Kramer as a major influence[20] and later performed with him atAxis of Justice shows.
With others
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