MC5: Are you ready to testify?

I've been listening to the MC5 a good bit lately, for no particular reason other than that right now seems like a good time for some revolutionary fervor. So it seemed like a good omen to hear them on the radio Sunday night, which ain't exactly an everyday occurance in 2008.

That reminded me of the time I saw MC5 guitarist Brother Wayne Kramer show up to jam with our North Carolina homeboys Valient Thorr last year; and also that the surviving members of MC5 played a show around these parts a few years back -- the interview is below. And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to root around my house and see if I can find my bootleg copy of "MC5: A True Testimonial."

MC5's shadow is still kicking
By David Menconi, News & Observer
June 18, 2004

There's a profoundly unsettling moment halfway through "MC5: A True Testimonial," the documentary about the pioneering Detroit punk band. One of the vintage live-performance segments shows the group playing in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic convention, and it's better-focused than most of the film's other in-concert interludes. That's because it's actual U.S. government-surveillance footage, not a home movie.

"Yeah, that's the real hook of the story," MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer says, calling from -- wouldn't you know it -- Chicago. "Here was a rock 'n' roll band that the U.S. government thought was a threat, so they put the FBI on us. When does that happen? It's really a tribute to the power of electric guitars, I think."

Indeed, no band ever rode the edge like the MC5 (shorthand for Motor City Five), who were revolutionary in every sense of the word. They never sold many records because they were just too raw. But when they were on, no other band on Earth could touch 'em. The MC5 were relentless, ferocious and louder than God, combining James Brown-style showmanship with Sun Ra's interstellar free-jazz skronk into molten punk-metal -- a soundtrack for revolution in the streets.

Thirty-six years later, there's another Texas president in the White House, and another controversial war in a faraway place. The MC5 has been gone since imploding in 1972, and two members died more than a decade ago (guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith and bullroaring frontman Rob Tyner). But the band is more relevant than ever, so the time is perfect for the closest thing possible to a reunion.

Kramer, bassist Michael Davis and drummer Dennis Thompson have regrouped as DKT, touring with a cast of replacement ringers including Marshall Crenshaw, Mudhoney's Mark Arm and former Lemonhead Evan Dando. DKT plays the Cat's Cradle on Saturday. Opening the show is Chapel Hill's Valient Thorr, one of countless bands bearing the MC5's stamp of influence.

"It's such an honor," enthuses Valient Thorr frontman Herbie Abernethy, whose onstage patter recalls the late Tyner's revolutionary fervor. "They've been my favorite band on Earth since I was 13. Even if we weren't playing, we'd be there anyway. If David Lee Roth himself -- and I'm a big fan -- asked us to play the same day in front of 2 million people in Japan, we wouldn't do it. That's how big this is to us. We're gonna sweat a whole lot that night."

MC5 bassist Davis says that one of the biggest satisfactions of this tour is to see younger bands like Valient Thorr continuing along a similar musical path.

"It's validating and inspiring to have so much to do with current trends in music," Davis says. "The way we played, the fundamentals we used, the rootsy origins of our music are things that have really endured. A lot of the fads and stylish things kinda peel away as you go along. The real elements are always there and never go out of style. We've got tentative plans to make a record after we finish the tour, and continue the spirit of what we do. We're having so much fun playing together again after all this time, I see no reason to end it."

Although Kramer says the tour is going well, he seems less sure about whether or not DKT will record.

"You gotta do what's in front of you," Kramer says. "I'm not good at figuring out the future. If I look ahead too far, I get into a wreck. Just like if I go too far into the past, same thing. So I've gotta deal with what's on my plate now, doing this world tour and making this thing as good as I can make it, squeeze every bit of living out of it that I can."

At some point, maybe the "True Testimonial" documentary will see the light of day alongside whatever record the surviving MC3 make. The film was made with Kramer's blessing and cooperation, and his articulate interviews make him its unofficial narrator. "True Testimonial" is an amazing film that gives the MC5's history, warts and all -- a band that, for all its onstage power, couldn't help shooting itself in the foot offstage.

Unfortunately, "True Testimonial" has yet to be officially released. Kramer claims that the filmmakers reneged on an agreement for him to serve as soundtrack producer, and blocked the film's release. Now it's stuck in limbo while an ugly legal battle plays out.

"Believe me, no one is more disappointed than I am that it was stopped," Kramer says. "I worked very hard on that film and was totally committed. I still am, and I still love it. But I have problems with the business ethics of the filmmakers and their attorneys. I have empathy for them -- being amateurs, not knowing what they're doing, making terrible mistakes. But they could've fixed this and decided not to, so I have no sympathy. None of this was necessary, that's the worst part."

Maybe not, but it's entirely of a piece with the MC5's turbulent history. By the time the MC5 split up, their long-standing personal relationships had been crushed by drug problems and bad vibes. Still, Kramer says the survivors getting together to play again after 30-plus years is about as happy an ending as he could imagine. At age 56, he still gets a buzz when he fires up "Kick Out The Jams" after all these years.

"Music is not tied to youth, even though that's the way it's marketed and sold," Kramer says. "That's because youth is an easy sell. Convince them it's hip and they'll buy it. As you get older, you're not as susceptible to that. Look at jazz musicians, they continue to develop as time goes on, and you can't even sing blues until you're 50. That's a contributing factor around DKT and MC5. People are interested in hearing this music again. We see it in their faces, they love these songs. They have great meaning for people, still. It's very humbling."