DKT/MC5 June 22, 2004

The MC5 were indisputably one of the most influential rock bands of all time, though only three years elapsed between the MC5?s ridiculously controversial debut Kick Out The Jams and their demise in 1972. In the beginning, there was an explosion of sound and f! ury that rocked Detroit. Now, over thirty years later, surviving founding members Wayne Kramer (guitar), Dennis Thompson (drums) and Michael Davis (bass) came together in March 2003 for a show at London?s famed 100 Club. Joining them were guests including Motorhead?s Lemmy, The Damned?s Dave Vanian, Ian Astbury and The Hellacopters? Nicke Royale. That now legendary concert?along with never-before-seen footage including John Sinclair?s promotional video Kick Out The Jams, interviews, archival footage and commentary by the band?is captured on a forthcoming DVD Sonic Revolution: A Celebration of the MC5, set for release July 6. The DVD even includes U.S. Dept. of Defense footage of the MC5, taken from the government?s investigation of the notorious rock group during 1968?s Democratic National Convention.

Revered by generations of rockers, from Rage Against the Machine to the Hives to the White Stripes, and credited as forefathers! of everything from punk to metal to grunge, Davis, Kramer, and Thompson and their musical legacy are more popular today than they were in their heyday, when they were the bad boys of rock and roll who ?kicked out the jams.? Roiling from working-class Motor City in the late ?60s, they raged against the ?human being lawnmower? of a society that?then as now?ground up young people in the pursuit of power. Louder, tougher, and wilder than any of their contemporaries, they fought that power with an uncompromising wall of ?total energy??lacerating guitars, propulsive drive, howled vocals? thoroughly ungentrified by the niceties of commercial pop. Seamlessly welding hard rock, soul music, rhythm and blues, and avant-garde jazz, they put their fans through a cathartic ringer, rescuing them from bourgeois lives and leaving them feral and empowered and on another plane entirely.

?We never resorted to gimmickry,? says Davis. ?It was all about playing hard and having a groove and! a unity of sound. How could I possibly have foreseen thirty-five years ago that this little thing that came and went in a matter of a few years would still be alive and more prominent than ever? It seems to be growing. I?m just in it!? ?The MC5 was hard-chargin? and all out,? sums up Kramer. ?There were no reservations. That?s a rare thing in today?s world. Everything is auto-tuned and locked-in nowadays. The MC5 was visceral?all sweat and muscle and the whole concept of high energy. It?s a real thing. It?s not just a theory. It?s a way of life and a way to play music. It?s wonderful to share it.?