BACK FROM THE USA

Thanks to the current vogue for garage rock’n’roll emanating from all corners of the globe – Detroit (The White Stripes, the Dirtbombs), New York (The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Sweden (The Hives, The Hellacopters), Australia (The Vines, Jet) – the original progenitors’ sound and attitude has been receiving its fair due from a new generation. Iggy Pop has put his solo career on hold to successfully resurrect the original Stooges, while David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain and, for the briefest moment, Arthur ‘Killer’ Kane, became New York Dolls again at superfan (and Meltdown Festival curator) Morrissey’s behest. Perhaps most unexpected of all, MC5 – now reduced to three original members: guitarist Wayne Kramer, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis ‘Machine Gun’ Thompson – recently reactivated their insurrectionary sturm und drang 35 years on for a world tour. In a political climate that echoes the unrest and distrust of late-60s America, interest in ‘the Five’ couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. Based in Los Angeles and with his wayward past behind him, Kramer had been pursuing a varied solo career, providing music for films and television, as well as running his own record label. Davis played with his “desert rock band” The Luminarios and had recently …

by Andy Neil
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