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DKT/MC5
Mark Armed

The DKT stands for Davis/Kramer/Thompson, as in drummer Mike Davis, guitarist Wayne Kramer, and bassist Dennis Thompson, the three living members of the legendary Detroit band who recently reunited for a tour that hit the stage downstairs at the Middle East last Thursday. "MC5," according to Kramer’s opening spiel in the recent rockumentary MC5: A True Testimonial (Private Music/BMG), was not, as most assume, conceived as an acronym for Motor City Five. "[Singer] Rob Tyner came up with it," Kramer recounts as he tools around Detroit in his vintage GTO at the start of the DVD. "He said it sounded like a serial number like on a part — like, ‘Give me two of those shock absorbers, a four-barrel carburetor, and give me one of those MC5s, too.’ It sounded like it fit because we were from Detroit, you know, a manufacturing center, and MC could certainly stand for Motor City, and a lot of other things, like ‘morally corrupt,’ and ‘marijuana cigarette,’ and ‘much cock,’ and ‘marijuana cuntlappers,’ and you can go on and on with that . . . "

That’s not the only misconception about the band: thanks to original manager/spokesperson John Sinclair, a rabble rouser who invented the notion of the White Panther Party, radical politics have become as much a part of the MC5 legend as the young Tyner’s unruly Afro. If Iggy Pop’s Stooges drew up the nihilistic blueprint for Johnny’s rotten Sex Pistols, then the MC5 laid the anti-establishment foundation for Joe Strummer’s Clash city rock, the proto-punk story goes. But a quick flip through the MC5 songbook yields precious little politics as opposed to more-standard late-’60s/early-’70s rock-and-roll topics like sex, drugs, and, well, rock and roll. Without its "motherfucker" intro, there really isn’t anything terribly controversial about "Kick Out the Jams," the explosive anthem that adorns the band’s 1969 live debut of the same name. Yeah, it’s a call to arms — a call to rock-and-roll arms.

With Tyner & Kramer’s original guitar foil, Fred "Sonic" Smith, no longer around to bask in the glory of a gritty club tour, the three remaining Fivers drafted a fellow Detroit city-rocker to bolster the MC5’s crucial two-guitar attack. Motor City madman Ted Nugent was probably out of their price range, but, as odd as Marshall Crenshaw might have looked at first glance in his porkpie hat, professorial glasses, and Buddy Holly button-down (it appears that if you want Crenshaw, you get the whole Crenshaw package, hat, glasses, and all), the more mild-mannered Motor City native proved a fine fit. Along with being a versatile guitarist, he has experience playing the part of other rockers: before going solo in the ’80s, he was John Lennon in the original touring cast of Beatlemania.

Of course, if you’re gonna do the MC5 right, you need a singer with some soul. And even if his main man has always been Iggy, it wasn’t too much of a stretch for Mudhoney’s Mark Arm to take on the Tyner role, particularly when a little roaring was called for on "Call Me Animal" and "Over and Over." After all, the MC5 parked a lot of their rock in the same greasy garage as did the early Stooges, and Arm has never been afraid to get his hands dirty. The real wild card was Evan Dando. Yeah, your favorite Lemonhead was along for the ride too. And though he was still on a train on his way up from NYC as openers Cobra Verde finished their set, he arrived just in rock-star time to grab the microphone from Arm for some of the 5’s sweeter songs — "Shakin’ Street," "Teenage Lust," and "High School." Dando didn’t add much, but he didn’t detract from the tunes either. And his low-key delivery made it that much more exciting whenever the amped-up Arm took over again.

From the opening Salvo of "Tonight" and "Ramblin’ Rose," which Kramer, Crenshaw, and Thompson handled without Arm’s help, through the set-closing cover of Sun Ra’s free-jamming "Starship" (an old MC5 staple), the DKT model of MC5 held their own, with Kramer shredding through one bluesy solo after another and Davis driving his Ginger Bakered drums around even the trickiest corners of the band’s busiest-rhythmed tunes. The highlight — no surprises here — was the song everyone came to hear: a mid-set rendition of "Kick Out the Jams." But DKTCA&D had one more trick up their collective sleeve, as the MC6 expanded to include a surprise seventh: home-town hero Peter Wolf. At first, it seemed he’d left the lyrics at home. Or maybe he was just deferring to a well-armed Mark and a dancing Dando. But when the third verse rolled around, Wolf grabbed the mike with the confidence of the consummate professional that he is and offered his two singing peers a succinct if subtle study in classic rock-and-roll showmanship.

BY MATT ASHARE

Issue Date: June 25 - July 1, 2004
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