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This week I’m speaking with Wayne Kramer. When it comes to lives, Wayne has lived several. As the founder of seminal rock band MC5, he began his musical career at just 16 years old. By 1967, the MC5 were serving as the house band at the Grande Ballroom and Wayne was working full time. As racial tensions reached a fever pitch around the the country and in his hometown of Detroit, he crossed paths with poet and activist John Sinclair who shared his revolutionary fervor and would become a mentor throughout his life.
Shortly after the MC5 imploded, Wayne found himself in federal prison, which he documents at length in his book, The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities. After serving 2 1/2 years of a 4 year sentence, Wayne headed to New York City where he remained for a decade, playing music, continuing to use drugs, and living what he describes as the same year, ten times.
In the mid nineties, Wayne began a new life in Los Angeles, where he signed a recording contract and began touring only to see his efforts come crashing down as a result of what he calls, ‘an inside job’. Tired of carrying on the facade of sobriety, Wayne turned to Bob Timmons to help him take the steps toward a better life. Now 24 years sober, Wayne discusses how talent isn’t enough, why he thinks NWA picked up where MC5 left off, and his work with the C.A.P.O. Center and the non-profit Jail Guitar Doors, named after The Clash song he helped inspire.
Please enjoy Wayne Kramer on The Days Between..
