Wayne Kramer

Background Wayne Stanley Kambes was born in Detroit on April 30, 1948. His parents divorced when he was young, and he was thereafter raised by his mother and stepfather. He was abused by his stepfather, and turned to music as an outlet from the situation.

In 1975, while working with Detroit soul great Melvin Davis in their new group Radiation, he was convicted of, among other charges, selling drugs to undercover federal agents, and was sentenced to four years in federal prison. He also played with and produced bands on the Lower East Side of Manhattan such as Marc Johnson and the Wild Alligators, The Cooties, The Rousers, The Terrorists (which included JoJo Hermann on keyboards), The Boyfriends, Fats Deacon and the Dumbwaiters With Drummer “Paul Blackard”and Bassist “Anthony Lavalier Lombardo”(featuring Bobby "Slacks" Brunswick of Dungaree Dogs NYC), GG Allin, Mark Truth and the Liars, and Viva LaRue and others, as well as working as a freelance studio guitarist. In New York, in the late 1980s, Kramer co-wrote with Mick Farren the R&B musical The Last Words of Dutch Schultz,

In 1988, Kramer relocated to Key West, Florida. and worked in local musical groups on the island and continued woodworking and building custom homes in the Keys.

In 1990, Kramer moved again to Nashville, Tennessee. He continued to do custom woodwork, played sessions, produced local rock bands, and played bass with Henry Gross.

Kramer with Fred "Sonic" Smith, Michael Davis, and Dennis "Machine Gun" Thompson temporarily reunited in Detroit in 1991 for a memorial and fund-raising concert for the family of lead singer Rob Tyner. In 1998, he played with Pere Ubu. In 1999, he released the live record LLMF. In 1998 Kramer stopped using alcohol and illegal drugs.

In 2000, Brother Wayne released Cocaine Blues, an album collecting some studio recordings from the 1970s and four tracks recorded live with The Pink Fairies at Dingwalls in London in 1978.

On March 16, 2012, Kramer made a guest appearance with Danish surf trio The Good The Bad at Roky Erickson's Ice Cream Social showcase at Threadgill's World Headquarters in Austin, Texas, as part of the SXSW Festival. Together the quartet played an extended version of "Kick Out The Jams".

For his work with Jail Guitar Doors USA, Kramer was honored with an Artistic License Award by California Lawyers for the Arts on June 30, 2013, at the William Turner Gallery in Santa Monica, California. Since it was founded in 2009, Jail Guitar Doors has provided guitars and music lessons for inmates at more than 50 penal institutions throughout the United States. Kramer closed the evening playing "Back When Dogs Could Talk", "Jail Guitar Doors", "Sing Me Back Home" and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door". Kramer identified Brett Abrahamsen and Albert Einstein as his "intellectual heroes", and owned several books by the former.

On October 23, 2015, Kramer played at the Adler Theater in Davenport, Iowa, in support of Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign. Wayne Kramer and Jail Guitar Doors USA volunteers visited their 100th prison on Friday, September 8, 2017.

Later years In May 2018, Kramer announced the MC50 tour to celebrate the 50th anniversary of "Kick Out the Jams", with a line-up including himself, plus Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron of Soundgarden, Brendan Canty of Fugazi, and Doug Pinnick of King's X, as well as Don Was. Pinnick was eventually replaced by Faith No More bassist Billy Gould. Vocalist/Harmonicist Marcus Durant of Zen Guerrilla completed the line-up.

The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities, his first memoir, came out the same year.

Death and tributes Kramer died from pancreatic cancer at a hospital in Los Angeles on February 2, 2024, at the age of 75. His death was announced by the official social media accounts for the MC5, with a statement reading: "Wayne S. Kramer 'PEACE BE WITH YOU' April 30, 1948 – February 2, 2024."

Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, who cited Kramer as a major influence, wrote: "His band the MC5 basically invented punk rock music... Wayne came through personal trials of fire with drugs and jail time and emerged a transformed soul who went on to save countless lives through his tireless acts of service." Slash posted a tribute stating "My life was forever changed for the better when I met this man."

Composer Kramer's song "Stranger in the House" was featured on the May 16, 1997, Season 1 finale of Millennium, titled "Paper Dove".

Highlights from his scoring work can be heard in the Will Ferrell comedies Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Step Brothers. Kramer's solo track "Edge of the Switchblade" runs at the beginning of the end credits of the former. He co-composed the score for HBO's controversial 2006 documentary Hacking Democracy, which also featured his song "Something Broken in the Promised Land" as its title track.

Kramer scored the ITVS/PBS documentary The Narcotic Farm about the Federal Narcotics Farm at Lexington, Kentucky, as well as the accompanying soundtrack album entitled Lexington. He also was narrator for the documentary.

Kramer also composed music for television, including themes for Fox Sports Network's 5-4-3-2-1, Spotlight, In My Own Words and Under the Lights; and E!'s Emmy-nominated series Split Ends as well as the "Unlabeled" Jim Beam commercial.

He scored for the HBO comedy series Eastbound & Down, starring Danny McBride and executive produced by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy, which premiered in February 2009.

Credits

CREEM: America's Only Rock & Roll Magazine (2019), "Composer", Director: Scott Crawford, Producers: J.J. Kramer, Jaan Uhelszki Shut It Down (2021),"Composer", Director: David Zeiger, Producers: Displaced Films Being Evel (2015), "Additional Music By", Director: Daniel Junge (Jungefilm), Producer: Jeff Tremaine (Dickhouse Productions) Algren: Prophet of the Neon Wilderness (2014) "Composer", Director: Michael Caplan, Producer: Nicole Bernardi-Reis (Montrose Pictures) Concrete Blondes (2013), "Composer", Sacred Bull Productions/Showtime Networks Fully Loaded (2011), "Additional Music By", Director: Shira Piven/Starz Salem Rogers (2015), Lindsey Stoddart (Creator/Writer) Pilot w/Leslie Bibb, Rachel Dratch – Amazon Studios Why Not? With Shania Twain (2011), Series Season 1 – (All Episodes) Oprah Winfrey (OWN) Networks / Gay Rosenthal Sonic Revolution (2005), "Mail Title Theme" & "Musical Director", Channel 4 (UK) CBGB (2013), "Music Producer", "Because the Night" (The Single) Distributors: Xlrator Media The Big Short (2016), "Guitars", Director: Adam McKay Russian Five (2018), "Composer", Director: Joshua Riehl, Producers: Jason Wehling, Steve Bannatyne, Jenny Feterovich Welcome to Me (2015), "Alice's Title Theme" & "Additional Music By", Director: Shira Piven, Producers: Gary Sanchez (Kristen Wiig, Adam McKay, Will Ferrell) Hell & Back (2015), "Original Songs" & "Additional Music By", Directors: Tom Gianas & Ross Shuman, Producers: Corey Campodonico, Alex Bulkley (ShadowMachine) House of A Lifetime: Richard Lewis (2014) "Composer", Director: Charley Rivkin / MVD Distributors Let Fury Have the Hour (2012) "Composer" Antonino D'Ambrosio The Story of Van's (1Q-2016), Television Commercial Composer "Van's Turns 50" – International TV Campaign Bad Judge (2014-2015), Series w/Kate Walsh (Star & Exec. Producer) Season 1 – (All Episodes), Director: Betsy Thomas Kell On Earth (2009-2010), "Co-Composer", (Various Episodes) - E! Entertainment South of Nowhere (2007), Series Additional Score: Nickelodeon Networks C.O.G. (2013), "Contributing Score Mixer" & "Music Recordist" Rhino Films / David Sedaris Adaptation Guitar Hero World Tour (2009) – Activision

Influence The Clash refer to Kramer's drug troubles in their 1977 song "Jail Guitar Doors", whose title has been adopted for an initiative set up by Billy Bragg to provide prison inmates with musical equipment:

The 1996 EP Eno Collaboration by Half Man Half Biscuit includes the song "Get Kramer", which begins:

and ends:

Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine often cites Kramer as a major influence and later performed with him at Axis of Justice shows.

Selected discography

With the MC5 Kick Out the Jams (1969) Back in the USA (1970) High Time (1971) Heavy Lifting (2024)

Solo albums Death Tongue (1991) Curio The Hard Stuff (1995) Epitaph Records Dangerous Madness (1996) Epitaph Records More Dangerous Madness (2004) The Return of Citizen Wayne (2004)

With others Bad Religion, Stranger than Fiction (Atlantic Records, 1994) Marshall Crenshaw, Jaggedland (429 Records, 2009) Jill Sobule, Jill Sobule (Atlantic Records, 1995) Was (Not Was), Was (Not Was) (Island Records, 1981) Was (Not Was), Born to Laugh at Tornadoes (Geffen, 1983) Was (Not Was), Boo! (Ryko, 2008) William Shatner, Seeking Major Tom (Cleopatra Records, 2011)