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Starting out in 1964 as high school kids from Lincoln Park, the working class suburb of Detroit, the band’s line-up consisted of guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred “Sonic” Smith, Rob Tyner on lead vocals, Michael Davis on bass, and Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson on drums. In the pantheon of critically acclaimed bands that never quite made it commercially during their time together (The Stooges, Big Star, The Replacements, etc.), the MC5 were arguably the most groundbreaking. No, the guitarist and co-founder of the legendary Detroit band, the MC5 wanted to attend a pre-school birthday party for his now five year-old son, Francis. But this wasn’t the case of a rock and roll prima donna sleeping off a wild night of debauchery or even a power trip of making the dreaded rock critic wait. The interview had to be pushed back due to a conflict in Wayne’s schedule. Wayne Kramer’s publicist texted me before our scheduled phone call. Fifty years after the recording of the MC5’s first album Kick Out the Jams and the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Wayne Kramer talks about his new memoir, the formation of the MC5, playing at the protest outside the Chicago convention hall, John Sinclair and the White Panther Party, and becoming a dad