It was 1980 and Johnny Thunders had joined forces with his hero; Wayne Kramer from MC5 in a little venture dubbed Gang War. An ultimate rock’n’roll dream team that eventually became a nightmare; Johnny’s move to the motor city was too much for his wife who took their kids and did the off. This fact probably explains Johnny’s rather dim view of women reflected in songs such as Just Another Girl and Who Needs Girls? , but enough amateur psychology. Thunders and Kramer’s reputations preceded them and the sheer danger with them working together scared the crap out of any would be record companies, which is a shame as the only recordings released by Gang War are in the form of a couple of live albums and various bootlegs of demos released after the bands short lived ‘career’ had ended. The 5 tracks here! Are taken from a recently found old tape of mine, they were originally recorded from a scratchy vinyl copy of one of the aforementioned albums. Great stuff, this is the real deal; two legends strutting their fuckin’ stuff on stage in Johnny’s home turf, Max’s Kansas City. If you wanna rumble, get some Gang War here!
bitchin'
ReplyDeletethanks for this!
Nice one Nuzz.
ReplyDeleteKeep the faith.
pipeline
Thanks!
ReplyDeletenice stuff. thanx
ReplyDeleteNo problem, I aim to please and please to aim!
ReplyDeleteSome really good Gang War shows have been posted on Dime a Dozen, most sound better then the stuff that was released.
ReplyDeleteI saw Gangwar in 1980 at the Oxford Ale House in New Haven CT. The band was really late, they finally drove up in what I recall was gold Cadillac. Johnny was a mess, truth be told, the show was not great, but I did get to see two of my heros at the same time.
Any chance of a reup of your 26jun07 Dolls?
ReplyDeleteThank you Mr Wolf.
And by the way, of course this is an exemplary oasis to frequent, made ever more so by the luxurious undercoating of Thunders-related goods on offer. Kudos y Viva! to you, sir, and your sources! ~stu
great recording even with the scratches
ReplyDeletegreetings
Captain Kurtz
http://profile.myspace.com/kurtzmuzik
MAN! Thanks once again, and eternally, for the Thunders!
ReplyDeleteSaw them in 80 or 81, but I thought it was called Air War or Air Raid or something like that, at that point. Have some old NY broadcast tape of Thunders around that period doing an on-air session that wraps with him using the n-word pointlessly over and over in a song, and that ended that. What stupidity on his part. By the way, both Wayne and Johnny look about ready to pass out in that photo.
ReplyDeleteOh, the gig I saw was at the original Clutch Cargo's in Detroit...
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Nuzz...J.T & Brother Wayne rules hard.
ReplyDeleteCheers Orvar66.
Chatterbox forum.