Yeah, it started here in Detroit—it might end here as well.— Anon.

Since we've devoted considerable space to the new wave doings of other cities, we've gotten mail (at least five letters) demanding that we honor our roots and produce a Detroit Guide. It's not that easy. Six months ago there was no new wave scene in Detroit, which was rather embarrassing as we did produce most of the punk pantheon of gods—from the obvious; Iggy and the MC-5, to gonebut-not-forgotten-in-our-hearts; Question Mark & The Mysterians, the Rationals, the Amboy Dukes.

But it was inevitable that when it happened here, it would happen big. Mitch Ryder started gigging—quite apart from the new wave, of course— the various MC-5, and Stooges splinter groups seemed invested with a new competitive energy, and brand new bands came out of nowhere to play bingo halls and disco bars. Tenyear-old bar bands have suddenly evolved into punks, with sometimes comical results. (Can you write a punk song about mortgage payments or revolving charge cards?)

One thing the "scene" lacks is more than a handful of suitable venues; Detroit has few rock 'n' roll clubs to speak ol anyway, and many Owners/ promoters are afraid of punk audiences tearing up their beer-stained flooring or worse. Most of the core rock 'n' roll bars—The Red Carpet, the old Viking Lounge, the 24 Karat—now often feature new wave bands, drawing area new wave socialites in packs. The formerly gay Gagen's is now punk.

The saddest part of the story is RADIO. Detroiters once lorded it over New Yorkers and Chicagoans when it came to progressive FM radio, and even though the glory days of WABX and the Air. Aces are long gone, as late as six months ago innovative disc spinners like Jim Sotet could still be heard on the "X". Now it is a smug copy of the Top Forty format of the two other radio giants, WWWW and WRIF, with7 cloyingly hip jocks mumbling in between the mellow "Adult Rock" of the Macs, (Fleetwood and Paul) Eagles, America, Bee Gees, etc.,*with a few Stones cuts thrown in to show how hard-core they can still get ..after all, this is Detroit...

Bollocks. When I staged a onewoman campaign to hear some Elvis, Costello/Sex Pistols/Clash/ANYTHING DIFFERENT on the radio a few months ago, the routine was infuriatingly familiar—I'd call the request line and ask if they had the record in question at the station, the jock answering the phone would say yes, then he would either lie and say he'd play it, or admit that he couldn't on orders from the station manager. "Write him a letter" was the most encouragement they'd had to offer, in that case. When I was interviewed on the "hip" FM ABC affiliate WRIF, the woman newscaster scoffed when I brought up new wave music: "Do you really listen to that stuff?" Shit, when I could be humming along with the Wilson sisters? Some people have no taste.

On with the Detroit Guide. S.W. Please folks, let's put to rest all of the rumors surrounding poorold Billy Lee—France's Rock and Folk reported that he was functioning as a disc jockey in a gay disco, the latest issue of an Indiana fanzine (close enough to know better) claimed that he was laid off from his Detroit factory job—in reality Mitch worked on a punch press in Denver for about six months, but has been back in Detroit for about a year and a half now. He is currently gigging throughout Canada and putting in time at a recording studio.

THE OLD WAVE IS COMING BACK FOR YOUR CHILDREN

Mitch Ryder

We met in the pitch black bar ("I know the bartender" sez Billy/Mitch) of the Hyatt for an empassioned, drunken discussion of the whole concept of Detroit rock.

' "I don't want to be associated with a bunch of other bands," Mitch protested. "I don't want to be in this article. I'll even buy the drinks! It's not that I don't want to be associated with Detroit—I love it, it's my home. But I'm not a punk rocker." When we explained that the new wave was just part of the whole Detroit story, he relented a bit. But—

"Music has to go further than regional boundaries. I want my music to be known as music, not just Petroit music. Do you really think there's a Detroit sound?"

Maybe not. But why was he so leery about playing Detroit?

"There's nothing I'd.love more than to play Detroit...I just want to be ready for it. I want to give Detroit the best."

We caught two of his recent shows—one staged for a .group of newspaper contest winners and "select" Detroit media (we weren't select—Mitch snuck us in) in suburban sleazy Pontiac, and the opening night of his week-long run at Toronto's El Mocambo in February. The voice was the same wondrous thing that got us through a long adolescence.

The crowd of Detroiters were sporadically crazed, but the Canadians sat dumbly nursing their Molsons, save for a few loonies who danced to "Devil With A Blue Dress" and "Jenny Take A Ride". It has to be frustrating, trying out a band on a nation of mute hockey puck-tortured zombies.

Mitch's voice begged for some hot, dirty R & B to back it up instead of the insidiously competent r 'n' r the band puts out. He charts musical places the band can't possibly kngw of, much less follow him to. It's the difference between good and great. The singer knows...Even if he only remembers the first verse to "Little Latin Lupe Lu."

The Rockets

Although they have an album out, Love Transfusion, on Tortoise Records (distributed by RCA), produced by ex-Motown wiz Don Davis; musically, The Rockets have never left the 60's.

Their credentials are impressive. After leaving the Detroit Wheels, guitarist Jim McCarty went on to work with Buddy Miles, Bob Seger and Carmine Appice, while drummer Johnny "Bee" Badanjek did short gigs with Dr. John, 'Alice Cooper and Edgar Winter. Pave Gilbert's put in time with Ted Nugent, Ron Ashelon and MC-5er Dennis Thompson. John Fraga worked with Little Feat and did back-up chores for The Supremes. Dennis Robinson played around with a number of Motown groups.

The Rockets' intentions are good, but that nasty R&B taint that sets Detroit rock apart from that of other regions is subdued in favor, of straightahead rock 'n' roll.

Dave Gilbert's vocals seem to strain to keep up with the driving intensity of the band, but Jimmy McCarty still impresses with his slide guitar magic, and Johnny "Bee" Badanjek is masterful, as always.

It's a shame to see such a near miss. The ingredients are all there—The Rockets just have to decide what it is they want to cook. In the meantime, they're still one of the finest groups of musicians this area has produced.

MC-5

Rob Tyner and Wayne Kramer have both used the name "MC-5" for different solo bands; Rob is currently gigging under the grand old name with two guitars, a bass and drums backing him up. When we first saw this band last spring, the rush hearing "Kick Out The Jams" sung by the voice was real, although we were bitterly disappointed that Rob passed over the infamous "mother tuckers" for the less natural "brothers and sisters." More "adult rock" for the 70's?

Rob has run into much criticism for some facts he can't really do much about: he is married, has children, and the years have not erased his slight girth. Did that stop Meatloaf? Another, more valid gripe is that the tag MC-5 is deceptive packaging, as many expect to see all the old boys wheeled out, or at least more than one of them. Fred "Sonic" Smith and Dennis Thompson have both grumbled publicly about this (See Sonic's Rendezvous), and it seems true that anybody expecting the old MC-5 might feel cheated when they discover it's not.

What remains, though, is that Rob has a considerable writing skill (as a rock scribe, too...), a fine voice, and an energetic young band—he really should make something of it. Will he?

Wayne Kramer

The first time we saw Wayne Kramer after his release from prison, he looked understandably bewildered. It was backstage at a Geils show in Detroit and he couldn't comprehend why everyone was so interested in talking to him. Over two years had passed since he was sent down on charges of cocaine possession. A lot had changed on the music scene. Would he still fit in? Should he even try again?

We are pleased to announce that yes, Wayne took the plunge and yes, he still has what it takes. But his jazz/ rock fusion is worlds away from punk.

While the great Midwest blizzard of '78 left us stranded in our dingy Birmingham offices, the lucky few who dog-sledded their way to an East Side bar called the Red Grape Lounge to witness Wayne's formal comeback haven't forgotten it. His newer material has that old edge, which he uses to whip the crowd into a frenzy. He finished them off with—what else?— "Ramblin' Rose," and walked off the stage looking as cool as the only undertaker in a geriatric work farm. If you're ever in Detroit, don't miss him. Coleman Young should put him on retainer.

Sonic's Rendezvous Band

Former MC-5 guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith has been fronting this band for several years—two exactly, with the current lineup of Scott Morgan (exRationals) on vocals, Scott Asheton (ex-Stooges) on drums, and Gary Rassmussen (from the UP) on bass. Sonic has a catatonic stage presence we find strangely magnetic; it goes well with his psycho killer guitar style. He is still bitter about Rob Tyner calling his band the MC-5, protesting that he has as much right as anybody to use the name. But: "I'm much more concerned with moving Detroit rock into its next phase," he said recently. If the future of rock is screaming psychedelic guitar, solid basslines and bluesy vocals (what, again?), Sonic has it made.

A new angle was added at presstime when Iggy Pop (who?) sent signals out that he wanted to form a band (having freshly fired his) with the Rendezvous and James Williamson and Scott Thurston, for a 24-date European tour. Rates a tad higher on the excitement scale, so stay tuned for this Motor City Revue...

BEST OF THE NEW MODELS

The Romantics

Time for serious pronouncements. The Romantics are, as of this moment, Detroit's premier new wave band. Their single "Little White Lies b/w I Can't Tell You Anything" on Spider Records, is available nationally through JEM Records, P.O. Box 362, South Plainfield, N.J. 07080. Get Your Hands On This Record!

We first saw them last spring when they opened the show at a local club for Mink DeVille. Dressed in identical nouvelle vague zoot suits, they blasted onto the stage with the cleanest Merseyside beat music fo come out of Detroit's East Side, or anywhere else. Talk around town for the last six months has been that the Romantics are Detroit's Beatles, but a comparison to the Dave Clark Five ("Can't You See That She's Mine") is more apt. The Romantics characterize themselves as "an American new wave band with British roots."

As for their personal lives, who knows? The most political Romantics show we saw was in January, at a little Hamtramck bar called Happy Sam's, when the cops raided the place (no entertainment license and too loud anyway) and literally had to pull out the plug and take the sticks away from drummer Jimmy Marinos.

The Romantics will probably be the first of Detroit's new wave bands to be signed away to the record companies—oh my anda boohoo. Catch 'em if you can.

Destroy All Monsters

This group (named after a Jap movie) might have been lumped with the "Old Wave" survivors due to the presence of ex-Stooges guitarist Ron "Rock Action" Asheton and ex-MC-5 bassist Michael Davis, but the band was founded in 1973 by rhythm guitarist Cary Loren and chanteuse/idol of dozens Niagara (real name Lynn Rovner, Berkley High '72), as a kind of multi-media experiment involving music, art, filmmaking and other neat things. Asheton and Davis are recent additions to the group, and have beefed up the musical content considerably. Ron does, however, inspire screams of "IGGY!" during Niagara's uh—performance, which irritates her to no end. "Iggy's Dead!" she yelled back in the middle of one song. "He died and went to heaven—Saint Iggy!" We threw bottles at her but missed.

Niagara has described her own voice as "pretty dead"—even more o( a monotone than Nancy Sinatra's (they do a cover of "These Boots Were Made For Walking")—and we really couldn't add much to that. She exists on "small cakes and Tab" to keep her fashionable death mask and her provocatively emaciated shape (scantily clad in Wonder Woman halter tops and little else).

Destroy All Monsters, has a single out, as every new wave band should: "You're Gonna Die", b/w"Bored", on IDBI Records, available if you write to A-Square Studios, 3691 Morgan Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48104. "Bored" sent CREEM's record review editor into aural orgasms (not to mention the layout dept.—see the art connection?!?), and we can't think of a better recommendation.

The Seat Belts

When we first saw this band, lead singer Greg Upshire looked like Bryan Ferry dressed like Ed "Rookie" Byrnes on a rare night out, backed by a bass player who could have been Baby Huey on speed and/or a refugee from a Ted Nugent work farm, a lead guitarist lifted straight out of HaightAshbury, and a drummer who'd recently escaped from the Tubes. (Since then Baby Huey was replaced by albino/psycho Skid Marx.) In real life, Greg claims John Cale, Bowie and Frank Sinatra as his main influences, warms up with Handel's Messiah, and could be safely brought home to Mom. (She'd know what to do with him.)

Greg has a pleasing monotone that evokes Jim Morrison at times, and the band has an excellent repertoire of original songs, including our fave "I Trusted You!" in which Greg screams the title (with spoken embellishments) 34 times while the band humps away in the background.

Greg is a stylish crooner, he and guitarist Lee Turner write nifty street poetry, and you can't see them (yet!).

Stay Tuned For Detroit Hot Wax Next Month!

You read about the bands this month —next month well tell you how you can hear a lot of them via a discography of available music you can either get in your local Peaches or write away for. It'll all be in your July CREEM.

Flirt

No one could've adequately prepared us for a mid-winter encounter with Flirt.

Lead singer Rocky Remarx sings from the heart—or rather, the gut. And what a gut! It seems Rocky is incredibly pregnant. The panting punks nearest the stage pressed ever closer, hanging onto every sigh, scream and venomous epithet. Either they were enchanted with her amazing fusion of Joplin andjggy, or hoping to be on hand for the emergence of the second wave (see May Eleganza).

Fellow members Skid Marx (Rocky's hubby, on bass), Gaetano (guitar), Thomas St. Thomas (guitar), and drummer Steve Sortor (who also beats the skins for The Mutants) are proud of their Detroit roots and give the musical nod to the Stooges and MC-5. Originals include "DMA," "Don't Push Me"and "Degenerator"; the latter two will appear on their single, from Razor Records (P.O. Box 19149, Detroit MI 48219).

The Pigs

The Pigs are as pathetic as a dirty carburetor, as musical as an exhaust backfite and as exciting as a dead battery. The sweethearts of the scumbag set!

Lead singer/acoustic guitarist Michael Rushlow was looking rather pained the night we met. Drummer Alan Faye explained, "He gets upset when he doesn't have his donuts."

"Yeah," whined Mike, "I haven't had any in about a week."

The Pigs' stage presence touches the very fiber of human existence. Frustration! Adolescent anger! Gongential confusion! Yeah, you know— PUBERTY!!! The girl who won't go to the dance with you because you're fighting a cold with garlic cloves and Vick's Sine-Aid; the boys who laugh in the locker room because your mother sews name tags on you jockeys.

And the songs! "You're Nuts," "Stay Away From Janet" and "I Wanna Be Rich"!

Mike and Al hail from the same neighborhood and have worked together for years. Bassist Steve King played disco with an 8-piece band before joining the Pigs. ("The first night I met Mike and Al, Mike knocked me down and shoved donuts down my throat," Steve revealed. Donuts again? "Yeah, donuts cure disco.")

Whether they make it in the biz is anybody's guess. The Pigs, The Traitors and The Niggers are currently being booked as "The Motor City Revue," according to manager Jack Tann's master plan. If you're looking for socio-political commentary, you'd best look elsewhere. But for a night of pure fun, make a date with The Pigs. After 20 brews you may even find them strangely melodic. (They beg to be insulted! This is a rave review!)

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 36

The Niggers

We offer now for inspection the first, and as far as we know, only black punk band. Where else but Detroit?

You heard it right, Jack. Although their music is some of the best "new wave" we heard, their biggest asset, no matter how you look at it, is their name. It's offensive, and The Niggers wouldn't have it any other way. "Should we have called ourselves The Honkies?" snarled lead guitarist J.C. Richards. Well, no, of course not but —(bandsofrovingblackyouthsterrorizeofficesofrockpublicationrapingandpillagingwithnoapparentconcernforlifeorproperty...Oh, Mom, you were right).

The Niggers' basic three-chord onslaught is heavily laced with a cacophony ot shrieks, moans, and what sounds like tribal war cries. Although Hendrix is their main squeeze,'he'd learn to pogo with the best of them after hearing "Crazy White Bitch," "Dirty Dogs," their anthem "Niggers," and "Sherry Baby." "We hope we've started something for other black groups to get into," Reno said. "I'm tired of disco. The few friends I talk to are into my music."

We asked what it was like working with the other bands in The Motor City Revue. "We can keep 'em in line," crooned T.J. Manager Jack Tann, fidgeting nervously, said: "I don't know if you'd call their music punk or not. But it is straight ahead rock 'n' roll..." He trailed off when he realized The Niggers were glaring at him. Toby reached into his pocket..'a gun? A switchblade? Ohmigod, its...a comb.

"Don't let your mother know you talked to us," said Reno in parting. She wouldn't believe it anyway.

ROCK RETREADS

The Mutants

I've suffered for my music. Now it's your turn.

—Tom Morwatts, Mutants guitarist.

Good bands never die, and that holds for bands like the Mutants as well.

Just when.you think they've had it they spin themselves around, mumble rude things, and zap—instant fame and fortune as the Latest Thing Down the Pike. But hey—this time it works, because the Mutants have always been twisted. John Amore, infamous sometime-Mutants-vocalist," has the stage presence of a balding accountant, but when he opens his mouth on a number like "Coffee With My Fellow Employees"—mondo sleazo trasho.

Space doesn't permit a full rundown on the Mutants' respective mental case histories, so a few quotes will have to suffice: "Modern art is my true medium of expression. If you chew some gum, roll it up into a little ball and stick it on your head, you'll understand."—Steve Sortor, drums. "I'll shit in my pants it you promise to write about it."—Art Lysak, vocals.

The Mutants—not just another band from Hamtramck.

Sirius Trixon &

The Motor City Bad Boys

Sirius, besides being one of the more venerable of the group leaders on the Detroit scene, may also be the only Puerto Rican in history from Detroit. Although he has recently relocated in New York City for obvious career reasons (his wedding to Marshi Mellow onstage at Max's;—a pink and black wedding—was the punk event or nonevent of the season), we remember him well. And if we didn't, Sirius comes back all the time to remind us.

Back in the good old days the Mutants would challenge Sirius to a Battle of the Bands...loser would have to grant Iggy three wishes (Sirius practiced body slides on glass for weeks).

Now Sirius's aim is to bring Detroit to the people, via a 1957 pink Cadillac, a band member, Jim Jam, who plays "mirror shades, black leather jacket and cigarettes", a set decorated with scattered garbage cans and bricks, and (what else?) a medley of Mitch Ryder hits. The band also features the drumming of Dennis Thompson, ex of the MC-5. The Bad Boys' music is dominated by Trixon's manic vocal style and personality. We don't understand this band, but then neither does Sirius.

The Traitors

The Traitors recently gained needed points by scratching 16-year-old bassist Steve (Don't I look like Johnny Rotten) McGuire, but the band's image is still muddled. Offstage, former trumpet player (he now handles bass and vocals) Don Fagenson cannot stop himself from such amenities as lighting ladies' cigarettes, which makes you wonder at his insane scowling in the group's promo shots. The band, the band's manager, and Don particularly are adamant about their band going beyond punk or new wave (and lasting for a few more years), but right now, of all the bands in Detroit, they're probably the most straight-ahead punk band in the Motor City. Whether they like it or not.