Live Performance of L.A.M.F. Featuring Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers’ Walter Lure, The Replacements’ Tommy Stinson, Wayne Kramer and More Announced for December 2017 Release

Any fan of first-wave punk would immediately perk their ears at the mention of L.A.M.F., the sole album by the beloved Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, and arguably one of the best records of the whole movement, right alongside the Ramones’ debut LP or Nevermind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols!.

Well those same fans had more than perked their ears last year at the news that a whole L.A.M.F. tribute show had been announced. The two night event at New York’s Bowery Electric, featuring sole surviving Heartbreaker Walter Lure, joined by other punk legends including Blondie’s Clem Burke, The Replacements’ Tommy Stinson and MC5’s Wayne Kramer, was captured for posterity.

And almost a full year later, the event will be released on DVD, CD, and vinyl December 8th for fans to gobble up. Additional guests at the event, joining them on stage, included Jesse Malin of D-Generate, Liza Colby, and the Dead Boys’ Cheetah Chrome. The DVD will feature bonus material of interviews with all four band-members along with Jesse Malin.

This live DVD, colored vinyl LP and CD follows on from the remastered 40th anniversary edition of L.A.M.F. and the reissue of an extended Definitive Edition 4CD box set (and triple-vinyl) of the albums many mixes and demos. See recent feature in MOJO.

The release also coincides with Walter Lure taking his L.A.M.F. show on out the road again this year – this time with the Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock on bass, Social Distortion’s Mike Ness on guitar & vocals, and again Blondie’s Clem Burke on drums. They announced that they will be playing six dates starting at the end of November 2017 covering US east and west coasts, with shows in Los Angeles, San Diego, Brooklyn and, of course, New York.

For the uninitiated, L.A.M.F. is the album recorded by Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers in punk-era London, after they accompanied the Sex Pistols, Damned & Clash on the aborted ‘Anarchy Tour’. Being ex-members of the New York Dolls they were lauded by the young punks, and went on to record the high-octane rock’n’roll album, in retrospect labelled as a classic.