James Williamson

The band were by then struggling with drug problems and a lack of commercial success, and despite the injection of Williamson's considerable talent and enthusiasm, the Stooges couldn't overcome their difficulties, Williamson stating that "I got hepatitis and moved back to Detroit and basically the band completely dissolved". Many of the demo recordings made during this period were belatedly issued as vinyl singles or EPs, including the proto-punk tracks "I Got A Right" and "Gimme Some Skin". Read Less

They performed a number of early Stooges songs, and also some material from the Kill City album. In June 2010, a CD + DVD combo was released of this event called James Williamson with Careless Hearts., Read Less

The band added material from Raw Power and several of Pop's early solo albums to its repertoire.

In March 2010 the Stooges were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, playing "Search and Destroy" from the Raw Power album with Stooges pianist Scott Thurston.

Williamson is known primarily for his use of Gibson Les Paul Custom guitars, but he also plays other guitars live (although les Paul Customs are his guitar of choice). Williamson says that all the songs on Raw Power were written in his London bedroom on a Gibson B-25 acoustic and the acoustic guitar used in the studio was a Martin D-28. A Vox AC30 amplifier was used for recording Raw Power and no effects pedals were used. Williamson says he plugged his Les Paul Custom into the AC30's Top Boost channel, volume at full and bass low, and played primarily on the Custom's low-output bridge humbucker pickup. Williamson often used Marshall amplifiers when playing live in the 1970s, and recently switched to Blackstar Amplification's Artisan 30 for live use. All guitars currently used onstage by Williamson are equipped with low-output, microphonic, humbucker pickups modeled after those in his original 1969 Gibson Les Paul Custom. These pickups were custom wound by Jason Lollar who reverse engineered the 1969 pickups, at the suggestion of James' touring guitar tech Derek See, and local tech Brian Michael. In concert, for "Gimme Danger" and "Open Up And Bleed", Williamson uses a Fishman Power Bridge piezo pickup equipped Les Paul (patched through a Fishma Aura pedal) for simulated acoustic guitar sounds. Read Less