The All-New Adventures of the Ramones

Rip It Up, Issue 147, 1 October 1989, Page 14

The All-New Adventures of the Ramones

Joey on the Phone

The Ramones are now 15 years old,and Joey Ramone is trying spin me the line that they are better than ever, “stronger and tighter than ever.” Buty’know, were punk rockers really meant to go 'til they were 40? Gabba

gabbahey — no-one’s gonna tell the Ramones just whatand what notto do, okay? ;

The Ramones are coming downunder for only the second time. Joey can'treally rememberthe 1981 visit. This month also sees the release of Brain Drain, the band's 12th album Produced by Bill Laswell, the LP is stripped back— from speed-metal through to their poppiest moments since Subterranean Jungle— and nottoo bad at all. More energy than the Stones had after 15 years, and betterthan Chicago 12 anyway.

« Sowhat's Joey Ramone gotto say for himselfe Mostly he says “Y’know” butl've cut most of those out. There arestillsome leftinforflavour.

Anyway, do the Ramones really know how supremely ironical they are, or are they totally serious? Read on, make up your own mind, and remember just how cool these guys are!

There's a band down here, Joey, andthey’re called the Ramonees. They're a Ramones tribute band, doing your songs. ;

A _ Aband who just play Ramones songs. e

“That's exciting, do they play anything else¢” | don'tthink so. Are young bands the world over still playing Ramones songs? Ten years ago, everyone was playing Ramones songs — they were so good and easy. Are kids still starfing outin garages with. ‘Rockaway Beach'? “More bands cover our songs now than ever, y'know. It's cool. I's exciting whatyou hear about, y'know. It's great.” '

What about the new Ramones album, Brain Drain— do you think those songs are gonnainspire kids to go outand emulate the band? “Yeah, well we think it's one of our best albums that we've ever done, y'’know what | mean2 We thinkit's up there with Rocket To Russia or Too Tough To Die or Road To Ruin,

y'’know, and we really enjoyed making it and things were just going really well with the band and there is areally good vibe in the band now andhasbeenforabit,andwe enjoyed working with Bill Laswell, y'’know, and things are going really good,y’know, Imean,y'know,

things're going good everywhere

and we're excited about hitting the road. We just got a new bass player now." | heard that Dee Dee left. What happened to him? “Dee Dee leftto pursue a solo career.” : Yeah? | heard he's done an album. “Yeah, so we have a new kid with us and, ah, things sound great, y'’know. I's exciting. | mean, it's a shame Dee Dee left, but that's whathe had to do, so everybody's happy ‘cos we're really happy with the new kid. His name’s CJ and he's great: he's areally good bass player and he's got a good attitude and it's refreshing, y'know. It's new blood and the band sounds really exciting.” [They say that Dee Dee was a terrible bass player. Johnny Thunders said that he came along fo audition forthe Heartbreakers and couldn't play athing. A new Phil Spector book, He’s A Rebel, details an incident where, during the recording ofthe Ramones LP End Of The

Century, Spector held a gunto Dee Dee's head to make him play. The sad thing is, though, that Dee Dee was possibly the funniest Ramone; | could almost believe that he actually believed all the shit. “When you see Johnny play a barrage of power chords and make a mean face, you know that's really how he's feeling,” says Dee Dee inthe Ramones’ presskit! Shee-it! | guess we can only hope CJis as funny, or atleasthas somemeanfacesofhisown] Do many diehard old punks still come along fo see the Ramones, Joey?

“We really got a broad mixed audience, y'’know. We still get a lot of our old fans who, ah, aren’tdeaf and didntgetold, y'’know what I mean But like | guess forthe most part the crowds seem to be alot younger, but onthe other hand we get all the different sorts of facets of crowds, like we get all the metal kids and we get allthe bands themselves — people like Guns n’ Roses, Metallica, all

those bands come to see us, y'’know what | mean¢ Motorhead. And we getyoung kids and older people, it's a good mix. And everybody has a good time and that's what it's all about, y'know.” Do youthinkthatthe Ramones have more in common with bands like Guns n’ Roses and Metallica than what passes for “punk” these days. “No, we maintain-our own unigue sound. | mean the Ramones isn't like - nobody else, but onthe other hand we're, y'’know, probably heavier than anyone else too, y’know what | mean? Or we have our own unique sound and style and have always maintainedto, y'’know, to =.y’know, |

mean, y'know ... mean, these kids like us. The kids that listen to those bands like the Ramones, and a lot of otherbands are heavily influenced by us, andin alot of ways we're responsible for ... y'know, there's two decades of, um, y'know, bands and fans and stuff. Like Metallica and stuff —we metthemin 1980 and they told us they thought our sound was more of a metal sound, and they're Ramones fans, Lars and all of them. Y'know what | mean? If's real cool and it's fun and nice fo hear, y'know, and it makes you feel good, y'know. We're big fans of Metallica too, and Anthrax and Motorhead and Guns n' Roses and all that stuff as well as lots of otherthings. | mean, ‘cos our tastes are very broad and we like alot of things, y'know. 'm a rock fan. That's how | keep my enthusiasm and how | stay excited about stuff, right?”

They’re making another Rockn’ Roll High School movie with the Replacementsin it. What do you think ofthem? s

“They offered itto us, but we turned it down, ‘cos we had done the original. The Replacements are alright, y'’know. They're okay.” Do you think this one will compare very wellto the original? That one managed to cram a lot of essential teenage rebellion shitinto one

movie.... ; 5 “| don‘tthink it will really be - anything, ‘cos the original sorta kicked offa whole new genre of teenage film, y'know. It was a Roger Corman classic, and he had an all-star Corman cast, and all the teen films followed after Rockn’Roll High School. Now it's a classic; it shows on TV allthe time here and abroad, so they’re making a sequel ‘cos it did so well.Soit's kinda pointless for us to doitagain. We don't wantto do it again, y’know what | mean?” The song ‘Pet Semetary’ off Brain Drainwas written especially to be the fitle track for the Stephen King movie. Butthe Ramones don't

appear? ! : “Nah, butl had a bit partin afilm called Road Kill. It's a Canadian

release, and it played at the Toronto film festival last weekend. I s a rock n’ rollfilm and it's pretty cool, y'know. | have a part and | think ‘Howling At The Moon'isin the film.” , Is your parta cameo? :

“Yeah, | play myself. It should be pretty funny, ‘cos | got o like write my lines. | haven't seen it yet, myself,

though.” L * The Ramones have always been portrayed with a certain cartoon

quality about them, talked about as : “cartoon rockers”. Would the kids go foracartoon TV series, the

adventures ofthe Ramonesor - something? “If someone wanted to do something, | guess.| don’t really see the Ramones as being depicted in cartoon form myself. | mean, on one hand the Ramones have character and we're real people, so | guess if someone could do something, it could be okay. It used to sorta get me about being called “cartoon” but| guess that's the way it's done. Nowadays, these bands are just

clones of each other and nobody has any personality oridentity; maybe that's why people say 'l could see a carfoon of you.' I guess t couldn’t really letit get me; maybe | should look atitlike ... dunno, be flattered orsomethin’. Like the Beatles.”

Iwas being flattering. Do you think thatthe Ramones have ever come close to perfection—likeasa concept, the Ramones are quite limited, but maybe perfectly fitted to those limitations

“Yeah, | think so, in a sense. We're areal honest band, with a definite identity and personalities— - something that doesn't really exist nowadays. If you see MTV or

whatever, everybody looksand plays the same, even has the same hairstyle. It's all bullshit, y’know what | mean?2 Only a handful are unique, haveidentity and are doing anything really worthwhile.” Are there any new bands coming outthatyou think might have it2 “I've been working with a lot of bands in New York, putting on shows to expose new artists, theme nights and stuff. There's a band called Tribe 375wh0 are real exciting, real primal with good songs. They've been doing a buncha shows round town and I've been helpin’ ‘em —

working with ‘em, sortlike shopping ‘em, doin’ kinda managemental work andthere’s alotta label interest now. They're sorta like bands you don't find anymore — hard rock, very exciting, very visual, y’know. There's alotta good bandsin New York, it's very fertile as far as new arfists go. I'vebeen doin’ that stuff, it keeps me stimulated and stuff.” ; Do you ever wanna sitdown and talk about art or literature or philosophy kinda stuff, Joey? : “Yeah, | do that alottao, y'’know. | mean, it's really the circles you hang outwith. | get off more on people who've gotsome brainsin their head; I hang out with good people. | don'treally “hang out” that much

anymorethough—lgoout, butl don'thang out the way | used to hang out.” s

The song ‘I Believe In Miracles’ on Brain Drainisfull of lines like %/

believe in a better world". It's along way from ‘Beat On The Brat' and the sorta things the Ramones used to say. . “Well, y’know, when the Ramones firststarted, we were dealing more with our own frustrations, being alienated — those were the kinda

things that were affecting us more in those days. We were kinda broke, andthat's how life wasin those days, you dealt more with your own self. Butasyou live, the world's changed a

lot— it's got pretty intense lately, but things are getting better, with Gorbachev and stuff. People are realising aboutinteraction, and | got* hope now. Ignorance, basically, is responsible for people not getting along, butthings are more optimistic.” Were some of the views stated by the Ramones in the past - irresponsible? ' “We're allindividuals, so e

everyone's got their own view on things. Maybe John tends to be more rightwing, and me and Dee Dee

were more the other way, y'’know what | mean? I think that now, everybody’s a bitmore open, a bit more realistic, y’know. | think some things were said in the past that weren't quite the way they shoulda been stated but, like, you live and you learn, y'know. Your views on things change just by living and growing — | think ours have.” :

The song ‘Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)' ... “Makes it a seasonal record, y'’know. I's atrue song, written one Christmas Eve, years ago actually. If's aboutfighting with your girlfriend, and it more orless says, “it's Christmas Eve—truce!” If'sa good fun song; | always thought itwould be good for - the Ramones to record a Christmas song, y'know, like Slade did and a buncha other bands. | thought it

would be coolto do, y'know, and | think it came outreal good.” What's gonna happen when you're really old, Joey? Is some young band gonna find the Ramones playingin a bar somewhere and

drag you outontour so they can feel hip, like the Clash with Bo Diddley

and now U2 with BB King? “Things couldn’t be better with us. The band's never been strongerand tighter, and we're getting on great together — there have been turbulent times, rough timesin the past, with our being at close quarters asatouringband... “Butthings couldn't be better, so | can'treally say. If we felt we weren't good anymore, it would be time fo give up or break up the Ramones or whatever, butit's like the farthest thing from our minds right now. Things are goin’ great, better and better. It's alwaysbeen greatin -~ Europe, butit's picking up here at home, and in new territories. Things're going well. We're happy — hal” ; : Does your mother know you're a Ramone? “Yeah, she knows, and she's my biggest fan. She's always been really supportive. My father was the one, y’know. But he's happy now I'm successful. Ha ha! He can't call me a bumanymore — now | call hima bum, y'know.” : Soare they gonna be any good? “Stronger and tighter than ever”2 Couldbe. Joey Ramone’s mum and dad sound happy and the Ramones are a happy family again. And isn't it fashionable to have big rips in your jeans this year2 Watch outfor the Blitzkrieg Bop! : - :

PAUL McKESSAR