The Ramones were already well on their way to legendary status when Richie took over the drum stool in 1983, but I think most would agree that he played an important role in revitalising their career in the mid-Eighties, particularly with the album ‘Too Tough To Die’. Although they had no lack of great songs over the preceding years, both ‘Pleasant Dreams’ and ‘Subterranean Jungle’ had suffered from lack-lustre productions and a loss of direction. ‘Too Tough To Die’ found the band focused once again, delivering a great set of songs with a harder production (courtesy of Tommy Ramone and Ed Stasium.) Although not directly responsible, I think it’s pretty safe to say that Richie played a big part in their return to form. He was certainly a fine drummer for them , adding backing vocals and a song-writing talent of his own (the only Ramones’ drummer to do so.) In fact, although only a few of his songs were recorded and released by The Ramones, several of them became firm-favourites with the fans, in particular ‘Somebody Put Something In My Drink’ and ‘Smash You’. He and Dee Dee also embraced the emerging hardcore scene (which in turn had been influenced by their band) and introduced elements into their own set. He continued as an integral part of the band over the course of five years, including the albums ‘Animal Boy’ and ‘Halfway to Sanity’ ,before eventually quitting the band following Johnny’s refusal to allow him a percentage of the merchandise sales.
Although briefly working with Dee Dee on his solo album, ‘Standing in The Spotlight’, Richie disappeared from the public eye and has only recently started to perform and record under his own name again, with his first solo album, ‘Entitled’ being released in 2013. He has also been touring steadily in both America and Europe, combining both Ramones’ material and his own, to wide acclaim.
I actually first met Richie when myself and Grim Humour supremo, Richo, interviewed the Ramones just after the release of ‘Animal Boy’ in 1986. So I was really pleased to get the chance to meet him again prior to his recent gig at Islington Academy. Accompanied by old friend and Ramones-fanatic Moyni, we arrived in time to catch a bit of the soundcheck (which was sounding great) before being introduced to Richie. We find a relatively quite space in the club and get in to the conversation…
Although briefly working with Dee Dee on his solo album, ‘Standing in The Spotlight’, Richie disappeared from the public eye and has only recently started to perform and record under his own name again, with his first solo album, ‘Entitled’ being released in 2013. He has also been touring steadily in both America and Europe, combining both Ramones’ material and his own, to wide acclaim.
I actually first met Richie when myself and Grim Humour supremo, Richo, interviewed the Ramones just after the release of ‘Animal Boy’ in 1986. So I was really pleased to get the chance to meet him again prior to his recent gig at Islington Academy. Accompanied by old friend and Ramones-fanatic Moyni, we arrived in time to catch a bit of the soundcheck (which was sounding great) before being introduced to Richie. We find a relatively quite space in the club and get in to the conversation…
Firstly, I wondered if he had actually grown-up in New York…
‘I was born in New Jersey and lived there until I moved to New York City, when I was 17. Where we lived in New Jersey was only ten miles from New York City, but there was a big difference between the two places. So I moved-in with a friend of mine after I finished High School.’
Were you already interested in music ?
‘Yeah, I had an older brother and he was buying records from around 1966 onwards, so I got to listen to all of his stuff. I was lucky, because that was a time when all the music started to change, with people like Hendrix and all the stuff The Beatles were doing around then. I got exposed to it five years earlier than I would have done otherwise. I was only 8 or 9 at the time so I wasn’t able to go out and buy my own records, but he’d let me listen to all the stuff he’d buy.’
I’m guessing that you must have been in other bands before you joined the Ramones, but I’ve never seen any details of what you were doing back then…
‘Yeah… As far as bands playing original songs, I was in one called Velveteen and I also played with The Shirts for a while. They used to play at CBGB’s a lot. Before then, I was in other bands but we weren’t really playing original music. I’d started playing live when I was around 10 or 11, playing at weddings and Bar Mitzvahs, things like that. I was just a kid, so it was a good way to learn.’
I know you also play guitar, but did you start-off just playing drums ?
‘Yeah, I started playing drums when I was five years old ! Drums have always been my thing. It was always something that I liked. Even before I started to learn how to play, I used to walk around tapping on something or the other, so I was always attracted to it.’
As you got older, who were the drummers that influenced you ?
‘Well, when I got to High School, I guess it was probably Buddy Rich and John Bonham. Buddy because of his speed and technique, and John because he had a great single bass drum peddle, one of the best in the business.’
How about Keith Moon ? He often gets quoted as an influence on drummers from the CBGB’s scene…
‘No, not really, not for me. I thought that what he did was just drumming around and playing all over the place. He had loads of drums so he could never miss… I mean, respect for what he did do, but it wasn’t my thing. I was more of a groove-maker, just laying down the beat. That’s what I like to do.’
‘I was born in New Jersey and lived there until I moved to New York City, when I was 17. Where we lived in New Jersey was only ten miles from New York City, but there was a big difference between the two places. So I moved-in with a friend of mine after I finished High School.’
Were you already interested in music ?
‘Yeah, I had an older brother and he was buying records from around 1966 onwards, so I got to listen to all of his stuff. I was lucky, because that was a time when all the music started to change, with people like Hendrix and all the stuff The Beatles were doing around then. I got exposed to it five years earlier than I would have done otherwise. I was only 8 or 9 at the time so I wasn’t able to go out and buy my own records, but he’d let me listen to all the stuff he’d buy.’
I’m guessing that you must have been in other bands before you joined the Ramones, but I’ve never seen any details of what you were doing back then…
‘Yeah… As far as bands playing original songs, I was in one called Velveteen and I also played with The Shirts for a while. They used to play at CBGB’s a lot. Before then, I was in other bands but we weren’t really playing original music. I’d started playing live when I was around 10 or 11, playing at weddings and Bar Mitzvahs, things like that. I was just a kid, so it was a good way to learn.’
I know you also play guitar, but did you start-off just playing drums ?
‘Yeah, I started playing drums when I was five years old ! Drums have always been my thing. It was always something that I liked. Even before I started to learn how to play, I used to walk around tapping on something or the other, so I was always attracted to it.’
As you got older, who were the drummers that influenced you ?
‘Well, when I got to High School, I guess it was probably Buddy Rich and John Bonham. Buddy because of his speed and technique, and John because he had a great single bass drum peddle, one of the best in the business.’
How about Keith Moon ? He often gets quoted as an influence on drummers from the CBGB’s scene…
‘No, not really, not for me. I thought that what he did was just drumming around and playing all over the place. He had loads of drums so he could never miss… I mean, respect for what he did do, but it wasn’t my thing. I was more of a groove-maker, just laying down the beat. That’s what I like to do.’
When did you first become aware of The Ramones ?
‘While I was at High School. I was probably about 16 and I snuck into a club in New Jersey to see them.’
What were your first impressions ?
‘I guess mine were the same as anyone else’s, you know ? What is this ? What am I hearing ? Because at that time, 1975, all the music around us just seemed to be either Disco or Arena Rock. But after you heard them that first time, they tended to grow on you, and once you start getting in to the Ramones, forget it ! You start seeing what it’s really all about and that gave me my direction, like, where I really wanted to go in my life and what I wanted to do. That was kinda cool.’
At that point, Tommy was still the drummer… what did you think of his style of drumming ?
‘Great ! It was simple and to the point. That was it. I think every drummer they had brought something different to the band. A drummer changes the sound of a band, there’s no doubt about it. The drums are the heartbeat of the band. When I came along, in the mid-Eighties, there was all that speedcore and hardcore going on around us, bands like the Cro-mags, so we started playing a bit faster. The kids seemed to like that and they liked to slam to the speed, so we started to play the shows really fast.’
Did you know any of the band members before you joined them ?
‘No, I just went along to an audition. I’d never met them before.’
How did that go ? Did you feel it was a good match ?
‘What, when I finished the audition ? No. No-one ever tells you how you've done or if you’ve got the job at the audition, they always make you wait a week. Then they told me to come back, so I went and played with them again. Then they said come back one more time and that was it. We were on our way.’
You joined the band straight after ‘Subterranean Jungle’ was released, so you must have played live quite a lot before you actually got to record anything with them …
‘Yeah, I played on all the touring for that album, so probably about a year before we went in the studio to record ‘Too Tough To Die’. It gave me plenty of time to really fit in with them.’
I think a lot of fans will agree that albums like ‘Pleasant Dreams’ and ‘Subterranean Jungle’, even though they had some great songs, suffered from weak productions. But ‘Too Tough To Die’ really gave them the sound that fans wanted to hear again…
‘Their sound had got kinda soft. They made a record with the guy from 10CC who probably wasn’t the best person to record the Ramones. But with ‘Too Tough To Die’, they had a new drum sound from me and they brought back Tommy and Ed Stasium to produce. It gave them back the sound that they had eight years before. But they were also embracing the stuff that was going on around them, the hardcore stuff, which is why Dee Dee wrote ‘Warthog’ and ‘Endless Vacation’. It was never a conscious decision, it was just something that happened. We just started playing a bit faster and saw the audience getting in to it, so we fed off that. The band had always been fast, but we got really fast around that time. I mean, I recently listened to some old live recordings from Holland, and I just sat there thinking, Fuck, that’s crazy ! I remember after one show, our tour manager Monte told us that the club owner was pissed-off because we were supposed to play for an hour but we’d finished in 54 minutes ! We were managing to play 35 songs in 54 minutes, which was insane !’
‘While I was at High School. I was probably about 16 and I snuck into a club in New Jersey to see them.’
What were your first impressions ?
‘I guess mine were the same as anyone else’s, you know ? What is this ? What am I hearing ? Because at that time, 1975, all the music around us just seemed to be either Disco or Arena Rock. But after you heard them that first time, they tended to grow on you, and once you start getting in to the Ramones, forget it ! You start seeing what it’s really all about and that gave me my direction, like, where I really wanted to go in my life and what I wanted to do. That was kinda cool.’
At that point, Tommy was still the drummer… what did you think of his style of drumming ?
‘Great ! It was simple and to the point. That was it. I think every drummer they had brought something different to the band. A drummer changes the sound of a band, there’s no doubt about it. The drums are the heartbeat of the band. When I came along, in the mid-Eighties, there was all that speedcore and hardcore going on around us, bands like the Cro-mags, so we started playing a bit faster. The kids seemed to like that and they liked to slam to the speed, so we started to play the shows really fast.’
Did you know any of the band members before you joined them ?
‘No, I just went along to an audition. I’d never met them before.’
How did that go ? Did you feel it was a good match ?
‘What, when I finished the audition ? No. No-one ever tells you how you've done or if you’ve got the job at the audition, they always make you wait a week. Then they told me to come back, so I went and played with them again. Then they said come back one more time and that was it. We were on our way.’
You joined the band straight after ‘Subterranean Jungle’ was released, so you must have played live quite a lot before you actually got to record anything with them …
‘Yeah, I played on all the touring for that album, so probably about a year before we went in the studio to record ‘Too Tough To Die’. It gave me plenty of time to really fit in with them.’
I think a lot of fans will agree that albums like ‘Pleasant Dreams’ and ‘Subterranean Jungle’, even though they had some great songs, suffered from weak productions. But ‘Too Tough To Die’ really gave them the sound that fans wanted to hear again…
‘Their sound had got kinda soft. They made a record with the guy from 10CC who probably wasn’t the best person to record the Ramones. But with ‘Too Tough To Die’, they had a new drum sound from me and they brought back Tommy and Ed Stasium to produce. It gave them back the sound that they had eight years before. But they were also embracing the stuff that was going on around them, the hardcore stuff, which is why Dee Dee wrote ‘Warthog’ and ‘Endless Vacation’. It was never a conscious decision, it was just something that happened. We just started playing a bit faster and saw the audience getting in to it, so we fed off that. The band had always been fast, but we got really fast around that time. I mean, I recently listened to some old live recordings from Holland, and I just sat there thinking, Fuck, that’s crazy ! I remember after one show, our tour manager Monte told us that the club owner was pissed-off because we were supposed to play for an hour but we’d finished in 54 minutes ! We were managing to play 35 songs in 54 minutes, which was insane !’
Did you start writing songs for the band straight away, or did you try to co-write with the others at first ?
‘No, I never co-wrote with any of them, I wrote all my songs on my own. ‘Human Kind’ was the first one of mine they recorded, on ‘Too Tough To Die’. But Johnny would only ever let me have one song on each record as I’d get all the royalty money for it… I don’t think it was until the third record that I managed to get two songs on it. Although Beggars Banquet would always take another song of mine and release it in the UK, which is why ‘Smash You’ came out over here but not in the States.’
Walter Lure also played some of the guitar parts on ‘Too Tough To Die’. How did he become involved ?
‘He’d been friends with Johnny for years, with the whole band in fact. So he came down and played some leads on the album. That’s the only album I remember him playing on, although he may have been on others. But Johnny got upset with him because he was doing junk in the bathroom and that’s why he didn’t get invited back for any more records. But Walter’s a great guy. He still plays a lot around New York City, he’s all cleaned-up and he’s a really nice guy.’
‘Too Tough To Die’ proved to be the Ramones most successful album for some time and was certainly a hit with the fans, so why did the band decide to go with a different producer, Jean Beauvoir, for the follow-up, ‘Animal Boy’ ?
‘I don’t know, it wasn’t my decision. I still liked that album, though. Dave Stewart did one track with us on ‘Too Tough To Die’ which worked well, then Jean Beauvoir produced ‘Animal Boy’. It was all good but when you change producers, the way things come out is going to change. There are certain things that are different on each of the records and that’s what makes them special. They shouldn’t all sound the same. To me, it’s all about the songwriting, you know ? We never tried to do anything too fancy. Maybe we’d add some keyboards or something but we still couldn’t get any kind of hit or even any airplay…’
One of your songs, ‘Somebody Put Something In My Drink’, is the opening track on ‘Animal Boy’ and quickly became a big favourite among the fans. It was based on a true story, wasn’t it ?
‘Yeah… when I first moved to New York City, we used to go out clubbing but I had no money. So we’d wait until people were dancing and then we’d steal the drinks from their table… Then, one night I grabbed a drink but didn’t know that it had been spiked with LSD. Acid can be pretty strange anyway, but it’s a really weird feeling when you don’t even know that you’ve taken it. You’re really wondering what the fuck is going on with you, and it got really frightening ! Anyway, later on I told the story to Dee Dee and he said that I should write a song about it, which is what I did. And I think that’s probably in the top twenty of the most popular Ramones’ songs. They carried on playing that one right up until their very last show in 1996.’
‘No, I never co-wrote with any of them, I wrote all my songs on my own. ‘Human Kind’ was the first one of mine they recorded, on ‘Too Tough To Die’. But Johnny would only ever let me have one song on each record as I’d get all the royalty money for it… I don’t think it was until the third record that I managed to get two songs on it. Although Beggars Banquet would always take another song of mine and release it in the UK, which is why ‘Smash You’ came out over here but not in the States.’
Walter Lure also played some of the guitar parts on ‘Too Tough To Die’. How did he become involved ?
‘He’d been friends with Johnny for years, with the whole band in fact. So he came down and played some leads on the album. That’s the only album I remember him playing on, although he may have been on others. But Johnny got upset with him because he was doing junk in the bathroom and that’s why he didn’t get invited back for any more records. But Walter’s a great guy. He still plays a lot around New York City, he’s all cleaned-up and he’s a really nice guy.’
‘Too Tough To Die’ proved to be the Ramones most successful album for some time and was certainly a hit with the fans, so why did the band decide to go with a different producer, Jean Beauvoir, for the follow-up, ‘Animal Boy’ ?
‘I don’t know, it wasn’t my decision. I still liked that album, though. Dave Stewart did one track with us on ‘Too Tough To Die’ which worked well, then Jean Beauvoir produced ‘Animal Boy’. It was all good but when you change producers, the way things come out is going to change. There are certain things that are different on each of the records and that’s what makes them special. They shouldn’t all sound the same. To me, it’s all about the songwriting, you know ? We never tried to do anything too fancy. Maybe we’d add some keyboards or something but we still couldn’t get any kind of hit or even any airplay…’
One of your songs, ‘Somebody Put Something In My Drink’, is the opening track on ‘Animal Boy’ and quickly became a big favourite among the fans. It was based on a true story, wasn’t it ?
‘Yeah… when I first moved to New York City, we used to go out clubbing but I had no money. So we’d wait until people were dancing and then we’d steal the drinks from their table… Then, one night I grabbed a drink but didn’t know that it had been spiked with LSD. Acid can be pretty strange anyway, but it’s a really weird feeling when you don’t even know that you’ve taken it. You’re really wondering what the fuck is going on with you, and it got really frightening ! Anyway, later on I told the story to Dee Dee and he said that I should write a song about it, which is what I did. And I think that’s probably in the top twenty of the most popular Ramones’ songs. They carried on playing that one right up until their very last show in 1996.’
Were you writing any other songs around that time that didn’t get released at all ?
‘Yeah, there were a few things that didn’t get recorded. In fact, there’s one song that was written back then called ‘Pretty Poison’ which we never recorded, but it’s going to be on my next album. There was also another song called ‘Elevator Operator’, which I recorded with Joey’s brother, but it never went on an album.’
Is it true that Johnny objected to the song ‘Bonzo Goes To Bitburg’…
‘Yeah, kind of… although it was the label that made us change the title to ‘My Brain is Hanging Upside Down’. But Johnny objected to the song because he loved Ronald Reagan and Reaganomics. He was a big Republican so he really didn’t like playing that song at all.’
The next album, ‘Halfway To Sanity’, was produced by the band alongside Daniel Rey, and came out sounding a lot more focused than ‘Animal Boy’…
‘I actually mixed that album. Joey was in the studio with Daniel, but they were having problems so Joey called me at 4.30 in the morning and asked if I could go down there to help mix the record. So that’s what I did and I think it was alright. Again, a different sound. It was a lot more produced and there were a lot more guitars on there that weren’t Johnny playing, you know what I’m saying ?’
As you said before, you wrote two songs on this album, including ‘I’m Not Jesus’, which is another song that veered towards hardcore. The lyrics were also quite different to any other Ramones’ songs…
‘Part of it was about my childhood and growing up as a Roman Catholic. It talked about that, but it’s also about the way that people are always asking you for things when you become part of what they see as the celebrity world. People would always be asking this or that and bothering you, so I’d just be saying, leave me alone. I’m not Jesus, I can’t help you. So that became part of the song as well.’
The usual story concerning your departure from The Ramones was that you quit because Johnny refused to give you an equal share of money from merchandise sales. Is that all there was to it ?
‘No, there were other things. We lost our contract with Sire Records, so we were no longer getting a big chunk of money to make albums, which we could do cheaply and pocket most of the cash. When that stopped, it really seemed unfair that I wasn’t getting any of the merchandise money, so I quit because of that and because Johnny was being a prick about it. I had been there for five years by then, so I thought it was fair that I got a cut. I’m sure everybody knows this story by now… It wasn’t Joey and it certainly wasn’t Dee Dee, and I’m sure those guys would have given their left arms for me. I’d played with them for five years, recorded three albums, they’d used my image everywhere and I was an integral part of the band. So it was time for me to be recognised as such. I just didn’t want to be shit-on for ever.’
‘Yeah, there were a few things that didn’t get recorded. In fact, there’s one song that was written back then called ‘Pretty Poison’ which we never recorded, but it’s going to be on my next album. There was also another song called ‘Elevator Operator’, which I recorded with Joey’s brother, but it never went on an album.’
Is it true that Johnny objected to the song ‘Bonzo Goes To Bitburg’…
‘Yeah, kind of… although it was the label that made us change the title to ‘My Brain is Hanging Upside Down’. But Johnny objected to the song because he loved Ronald Reagan and Reaganomics. He was a big Republican so he really didn’t like playing that song at all.’
The next album, ‘Halfway To Sanity’, was produced by the band alongside Daniel Rey, and came out sounding a lot more focused than ‘Animal Boy’…
‘I actually mixed that album. Joey was in the studio with Daniel, but they were having problems so Joey called me at 4.30 in the morning and asked if I could go down there to help mix the record. So that’s what I did and I think it was alright. Again, a different sound. It was a lot more produced and there were a lot more guitars on there that weren’t Johnny playing, you know what I’m saying ?’
As you said before, you wrote two songs on this album, including ‘I’m Not Jesus’, which is another song that veered towards hardcore. The lyrics were also quite different to any other Ramones’ songs…
‘Part of it was about my childhood and growing up as a Roman Catholic. It talked about that, but it’s also about the way that people are always asking you for things when you become part of what they see as the celebrity world. People would always be asking this or that and bothering you, so I’d just be saying, leave me alone. I’m not Jesus, I can’t help you. So that became part of the song as well.’
The usual story concerning your departure from The Ramones was that you quit because Johnny refused to give you an equal share of money from merchandise sales. Is that all there was to it ?
‘No, there were other things. We lost our contract with Sire Records, so we were no longer getting a big chunk of money to make albums, which we could do cheaply and pocket most of the cash. When that stopped, it really seemed unfair that I wasn’t getting any of the merchandise money, so I quit because of that and because Johnny was being a prick about it. I had been there for five years by then, so I thought it was fair that I got a cut. I’m sure everybody knows this story by now… It wasn’t Joey and it certainly wasn’t Dee Dee, and I’m sure those guys would have given their left arms for me. I’d played with them for five years, recorded three albums, they’d used my image everywhere and I was an integral part of the band. So it was time for me to be recognised as such. I just didn’t want to be shit-on for ever.’
Did either Joey or Dee Dee try to stand up for you ?
‘Yeah, they did in their own ways, but it still came down to Johnny. He was the Fuhrer and it was his call. I mean, even Dee Dee was also on the verge of quitting. He ended up quitting a year later in the end, but we had actually discussed quitting together at the same time. He told me that he really wanted to go, but I think his wife wouldn’t let him !’
A lot has been written about the personal differences between Johnny and the other members of the band. Apart from the disagreement over the merchandise money, did you have any particular problems with him ?
‘Well, I was just a kid back then, so I wasn’t really paying any attention to all of that. But I think a lot of the stuff that’s been written about that side of things is maybe a bit overblown. We were four guys who would play 160 shows every year, so of course we got sick of each other, just like anybody else would in that kind of situation. But when it came time to play the show, we were there, man ! We became one to do that. But all that other stuff, I tried not to pay attention to it. There were difficulties… Johnny was set in his ways, but you know, that’s the way it was.’
So when you left the band, you didn’t leave on bad terms with everyone ?
‘Well, I quit, so some people didn’t like that. But I was still friends with Dee Dee, even though some other people were pretty angry with me. But the way I saw it, if you don’t treat somebody right… I was still in my twenties, so I just thought, fuck this ! Maybe I could have done things differently but you can’t just sit there and ponder whether I made the right or wrong decision. I just had to stick by it and move on. Maybe it wasn’t right, but that’s how I felt at the time.'
You also continued to play with Dee Dee after you had left the Ramones…
‘Yeah, I would still talk to Dee Dee and we wrote rap stuff together for his solo album, ‘Standing In The Spotlight’. He called me ‘Broadway’ on that record, and he called himself ‘Dee Dee King’ for some reason…’
I think he once said that he was told by the Ramones’ management that he wasn’t allowed to use the name ‘Ramone’ outside the band…
‘Well, there’s always been that kind of thing. Other people try to get involved in these things and it all gets bent out of shape. But once someone has been using that name for years and years, you can’t really prevent them from using it.’
After you quit, the Ramones brought Marky back to replace you, even though you had originally replaced him in 1983, when he was fired. Since then, have you got to know him at all ?
‘No, I don’t think we ever spoke more than two words together. He never liked it that I took his place in the band, even though I had nothing to do with him getting fired. And he hated it that I told people about his wig…’
‘Yeah, they did in their own ways, but it still came down to Johnny. He was the Fuhrer and it was his call. I mean, even Dee Dee was also on the verge of quitting. He ended up quitting a year later in the end, but we had actually discussed quitting together at the same time. He told me that he really wanted to go, but I think his wife wouldn’t let him !’
A lot has been written about the personal differences between Johnny and the other members of the band. Apart from the disagreement over the merchandise money, did you have any particular problems with him ?
‘Well, I was just a kid back then, so I wasn’t really paying any attention to all of that. But I think a lot of the stuff that’s been written about that side of things is maybe a bit overblown. We were four guys who would play 160 shows every year, so of course we got sick of each other, just like anybody else would in that kind of situation. But when it came time to play the show, we were there, man ! We became one to do that. But all that other stuff, I tried not to pay attention to it. There were difficulties… Johnny was set in his ways, but you know, that’s the way it was.’
So when you left the band, you didn’t leave on bad terms with everyone ?
‘Well, I quit, so some people didn’t like that. But I was still friends with Dee Dee, even though some other people were pretty angry with me. But the way I saw it, if you don’t treat somebody right… I was still in my twenties, so I just thought, fuck this ! Maybe I could have done things differently but you can’t just sit there and ponder whether I made the right or wrong decision. I just had to stick by it and move on. Maybe it wasn’t right, but that’s how I felt at the time.'
You also continued to play with Dee Dee after you had left the Ramones…
‘Yeah, I would still talk to Dee Dee and we wrote rap stuff together for his solo album, ‘Standing In The Spotlight’. He called me ‘Broadway’ on that record, and he called himself ‘Dee Dee King’ for some reason…’
I think he once said that he was told by the Ramones’ management that he wasn’t allowed to use the name ‘Ramone’ outside the band…
‘Well, there’s always been that kind of thing. Other people try to get involved in these things and it all gets bent out of shape. But once someone has been using that name for years and years, you can’t really prevent them from using it.’
After you quit, the Ramones brought Marky back to replace you, even though you had originally replaced him in 1983, when he was fired. Since then, have you got to know him at all ?
‘No, I don’t think we ever spoke more than two words together. He never liked it that I took his place in the band, even though I had nothing to do with him getting fired. And he hated it that I told people about his wig…’
Apart from playing with Dee Dee on his solo album, did you continue playing music after you quit the Ramones ?
‘Yeah, I did for some years, but then I stopped and did nothing. I sat back for ten years and sorta rested up for this part of my career. I kinda vanished for ten years, although I don’t suppose that many people were looking for me. Eventually, Joey’s brother, Mickey Leigh, invited me to join him at Joey’s Birthday Bash in 2006. Then I went along again the next year and something started going through my head and I started writing again. When people found out, they started telling me that I should record my own album and at first, I said, I don’t know about that. But eventually I ended up making my first album and I enjoyed that, so now we’re just finishing the second one. It just started snowballing as soon as I decided to write songs again.’
Before your own album, you also recorded some records with other bands, The Gobshites from Boston and the Rock’n’Roll Cats from Canada. How did those records come about ?
‘I recorded with The Gobshites when I went to Dublin, a few years ago. We were in Temple Bar when we made that record…. I had so much fun, I can’t wait to go back there again. It was a blast ! It was all their material, though, and I think the album still hasn’t come out. I don’t know what happened, I think they’re still looking for a label. The Rock’n’Roll Cats are from Canada and they’re friends of mine, so they sent me files and I recorded my parts in my studio and sent them back… I just did some stuff for them that way, and I also did some things for Dan Sartain the same way.’
Were you pleased with the way your own album, ‘Entitled’, came out ?
‘I loved it ! Yeah, but the new one will be even better. We’ve just recently finished recording it, and it’s being mixed while I’m on tour. They’re mixing it and sending me files so I can approve it. When I get home after this tour, we’ll put the final touches to it and then go straight to mastering, so I can get it in the queue to be released, hopefully in around May… I think it’s going to be on DC Jam Records again. I like them, they’re good guys. I mean, they’re still pretty small so I have to do a lot of things myself, but they have worldwide distribution and that’s my main concern.’
Have you been playing with the same band since your first album ?
‘No… only Ben, the drummer / guitar player, has been with me since I started playing live again, and I had different musicians when we recorded the album. But for the new record, I asked Alex and Clare from Anti-Product to record with us and now they’re playing in the band for the whole tour.’
‘Yeah, I did for some years, but then I stopped and did nothing. I sat back for ten years and sorta rested up for this part of my career. I kinda vanished for ten years, although I don’t suppose that many people were looking for me. Eventually, Joey’s brother, Mickey Leigh, invited me to join him at Joey’s Birthday Bash in 2006. Then I went along again the next year and something started going through my head and I started writing again. When people found out, they started telling me that I should record my own album and at first, I said, I don’t know about that. But eventually I ended up making my first album and I enjoyed that, so now we’re just finishing the second one. It just started snowballing as soon as I decided to write songs again.’
Before your own album, you also recorded some records with other bands, The Gobshites from Boston and the Rock’n’Roll Cats from Canada. How did those records come about ?
‘I recorded with The Gobshites when I went to Dublin, a few years ago. We were in Temple Bar when we made that record…. I had so much fun, I can’t wait to go back there again. It was a blast ! It was all their material, though, and I think the album still hasn’t come out. I don’t know what happened, I think they’re still looking for a label. The Rock’n’Roll Cats are from Canada and they’re friends of mine, so they sent me files and I recorded my parts in my studio and sent them back… I just did some stuff for them that way, and I also did some things for Dan Sartain the same way.’
Were you pleased with the way your own album, ‘Entitled’, came out ?
‘I loved it ! Yeah, but the new one will be even better. We’ve just recently finished recording it, and it’s being mixed while I’m on tour. They’re mixing it and sending me files so I can approve it. When I get home after this tour, we’ll put the final touches to it and then go straight to mastering, so I can get it in the queue to be released, hopefully in around May… I think it’s going to be on DC Jam Records again. I like them, they’re good guys. I mean, they’re still pretty small so I have to do a lot of things myself, but they have worldwide distribution and that’s my main concern.’
Have you been playing with the same band since your first album ?
‘No… only Ben, the drummer / guitar player, has been with me since I started playing live again, and I had different musicians when we recorded the album. But for the new record, I asked Alex and Clare from Anti-Product to record with us and now they’re playing in the band for the whole tour.’
I read that you also recently did some work as a composer and played with a full orchestra ?
‘Well, I write songs, so that makes me a composer, but I think you mean that I did some symphony work. I arranged ‘West Side Story’ with another guy and we performed that live a couple of times. That was really cool, playing in front of a 90 piece orchestra. I was playing the whole drum-kit, really going crazy ! Id like to do that again, someday, but right now this is what I’m really working on.’
How did you get involved with a project like that ?
‘I suppose it was going back to Buddy Rich… I remember he once did ‘West Side Story’. He didn’t do it with a symphony orchestra, but I thought this was something that would be pretty cool so I pursued it. I went to the orchestra leader and I played my drums alongside a piano player, and he hired me there on the spot and booked us for three nights. It was something different… When I play something like this tour with the band, it’s all about laying the beat down and keeping it solid. But doing something like ‘West Side Story’ with an orchestra, you get to put all your jollies out there as a drummer. It gives you a chance to play some more technical stuff, which I love as well as playing with the band. But I don’t like to mix the two together… I’m not going to be doing all kind of silly things here tonight ! That’s not the job of my music with this band. But I really enjoyed doing that thing, it was a lot of fun.’
I know you’ve lived in Los Angeles for a long time, so I expect you must really notice the differences when you do go back to New York City these days ?
‘Oh yeah, but it’s not as great as it was. Everything’s gone and it’s all been gentrified. It just seems to be millionaires living down in the places where we used to be. Nobody cool lives in New York City, they all have to move out to the Boroughs. It’s not what it was in 1980, when I first lived there. That’s all gone.’
So, to finish, it almost seems as if the Ramones have become even better known since they ended than they were when they were together. Looking back, how do you feel having been a part of that legacy ?
‘The Ramones get a lot of respect now, but so do a lot of people when they die… But the Ramones were all about being true to themselves and being honest. You know, don’t give a fuck, believe in what you believe in and just go out and do it. And that philosophy still stands for me… I don’t write Ramones records, I write Richie Ramone records now. I’m my own artist and I don’t try to sound like the Ramones, because no-one can sound like them. Ever !’
‘Well, I write songs, so that makes me a composer, but I think you mean that I did some symphony work. I arranged ‘West Side Story’ with another guy and we performed that live a couple of times. That was really cool, playing in front of a 90 piece orchestra. I was playing the whole drum-kit, really going crazy ! Id like to do that again, someday, but right now this is what I’m really working on.’
How did you get involved with a project like that ?
‘I suppose it was going back to Buddy Rich… I remember he once did ‘West Side Story’. He didn’t do it with a symphony orchestra, but I thought this was something that would be pretty cool so I pursued it. I went to the orchestra leader and I played my drums alongside a piano player, and he hired me there on the spot and booked us for three nights. It was something different… When I play something like this tour with the band, it’s all about laying the beat down and keeping it solid. But doing something like ‘West Side Story’ with an orchestra, you get to put all your jollies out there as a drummer. It gives you a chance to play some more technical stuff, which I love as well as playing with the band. But I don’t like to mix the two together… I’m not going to be doing all kind of silly things here tonight ! That’s not the job of my music with this band. But I really enjoyed doing that thing, it was a lot of fun.’
I know you’ve lived in Los Angeles for a long time, so I expect you must really notice the differences when you do go back to New York City these days ?
‘Oh yeah, but it’s not as great as it was. Everything’s gone and it’s all been gentrified. It just seems to be millionaires living down in the places where we used to be. Nobody cool lives in New York City, they all have to move out to the Boroughs. It’s not what it was in 1980, when I first lived there. That’s all gone.’
So, to finish, it almost seems as if the Ramones have become even better known since they ended than they were when they were together. Looking back, how do you feel having been a part of that legacy ?
‘The Ramones get a lot of respect now, but so do a lot of people when they die… But the Ramones were all about being true to themselves and being honest. You know, don’t give a fuck, believe in what you believe in and just go out and do it. And that philosophy still stands for me… I don’t write Ramones records, I write Richie Ramone records now. I’m my own artist and I don’t try to sound like the Ramones, because no-one can sound like them. Ever !’
That seemed like a perfect quote to end-with, so we thanked Richie for his time and headed back outside to meet-up with various others before the show itself. The Academy is not known for the quality of its’ drinks-selection, so a trip to a nearby pub beforehand seems like an entirely appropriate option.
Back to the gig in time for Richies’ set and there’s a good-sized crowd in attendance. The band appear onstage and launch in to ‘Durango 95’, with Richie initially set behind the drums. Straight in to ‘I Don’t Wanna Go Down To The Basement’, with Richie handling the vocals as well as keeping the beat, before delivering two of his best songs, ‘Somebody Put Something In My Drink’ and ‘Smash You’. He doesn’t sound like Joey, and doesn’t try to, but his own voice is strong enough to carry the classics. From there on, the set is pretty evenly split between his own, more recent songs, like ‘Criminal’, ‘Into The Fire’ and ‘Entitled’, plus a selection of Ramones’ tracks. He does include better-known songs like ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’, ‘Wart Hog’ and ‘Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World’, but the band also play great versions of songs that he wrote like ‘You Can’t Say Anything Nice’ and ‘I’m Not Jesus’. Richie also takes several breaks away from the drums to come up front and sing (with his second guitarist covering the drums on these occasions) which he does with his own style and character. Towards the end of the set, he even gets into the crowd to let a few lucky punters sing along ! Certainly not something that Joey would ever have done, but again, Richie is his own performer. He is a valid part of the Ramones’ legacy and more than entitled to play their songs, but at the same time, he seems intent on doing things his own way rather than just being a tribute band. Personally, I think that’s the best way for him to go. He clearly wants to continue to write and perform his own music, so he is establishing that from the outset. From the response he received tonight, I think that the real fans are more than willing to embrace what he is doing and both enjoy and support it.
Five minutes after the show was over, Richie was back in the room, signing autographs and having pictures taken. He puts a lot of effort into what he is doing and also keeps it on the level for the fans. When you look at his tour schedule, he’s also quite clearly happy to put a lot of work into it. At a time when you can walk down virtually any High Street and spot people wearing Ramones t-shirts who probably don’t even realise that they were a band, it’s good that we’ve still got a chance to see part of the real thing. Be sure to see him live or listen to his records…
www.richieramone.com
Back to the gig in time for Richies’ set and there’s a good-sized crowd in attendance. The band appear onstage and launch in to ‘Durango 95’, with Richie initially set behind the drums. Straight in to ‘I Don’t Wanna Go Down To The Basement’, with Richie handling the vocals as well as keeping the beat, before delivering two of his best songs, ‘Somebody Put Something In My Drink’ and ‘Smash You’. He doesn’t sound like Joey, and doesn’t try to, but his own voice is strong enough to carry the classics. From there on, the set is pretty evenly split between his own, more recent songs, like ‘Criminal’, ‘Into The Fire’ and ‘Entitled’, plus a selection of Ramones’ tracks. He does include better-known songs like ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’, ‘Wart Hog’ and ‘Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World’, but the band also play great versions of songs that he wrote like ‘You Can’t Say Anything Nice’ and ‘I’m Not Jesus’. Richie also takes several breaks away from the drums to come up front and sing (with his second guitarist covering the drums on these occasions) which he does with his own style and character. Towards the end of the set, he even gets into the crowd to let a few lucky punters sing along ! Certainly not something that Joey would ever have done, but again, Richie is his own performer. He is a valid part of the Ramones’ legacy and more than entitled to play their songs, but at the same time, he seems intent on doing things his own way rather than just being a tribute band. Personally, I think that’s the best way for him to go. He clearly wants to continue to write and perform his own music, so he is establishing that from the outset. From the response he received tonight, I think that the real fans are more than willing to embrace what he is doing and both enjoy and support it.
Five minutes after the show was over, Richie was back in the room, signing autographs and having pictures taken. He puts a lot of effort into what he is doing and also keeps it on the level for the fans. When you look at his tour schedule, he’s also quite clearly happy to put a lot of work into it. At a time when you can walk down virtually any High Street and spot people wearing Ramones t-shirts who probably don’t even realise that they were a band, it’s good that we’ve still got a chance to see part of the real thing. Be sure to see him live or listen to his records…
www.richieramone.com
