Hey Ho! Let’s go with this week’s guest on RAMONESMANIA! Hell yeah, we have Mike, vocalist and guitarist for New York’s Jukebox Romantics, here to talk to us about anything and everything about growing up and discovering and listening to the music we all love today. This goes all over the place from the Ramones (obviously) to the Misfits to Screeching Weasel, to Blink-182 and Mariah Carey. And why not? It’s a long one but it’s fun and there’s great tunes for you to enjoy including tracks from their new release. Yay!

“New Release?” I hear you say? Yeah! The band have a new EP out December 17 called Fires Forming co-released through Sell The Heart Records (U.S.) and Engineer Records (UK).

Listen now at the link below or subscribe in iTunes!

Listen now at the link below.

Hell yeah! This week’s guest is Ben Disaster aka Ben Blitzkrieg Pop aka the vocalist of Canadian punkers, Real Sickies, and the host of the This Is Pop! Radio Show. This episode is jam packed with fun stories and bitchin’ tunes. Heaps good! There’s so much in here and you’re gonna have a blast as two record collecting nerds geek out over obscure records, starting a record label, and power pop Ramonescore. It’s a fun time!

You can listen right now by clicking the link below. You can also subscribe on iTunes!

Buy Real Sickies stuff HERE.

Check out his Ben’s radio show, THIS IS POP! right HERE.

Hey ho, let’s go with another round of tunes I’ve been listening to this last week or so. Heaps of great jams for you to enjoy from the likes of Radioactivity, The Yum Yums, Penny Ikinger, Stinking Polecats, Mudlarks, The Hawaiians, The Mugwumps, Tommy And The Rockets, Badtown Boys, Mulligan Stu, The Short Fuses, and Flanders 72. Wow! Jam packed with awesomeness!

Have a listen below or subscribe in iTunes!

Hey Ho, Let’s Go! with the Huntingtons! Yay! This week’s show has Ciffy, Josh and Chris all packed in to one extra long super dooper rad episode. We cover all the stuff and more on the heels of their brand new album, Back To Ramonia. There’s so much jammed into this episode that I’ll be surprised if we left anything out. Yep! It’s all in here. Those Ramones stories, Hanoi Rocks worship, punk rock folklore, and heaps more. You’ll love it!

You can listen right now by clicking below!

New episode is here and there’s no guest but I talk about the latest releases from the likes of the McRackins, Horror Section, After School Special, DeeCRACKS, Randells, Numbertwo, The Dumpies, and The Shivvies.

You can listen right now by clicking on THIS LINK or subscribe on iTunes.

This week is a RAMONESMANIA REWIND as we take the wayback machine back to 2015 when myself and Bil McRackin sat down for a chat with Goo Goo Dolls‘ bassist / vocalist, Robby Takac. While we don’t talk about the Ramones, we talk lots of Goo history and the stories are great. The way this connects to the Ramonescore world is cos Bil is there and that’s enough to push this over the line. Yep. Enjoy!

You can listen right now by clicking on THIS LINK.

This week’s guest is Mikel Hallington from Norway’s own The Hallingtons, Scotland’s The Lemonaids, and his bedroom’s Love Hearts. This conversation goes anywhere and everywhere as we discuss everything from Brit Pop to pop punk, his ties to it, discovering it, and a whole lot more. It’s a fun chat as we find out all about his bands and how he makes them all work considering members are spread out around the UK, Scandinavia, and even (he thinks) Nashville! It’s two hours of good times and great music!

You can listen right now at THIS LINK.

You can find all his bands on bandcamp here: The Hallingtons, Love Hearts, The Lemonaids.

Hey Hey! Rookie Rochelle from Long Island rockers, The Young Rochelles is on the show this week to talk ALL / DESCENDENTS, Screeching Weasel, locked down isolation coping mechanisms, the many things happening with all his bands, being excellent to each other, the RAMONES and so much more. It’s a long show but it’s a hoot!

You can listen right now by clicking on THIS LINK.

You can buy their debut album at THIS LINK.

HOLY WORLD PREMIERE, BATMAN! Yes, my friends, we have the goods! Kurt Baker and Luis Sanchez of the K7S are here to talk to you all about the recording of their rendition of Mondo Bizarro, one of the best RAMONES albums (don’t bother trying to change my mind, this album rules and is as good as any of the first four… and any of the others, for that matter).

Mondo Bizarro is a top helf album and this cover record is freakin’ great! You’ll hear all the stuff and more on this episode as we get stuck into all the cool stuff and there’s even some solid Cheap Trick worship. Woohoo! Don’t delay, check it out today!

You can listen to this episode right now by clicking on THIS LINK!

You can order the album through Stardumb Records HERE.

For us Aussies, you can pre-order this record through Endless Detention Records HERE.

This week’s episode is a RAMONESMANIA REWIND as we go right back to an interview I did in 2015 with vocalist and guitarist, Bil McRackin, of Vancouver power pop punk legends, McRackins! This interview is a long one but it’s filled with so many great stories about everything from car crashes to European tours, to solo albums, to side projects, to almost being shot by the cops, to KISS obsessions, etc. We touch on anything and everything from the band’s beginnings right up til 2015. It’s a great time and you’re gonna love it.

You can listen in right now by clicking on THIS LINK.

Holy Moly! Glenn aka Pavid Vermin is this week’s guest and it is a freakin’ hilarious and wild ride through the whole world of home recording and Pavid Vermin humour. This episode is so damn funny and really informative and somewhat inspiring. If you have ever wondered how hard it is to record your own music, wonder no more as Glenn reveals all.

Don’t waste anymore time, listen to this episode right now by clicking on THIS LINK.

If you’re not interested in hearing him talk and would rather just hear him sing, Pavid Vermin’s music can be found on Bandcamp right HERE.

Hey Ho! Let’s Go! Bassist and Green Day aficionado, Frank from NYC’s Goin’ Places is here to chat about all things radness on this week’s episode of RAMONESMANIA. He has so many good RAMONES stories that need to be heard by you all. There’s also a ton of Green Day worship, plus a deep dive into a Hard-Ons album, and some other cool stuff. Oh and I also play a track off The Jasons / Black Russians split. Heaps good!

You can listen right now by clicking on THIS LINK.

You can check out the band at their Bandcamp page HERE.

HOLY MOLY! Henry from Memorable But Not Honorable Tapes is here this week to talk about all things RAMONES, Ramonescore, why Brain Drain is one of the best RAMONES albums, and working on the release of Rock N Roll High School’s 40th Anniversary blu-ray release last year. Wow! But it doesn’t stop there… We also talk about the Satanic Panic of the 80s (yeah, that really happened), Screeching Weasel, Green Day, Dead Kennedys, and even the Rock N Roll Soldiers get some airtime. Plus, there’s still heaps more! This episode is jam packed with awesomeness and you’re gonna absolutely love it. Totally not kidding!

You can listen right now by clicking on THIS LINK!

Head on over to MBNH Tapes and buy yourself some limited edition radness!

So this week I have decided to do something different for the 10th episode of RAMONESMANIA. This is something I have always wanted to do and now I have an excuse to do it. You see, in 1989, I had watched RAGE TV here in Australia and one night they played every RAMONES video directly after one another. I was super excited by this and the next day I went to the city with my pocket money, walked into Seeing Ears Records and asked if they had all the RAMONES singles that I had seen the night before. The guy working at the store told me they didn’t but I would be better off just buying this double LP collection of songs because it had most of the songs I wanted plus heaps more and would have been a lot cheaper than buying all the singles individually. I couldn’t argue with his logic and decided to hand over my $19.99 and bought this awesome double LP.

I listened to this record over and over and as the week’s went on, I bought a different RAMONES album in order of how much I loved the songs I was hearing on this compilation from those particular albums. I think the first one I bought from purchasing this way was Animal Boy because I loved (and still love) Bonzo so much. It went on and on in this way until I had every record.

So this week’s show, as I said, is something different. What I wanted to do was recreate the RAMONESMANIA album but with cover versions of all the songs in the correct track order as on the actual album. I scoured my record collection for awesome covers of RAMONES songs and this collection came out really interesting. There’s a bit of everything and it all flows together really well which just goes to show you how good not only the RAMONES were but also how good RAMONESMANIA is as a compilation.

I heard many songs I hadn’t listened to in years and totally had forgotten about. More importantly, I hope you’ll hear a band you like and go out and buy their records too! That’s what this is all about. Our happy family of RAMONESCORE bands and fans all supporting each other.

Anyway, I have written enough. You get the idea. You can listen to this episode right now by clicking on THIS LINK.

The track listing is:
THE ADICTS – I Wanna Be Sedated
HAYLEY AND THE CRUSHERS – Teenage Lobotomy
BORIS THE SPRINKLER – Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio?
THE VINDICTIVES – Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment
IMPACT – Beat On The Brat
RANCID – Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
H2O – I Wanna Live
HUNTINGTONS – Pinhead
SCREECHING WEASEL – Blitzkrieg Bop
THE QUEERS – Cretin Hop
DIRECT HIT! – Rockaway Beach
FLOWER LEPERDS – Commando
CANDY SNATCHERS – I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
SATIRNINE – Mama’s Boy
FALANGE – Bop Til You Drop
BAD RELIGION – We’re A Happy Family
IRON CHIC – Bonzo Goes To Bitburg
GREEN DAY – Outsider
THE YOUNG ROCHELLES – Psycho Therapy
MCRACKINS – Wart Hog
THE NEW ROCHELLES – Animal Boy
MR T EXPERIENCE – Needles And Pins
BUGLAMP featuring KEITH MORRIS – Howling At The Moon
THE METEORS – Somebody Put Something In My Drink
TOMMYKNOCKERS – We Want The Airwaves
OF MONTREAL – Chinese Rocks
THE DICTATORS – I Just Want To Have Something To Do
FACE TO FACE – The KKK Took My Baby Away
JOAN JETT – Indian Giver
SHONEN KNIFE – Rock N Roll High School

Go buy their records!

If you’ve been following the career of Neon Bone, you’d have noticed the dude just doesn’t stop! He’s been churning out release after release for around a decade now and it’s all pretty awesome. Neon Bone’s latest album, Make It Last, is out now on Monster Zero so it seemed as good a time as any to get him on the show to talk about it. Yep. heaps good! And who knew he was such a big fan of the Hard-Ons? Radness!

So here we go my friends, there’s cool stories of the RAMONES and heaps more. You can listen right now by clicking on THIS LINK.

You can also buy the latest NEON BONE album right HERE.

Check out their Bandcamp page right HERE.

This week’s guest is none other than vocalist of the mysterious skate punk rock band, Tower Crane Towers. Hailing from parts unknown (well, Europe and the USA) these guys dished out an EP that really blew up. It’s a record of killer tunes filled with big hooks, intricate guitar work, tons of melodies and anthemic singalongs. It’s everything you want and more.

After having these guys guest on a Thorazines track for charity (see below), I decided to reach out and get to know them a bit more cos they still remained a mystery. The result is here and it’s awesome. It’s a two hour chat that goes all over the place and is highly entertaining filled with stories of loving music, growing up with punk rock, and of course, the RAMONES.

You can listen to this conversation by clicking on THIS LINK.

You can visit the band’s bandcamp page and grab a copy of their EP right HERE.

Head on over to our Instagram page for your chance to win yourself a copy of their vinyl 10″ debut. Hell yeah!

Holy guacamole! Marien Nicotine from Giant Eagles is here to talk RAMONES! Woohoo! You may also know him from the band The Windowsill and from his time in The Apers. Yeah, that guy! Rad dude. Huge Ramones fan. We discuss his bands, the lyrics, the design and packaging, and of course the RAMONES. Heaps good!

If you have yet to hear any of his bands then you should probably change that and head on over to your favourite streaming service and check them out. It’s all awesome.

Anyway, you can listen to this right now by clicking on THIS LINK.

If you’d rather buy some records, and honestly, why wouldn’t you, all of Marien’s bands have a whole bunch of different LPs and 7″s available through the following labels: Shield Recordings, Moms Basement, Stardumb Records, Monster Zero, and Striped Music.

Holy moly, cat van doogly! This week’s guest is none other than vocalist and song writer, Perry Leenhouts, from the legendary pop punk band, Travoltas! This is an awesome chat filled with so many fun stories and great tunes. I know you’re going to love it. The guys have just had their album Teenbeat reissued by the lovely folks over at Stardumb Records and you should get on that right now and join in the fun if you have yet to do so. Heaps good!

I am super stoked to have Perry on the show talking Ramones, Swedish producers, what was happening with Club Nouveau, their comeback record, and also new stuff they’re cooking up. Its a good time. Thanks heaps for listening.

Listen now by clicking on THIS LINK.

Order a copy of Teenbeat from Stardumb Records right HERE.

Holy moly! This week’s guest is none other than J Prozac himself talking about the RAMONES and his 500 bands! Heaps good! You’ll love this one. It’s a long one but we chat about records, meeting Joey Ramone, his collaboration with Bil McRackin, mixing up Blink 182 and Blanks 77, the goofiness of Boris The Sprinkler, videos, selling records we regret, and heaps more. It’s a good time!

You can listen right now by clicking on THIS LINK.

You can also load up on Prozacs jams at their Bandcamp page RIGHT HERE.

Hey Hey! Norway’s punk rock quartet The Skullingtons just released their cool new album on Monster Zero Records last month and now they’re here on RAMONESMANIA! Drummer, Rocky, put away his black metal records and decided to kick back and talk about, well, black metal… and the RAMONES. And why not? This is a fun discussion that goes all over the place for the greater good. We talk punk, metal, politics, meeting bands, and generally have a real cool time. There’s also tracks from their new album for your enjoyment. Yay! Heaps good!

You can listen right now by clicking on THIS LINK.

You can also buy their record right now by clicking on THIS LINK.

And you can check them out on Bandcamp at THIS LINK.

That’s a lot of links but they all lead to good times and no hassles. Enjoy!

So while scrounging through my stuff the other day, I found my original cassette of the RAMONES live in Adelaide at the Big Day Out in 1994. As far as I know, this is the only copy that exists of this performance. I’ve never shared it with anyone cos, well, the quality just isn’t that good. Well, not that I remembered. So recently I dusted off the tape player and gave it another listen and the memories came flooding back.

For those not in the know, the Big Day Out was Australia’s biggest music festival in the 90s and for a while there in the 00s. In 1994, the festival was in its third year running and it was the second time it came to Adelaide. Due to being a broke teen, I missed the previous year which had a solid line-up including Sonic Youth, Mudhoney, Iggy Pop, Hard-Ons with Jerry A, Beasts Of Bourbon, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, etc. you get the idea. The festival was being raved about by pretty much every gig-goer and media outlet as the best thing happening. I knew I had to see it for myself.

In 1993 the line-up had been announced for January’s festival with the headliners being Teenage Fanclub, Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, Bjork, The Breeders, and the RAMONES. I was ecstatic. I got my ticket and was ready for my first Big Day Out Festival. I counted down the days and when January finally rolled around, the excitement was setting in big time. By this time I had started collecting RAMONES live bootlegs and it hit me that the portable cassette player I was using at the time was also a recorder. One problem though: it always sounded like shit when recording anything loud.

So the Big Day Out comes and I head for the festival on my own and saw a killer line-up of bands. The main stage featured in order: Teenage Fanclub, Smashing Pumpkins, RAMONES, finishing with Soundgarden. As soon as the Pumpkins were done (they were really good that day – Silverfuck sounded awesome), I ran for the front as people left the area to go see Bjork or whoever was playing at the time. I secured my spot and got my tape recorder out. I thought I’d try and record it anyway in case my recorder miraculously got a perfect recording. It didn’t which is why you haven’t heard it.

As soon as the lights dropped, I hit record as their famous intro music from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly played. I was amped. The people next to me, not so much. They were waiting for Soundgarden. Chants of “Hey Ho Let’s Go!” began and for those who have experienced it, the feeling of excitement when you hear that intro music is unlike anything else because you know what’s about to happen. The RAMONES appeared on stage and with a quick 1-2-3-4, they tore into Durango 95 and the crowd went nuts. It was chaotic and there were bodies flying everywhere. It was wild. Those who didn’t care about seeing the RAMONES were quickly given a lesson in high energy punk rock. In just under an hour, the band tore through 26 songs at breakneck speeds. It was so freakin’ awesome. How I managed to change sides of the tape during mid mosh in Rockaway Beach, I’ll never know.

Listening back to this tape recently, a lot of emotions hit me. I had no idea at the time that it would be the last time I ever saw the RAMONES in concert. Sometimes you just think that bands will be around forever. I don’t think anyone, especially the RAMONES, had any real idea just how much the whole world of punk rock was about to change in just four short days following this show. Madness! It really was an awesome experience that I am glad to have had. I wish everyone got to experience that because words just can’t explain it properly. If you saw them, you just know.

RAMONES FOREVER!

Here’s the setlist if you can’t read my crappy handwriting on the tape cover:
Durango 95
Teenage Lobotomy
Psycho Therapy
Blitzkrieg Bop
Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio?
I Believe In Miracles
Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment
Rock N Roll Highschool
I Wanna Be Sedated
Substitute
I Wanna Live
Bonzo Goes To Bitburg
Commando
Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
Rockaway Beach
Pet Sematary
Strength To Endure
My Back Pages
Take It As It Comes
Somebody Put Something In My Drink
7 And 7 Is
Warthog
Cretin Hop
Judy Is A Punk
Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World
Pinhead

This week’s guest is none other than Hayley Cain aka Hayley Crusher from Californian surf punk power pop rockers, Hayley And The Crushers. The band has just released a new single on Reta Records and Surfin Ki Records called Jacaranda. They have two albums on Eccentric Pop under their belts and there’s no stopping them now. It’s good time fun music which, during these dark times, is the perfect soundtrack for us. It’s exactly the kind of stuff we need in 2020 aka worst year ever!

You can listen right now by clicking on THIS LINK.

You can buy Hayley and the Crushers latest 7″ through Reta Records and Surfin Ki (Europe) or through their bandcamp page. You can also find their albums on vinyl in the USA at Eccentric Pop.

So I saw this 7″ on a mailorder a long time ago and being a huge fan not only of the RAMONES but also of Blondie and Debbie Harry as well, I obviously needed this record. When it arrived I was pretty excited to hear it so I put it on the turntable and gave it a whirl. As it turns out, the cover is misleading and the details aren’t 100% correct. You see, the back cover states that it is performed by Debbie Harry & The Ramones at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on December 16th 1984.

So a few things seem off with this record… Firstly, 1984? Now I wasn’t in the room when Dee Dee Ramone wrote Go Lil’ Camaro Go, but it didn’t appear on an album til 1987 (Halfway To Sanity). The other thing is, if it was written in 1984 (or earlier) then why didn’t it appear on Animal Boy which was released in ’86? Secondly, Debbie’s dialogue at the start of the song has her introducing Joey Ramone and Daniel Rey. No Richie, No Dee Dee, No Johnny. Finally, when you listen to this record, the versions of the three RAMONES tunes are not played the way a well-oiled tight machine like the RAMONES would have played them, especially with Havana Affair. In saying that, they’re not bad performances, they’re just obviously not played by all the guys on the cover.

So I began to do some research and found out that on that date in question, December 16th, BUT three years later in 1987, Debbie Harry performed a show under the name Tiger Bomb at the Beacon Theater in NYC. Besides Debbie, the band members that night were Chris Stein, Thommy Price, Leigh Foxx, Phil Ashley, and you guessed it, Daniel Rey and Joey Ramone. The songs match up. The show was for an A.I.D.S. benefit which makes sense since Debbie does say that she thanks them for being a part of the benefit show.

Hearing Debbie and Joey singing together is an absolute treasure and I always hoped that someday they would have recorded a whole album of songs together. The two had huge amounts of love and respect for each other and it shows in the photos and videos that are around of them together. An album would have been incredible. Still, we have some things and I am thankful for that. What a duo!

So the show itself was filled with some punk covers and a few originals. It’s all on YouTube and you can hear the band cover Suicidal Tendencies‘ Institutionalized and The Damned‘s New Rose. Hot damn, I wish I had been there. Still, the highlight is obviously our beloved Debbie rocking out with the gods from NYC, the RAMONES and thanks to YouTube, you can hear this record right here. Enjoy!

You can also find a review of the show from a NY TIMES article from December 19th, 1987 at THIS LINK.

For RAMONES fans, Ed Stasium needs no introduction. The guy is an absolute legend. He’s produced and/or engineered albums by Soul Asylum, Misfits, Living Colour, Talking Heads, and even Aussie rock heroes, Hoodoo Gurus, but, the reason you’re here is because of his work with the RAMONES. Ed worked on seven of the band’s studio albums plus the soundtrack to Rock N Roll Highschool. He’s also been heavily involved with the 40th Anniversary Deluxe Reissues, all of which so far have been amazing.

So this week I bring to you a RAMONES REWIND as this interview was one I conducted back in 2017 for my old radio show. Now, it’s here for you in all it’s glory and it’s freakin’ awesome. Ed was one of the nicest guests I’d ever had on the show and his storytelling is so entertaining and in-depth. I am so grateful for the time he donated to doing this. If you have never heard this conversation before, then trust me, you’re in for a real treat. We touch on many things and get so much insight from someone who was there, at the Phil Spector house, when all those crazy events happened. I’m so glad Ed shared these stories with us and I really hope you enjoy them too.

You can listen right now by clicking on THIS LINK.

You can also find the RAMONESMANIA podcast on iTunes.

For more information, you can find Ed online at www.edstasium.com

Thank you for listening.

I found this record in TIME BOMB RECORDS in Osaka, Japan, last year. I had been told to check this store out by some friends and while on holiday with my mum, we decided to go have a look. Well, I’m glad I went because while flicking through the singles, I found this 7″ of demos that I had never seen or even heard of before. I immediately grabbed it. I excitedly showed it to my mum who was patiently waiting for me to find some things to buy. She seemed about 11% interested in this at the time. HA! Still, thanks, Mum!

This 7″ has five tracks and the quality is pretty good for an unofficial bootleg of demos from 45 years ago. Each version is mostly played and sung the same way as what appeared on the debut LP. The biggest difference you will hear is the way Joey sings on the track I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend. I like this version, it’s a lot more 60s bubblegum pop like the Bay City Rollers or something. Judy Is A Punk is also interesting as Dee Dee’s backing vocals are really up front with Joey’s. Sounds cool and it’s one of my favourite versions of this song. Basically, the vocals are really clear and upfront. They are quite obviously double-tracked though so that may have something to do with it. Regardless, I like it.

Johnny’s guitars sound nice and raw and have this nice fuzz tone to them while Dee Dee’s bass sounds as stock as it comes. Tommy’s drums sound as great and I will always be impressed with his vision and production for getting this whole band off the ground. Dude was a genius and he knew what formula was going to work. When it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

The labels on the record are plain and offer no information whatsoever. In fact, the only info you have is what is written on the front and back cover. That’s it. Nothing else. No inserts. Nothing. Still, this is a great unofficial release and I’m stoked to have it. I believe these demos were also released as a 10″ record under the name Judy’s In The Basement – The 914 Sessions (1975). I hope to find a copy of that someday. If you have never heard these demos before, thankfully you can because some kind soul has uploaded them to YouTube which you can check out at the link below. Good times!

Hey Ho, Let’s Go with The Manges! The first episode of RAMONESMANIA for 2020 features none other than Andrea Manges; vocalist, guitarist and chief songwriter for Italy’s very own three chord rockers, The Manges. We talk all things RAMONES and it’s a jolly good time. You can join in the fun by clicking on THIS LINK.

The Manges have a new record out on September 25th which you can order directly from the label HERE. It’s the band’s fifth album and is 12 tracks of kick ass punk rock. Clocking in at around 24 minutes, it’s over before you know it. This album gets in, does the job and leaves. It’s wild. The sound is killer, it has great guitar tones, two cover tunes, and is good times. And that’s really what you want albums to be; good times. Nobody wants bad times when it comes to punk rock, right?!

THE BIG DAY OUT – January 28th, 1994.

The RAMONES were one of the headlining acts at the 1994 Big Day Out festival; Australia’s biggest music festival at the time. The main stage saw (in order) Teenage Fanclub, Smashing Pumpkins, The RAMONES and headliners of the day were Soundgarden. This would be my second time seeing the RAMONES and just like the first, I was going to make sure I got front row. This time I opted to stand on Johnny’s side of the stage because at the 1991 show, I was on CJ’s side and being the budding photographer I had hoped to be, I needed some good snapshots of Johnny. I was hoping to have stood center but that was already packed solid with people so I ran for Johnny’s side. Good choice.

So there I was, I had secured my spot and I was waiting eagerly for the band to start. I began chatting to those next to me just to vibe with those I will be singing ‘HEY HO LET’S GO!’ with. As it turns out, they were a bunch of Soundgarden fans and hadn’t left their spot all day, staying front row to watch Chris Cornell and his cohorts play without a care in the world for the RAMONES. This baffled me. You’re about to watch the best band in the world and you don’t care? So weird. Alas, the lights dropped and the theme from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly began playing. The crowd erupted into a huge roar as they walked out on the stage and blasted through 60 minutes of terrifyingly awesome punk rock at breakneck speeds. The crowd was going crazy. Bodies were flying everywhere. It was magnificent.

After the band had played, in a sweaty gross mess I turned to the Soundgarden fans standing next to me and said “how amazing was that!?!?!” to which they seem totally uninterested by what they had witnessed. “That was the greatest thing ever!”, I continued. The youngest of the group said “I caught this though” and showed me Johnny’s guitar pick. I straight away offered her $5 for it (it’s all I had left from the day). “I’ve never caught a guitar pick before…” she answered. Her friend said “Just give it to him, you didn’t even like the band.” After a moment, she said “sure, here you go” and handed it to me and I praised her with thanks and ran off into the night excited by what I now held in my hands. YES! A legit Johnny Ramone guitar pick that was actually used at a RAMONES show.

CJ RAMONE – The Tote Hotel, Melbourne. September 22nd, 2019.

When CJ announced last year that it was going to be his last year on the road, his final Australian tour was a definite must-see. I caught his previous tour in 2015 which was so much fun and there was no way I was going to miss what would most likely be his last ever club show tour here.

Just like the previous tour, this show was a hell of a lot of fun. The setlist was packed with RAMONES covers as well as some of his solo works which, to be honest, I wish we heard more songs from. Sure, I love the RAMONES songs as much as the next person but his solo albums are so freakin’ awesome and deserve much love! ANYWAY, so he played a killer show and afterwards came and hung out with the fans. It was rad. We had a bit of a chat, he signed the setlist for me and I was given two picks, one of his own CJ RAMONE picks and another; a tribute to his fallen brother, Steve Soto. May he RIP.