A rather morbid and depressing meme did the rounds a couple of years ago in which famous album covers from the ’60s and ’70s were turned into two-part GIFs – the first being the original cover, the second being the same cover but with the deceased members of the band edited out. Perhaps the single most heartbreaking of these was one based on the Ramones’ iconic self-titled album cover. Frame one: Johnny, Tommy, Joey, and Dee Dee Ramone, side by side up against a brick wall. Frame two: An empty street and a lonesome brick wall.
Although all of the original members of the Ramones are now playing the great gig in the sky, several of the group’s distinguished alumni have done everything within their power to keep the legacy alive. The most prominent of these is one Marc Steven Bell – better known, of course, as Marky Ramone, a musician who drummed for the band across two tenures, between 1978 and 1983, and from 1987 to the band’s eventual dissolution in 1996.
“We were all friends,” says Ramone of the early years he played in the band, replacing drummer and producer Tommy Ramone. “I was playing in a band called Richard Hell and the Voidoids, and we were labelmates with the Ramones. When Tommy and Johnny asked me to join the group, it was a really simple thing – it couldn’t have been easier. We had a rehearsal, and soon enough I was recording Road To Ruin with them, which Tommy was producing.”
A lot of the kids that come to see us play now weren’t even born when the Ramones broke up.
Ramone would go on to record another nine albums as part of the band, and play what he approximates to be some 1700 shows. And even after the group’s split some 21 years ago, Ramone has not rested for a second – his primary focus over the course of the 2010s has been Marky Ramone’s Blitzkreig, a fiery live show featuring a revolving door of veteran musicans and Ramones devotees. Ramone is the literal driving force behind the band’s live shows, which are ostensibly a tribute to the legacy of his one-time bandmates. “I feel like the guys in the band all died too young to see the fruits of their labour,” says Ramone.
“A lot of the kids that come to see us play now weren’t even born when the Ramones broke up. They sing along to all of the songs – they probably know them better than some of the older guys. They always come out to see us – we played in China on this tour and there were thousands of young people there. I was amazed – at one point, they were singing even louder than we were playing!
“I feel like doing these shows is a real way to bridge the generation gap. You’ve got the people that grew up with the band and have always come out, and you’ve got the younger crowd that never got to see the Ramones and love the band now. To see them all dancing and singing together, to have that integration… It’s really good to see that.”
The premise of a Marky Ramone’s Blitzkreig show is as easy as one, two, three – or, more fittingly in this instance, “ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR.” If there’s a song that’s widely considered a Ramones classic, you’re gonna hear it at the show – live, loud and in your face. Ramone himself is promising as close to a classic Ramones set as you’d get if his brothers were still on the frontline with him.
“We’re doing something like 36 Ramones songs. We’ve been playing all over the world, and it’s the best it’s ever sounded. I’ve had the same guys for the last two years, and we couldn’t get any tighter. We’re straight into every song with a ‘one-two-three-four’. There’s no stops. The guys all know that they have to keep up with me, and they all do their jobs really well. Everywhere we’ve played has had really nice things to say about it.”
At 65, Ramone has certainly reached an age where it wouldn’t be all that out of the ordinary for him to reduce touring and keep his commitments to a minimum – especially after dedicating over 45 years to the cause. In classic punk spirit, however, the Brooklyn-born drummer is adamant about maintaining his regime; ensuring that he is still able to play at the same speed and with the same precision that he did when the Ramones were in their prime.
“I wouldn’t do this if I wasn’t confident that I could still play exactly the same,” he says. “I’ve never had a problem keeping up the energy factor – I don’t smoke anymore, I stopped drinking over 30 years ago and I never did hard drugs. My exercise is going to my studio and playing drums for two hours straight, four times a week. That’s when I’m not touring, of course – when I am, I’m playing drums every night. I know our set and the songs off by heart. I don’t even need a guitarist or a bass player there.”
The songs you’re going to hear, too, have been scientifically tested – at least, as scientifically as punk gets. “I have videotapes from 400 Ramones shows that I played,” says Marky. “I pick my sets by going through each of those shows and seeing what songs always got the best reactions. I want that momentum through our whole show.”
Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg hits the Manning Bar on Thursday November 23. Read our feature with another Ramone, Richie, here.
