Culture
Marky Ramone talks about ‘punking up’ the classics, DJing for SiriusXM, and bringing the Ramones to new generations
By: Emily Votaw
Posted on:
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WOUB) – Starting in the mid-’70s, the Ramones became the unintentional pioneers of a new kind of American rock ’n’ roll that was raw, intense, and far more sincere than the polished brand of pop music that was burning up the American charts.
While they were immediately celebrated by those “in the know,” it wouldn’t be until after the Ramones wrapped up their decades of nearly constant touring that the band would get widespread recognition.
Marc Steven Bell, better known as Marky Ramone, is the only surviving “core” member of the band – having replaced founding member and drummer Tommy Ramone shortly after the band’s third record.
In 2002, Marky was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame right alongside the four founding members – Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, and Tommy – and Marky was the group’s most consistent drummer throughout its – in retrospect – tragically short duration.
Marky continues to bring the legacy of the Ramones to new generations, touring extensively with his own band, Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg.
Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg is set to play the Louder than Life Festival in Louisville September 26. Ahead of that performance, WOUB Culture spoke with Marky Ramone about the EP covering classic songs recently released by his group (Punkin’ Out the Classics), his two programs on SiriusXM Radio, and what it’s like carrying the legacy of a group as important as the Ramones.
Listen to the conversation, embedded in the Soundcloud widget above, and read a transcript edited for length and clarity, below.
Emily Votaw: So earlier this year Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg released Punkin’ Out the Classics – covers of songs like New York, New York and Octopus’ Garden. I’m curious: what makes those songs classics to you? Why did you choose them?
Marky Ramone: Well, I always liked them. I wanted to “Ramones” them up a little, which I did. I always, always thought they were great songs. Like It’s Not Unusual by Tom Jones, Keep On Dancing by The Gentries and New York, New York by Frank Sinatra and Octopus’s Garden by The Beatles. There was just something special about them and I knew that if I punked them up they would sound great for today’s style.
Yeah, absolutely. Had you played those live at all or have you got to play those live yet?
Ramone: Well, we played New York, New York live, and we’re going to start doing those soon. They are on YouTube, you could see them on there. And I just did a cover of Dean Martin’s Everybody Loves Somebody. So that’s punked up too. Very, very Ramone.
You host two shows on SiriusXM. I’m wondering: how do you prepare for those shows and what do you like about being a DJ?
Ramone: Well, I can do it anywhere in the world, which is great. If I’m on tour, I can just go to a studio in the place that I’m performing in. I call my producer, I pick the songs. He is just there to piece together the radio show and that’s so simple. So it’s just me picking the songs, talking about them and introducing them and my producer just kind of puts the pieces together.
Very cool. How do you know that you’ve put together a good radio show? Are there any things you kind of look for?
Ramone: Well, I basically know the songs that I’m picking. All I play on my show is punk, classic punk from up until like ’90, ’92 from ’74 to ’92. So it’s all classic punk bands that started it all. So I know exactly what I’m picking because I’ve heard it a lot of times before.
Yeah, that makes sense. So, The Ramones get a lot of attention these days, people talk about the group a lot. From your perspective, what are some of the biggest misconceptions people have about the group?
Ramones: A lot of people think we’re brothers and we’re not. I mean, we acted like that, but we were just a bunch of friends. And a lot of people think that I was born in Queens with the other Ramones. I was born in Brooklyn, so that’s another thing people get wrong, and that’s basically it.
Well, I also want to ask about Ramones Raw, the documentary. I understand the videos used in that documentary were yours. How did you have the foresight to record that stuff? I mean, people record stuff all the time now, but not back then.
Ramone: Yeah, well I brought two cameras, and they were pretty big at the time. I knew that if I recorded stuff that I would give it to Johnny, Joey and Dee Dee and they might like it. And it was really just a close-knit situation. I never thought of it doing something commercial with it until later on. So that’s what you get is raw, basically 95 percent of it is my footage and I have so much footage I could make a Raw Two, Three, or Four. So I got so much footage that it’s amazing just to look back on it.
Yeah, what sort of feelings do you get looking back on that footage?
Ramone: Oh great. Very positive, happy that we were able to do what we dreamt of doing and just seeing all the reactions from our great fans and friends and smiles on people’s faces and it’s just a cool thing to see.
For sure. And that documentary made me understand how popular the Ramones were in countries outside the U.S. at the time. Could you talk a little bit about that? What was that like to go to other countries and be mobbed by fans?
Ramone: Well, if you ever saw the movie A Hard Day’s Night by the Beatles, it was like that – 10 times more though, especially in Argentina and Brazil. Fans almost tipped over our van when we had a stop at a red light and they all started running after us and we didn’t know what to think because it never happened before. So they were on top of the van and when we saw the footage I was filming, we were very grateful that there were other countries that really accepted us like that.
Why do you think other countries sort of seemed to understand the band maybe before the U.S. did?
Ramone: I don’t know. That’s how weird things are. Then eventually we got big in the United States, but it took time here, but a whole new generation came about and started liking the Ramones. So it’s better late than never. So we eventually, especially in Europe and England and Japan and Mexico and Spain and all those places, we’re pretty big there too. So is my band that I’ve had for the last three, four years.
Yeah, I wanted to ask about that because I know just recently were playing overseas, in Europe. What’s the difference between a European crowd and an American crowd in your experience?
Ramone: Well, I’ll tell you, the Ramones fans are basically the same everywhere. They want to hear the fast tempo, they want to hear the 1, 2, 3, 4. They don’t want to hear any talking in between songs. They don’t want over the top lighting. You can see the groups, there’s no tricks, there’s no auto tuning, there’s none of that. A lot of bands use a lot of the lighting. They don’t want to be seen that well. And a lot of ’em probably have new members and they don’t want to disappoint the audience, but they still use the same name. The auto tuning, we never had to rely on that. And to me, I don’t want to offend anybody. I just feel it cheats the audience.
For sure. And I’m calling because you’re playing Louder Than Life in September. What’s it like to play those sorts of festivals?
Ramone: Well, we’ve played in front of 50,000 people. We’ve play in front of 20,000 people. We’ve played in front of a thousand people. So everything’s different. You learn from each one. You still learn no matter how long you’ve been doing it. I ’em all, I think that the larger the audience, the more people see you. But then again, when you’re playing in front of a thousand people, you’re a lot closer and you’re able to connect better.
That makes sense. What’s it like to perform at a festival when there are ever folks out in the crowd that maybe, I mean it might be the first time some people are hearing these songs. Do you ever get that sense?
I know you’ve been sober for decades now. Congratulations on that. I was wondering, what are some of the key things that have helped you stay sober for so long?
Ramone: Well, realizing what’s more important, your path to life and your career and the everyday life of being normal instead of drinking too much. I was a periodic. I didn’t drink every day, but when I did, I was with the boys and having fun. But after while it was like I got sick of it. I’m not saying no one should drink. I had a lot of fun. I don’t regret it, but it started getting to the best of me, so I just stopped. That’s what it took.