Richie Ramone
Ah yeah, he was in a band you might have heard of, the Fucking Ramones. Might have heard of em. Richie was the drummer on three Ramones LPs (Too Tough to Die, Animal Boy and Half way to Sanity) and was the fastest and best drummer the group had in my opinion. Richie is my third favourite Ramone, and this interview is one of the times the fanboy in me came out. I spoke to him the day of his gig at the Tote.
Munster: You’ve come back to Melbourne very quickly so something must have gone, right?
Richie: Yeah, we had fun the first time and they asked us back so we grabbed the chance.
Munster: How did you find the members of the band you have backing you?
Richie: ah you know on the streets of Los Angles (laughs)
Munster: What process went into making the new LP Cellophane?
Richie: We recorded at a studio in LA which is a nice studio, took some time off with Paul who was the producer. It went really smooth
Munster: I saw CJ Ramone last year and his set was like 50 50, half the songs his own solo stuff the other half Ramones tracks, how do you work out the balance for your set?
Richie: I dunno I do stuff I wrote for the Ramones some classics and some of my own stuff so about a third each. You just can’t sit there and do all Ramones there was only one Ramones I just do them for the fans.
Munster: How Important is it for you to keep the Ramones Legacy alive?
Richie: Well you wanna give respect to the band but I don’t really think of the legacy or any of that stuff, you wanna do good by them and do my own stuff, but I don’t think any of that legacy stuff. Marky Ramones does but not me.
Munster: Yeah well otherwise you’d just be doing the Ramones and nothing else as opposed to creating your own stuff.
Richie: yeah well, I’m my own artist when I was in the band I was my own artists. Still am always will be.
Munster: I read you composed a piece of music for a production of West side story, what was that like?
Richie: I arranged a piece an 18-minute piece that was really cool. I’m busy with this tour but I’d love to do it again. I’ll be busy next year but one day. When we do orchestra stuff we play for police officers and politicians, no Ramones fans
Munster: When you joined the Ramones Joey credited you with shaving the band and giving new energy into the group, what was it you brought to the band?
Richie: When you change drummers, you change sound and attitude I brought a more aggressive attitude things got louder and faster. That’s my style whether it was any good I dunno. When you got a new player everyone’s on their best behaviour everyone was friendly again and they needed that they had a few sleeper records before too tough to die, they got Tommy back and they made a great record again.
Munster: You mentioned you played fast and aggressive and Dee Dee and Johnny were already fast players, since your drum style was faster than Tommy and Markys do you think you kept Johnny and Dee Dee on their toes?
Richie: possibly I can’t speak for them but it was a strong line up and we worked really well. Johnny was very pleased.
Munster: he seemed like a hard man to please.
Richie: (laughs)
Munster: Tell us about the recording of Too Tough to Die (a favourite LP of mine)
Richie: I was in the studio a day and a half maybe like 15 hours I banged it all in one take and I was out of there. We recorded really fast then we let Joey do this thing. Tommy just let me do my thing so it was a great experience. I just did my job I didn’t get to involved with other stuff.
Munster: Which other drummers influenced you?
Richie: I was never influenced by one drummer, I liked John Bonham Buddy Rich two sides of the spectrum two great drummers but I never studied them or anything like that I listened to all kinds of music and developed my skills that way. That’s better than being sold on one thing. That’s the best way to learn do it your own way so you’ll be original and if you’re not original what’s the point?
Munster: WHATS it like for you being up front as opposed to being behind the kit?
Richie: kinda natural for me to do a whole show behind the drums singing is not the same as opposed to being up front where I can kick the kids in the head so I need to go up there but I’m not doing cartwheels or doing any funny I’m just being me and singing and that works the best, punk rock there’s nothing phoney about it’s just being me. I have fun doing both I’m a drummer first but I like getting up front especially in the small clubs.
Munster: in a deleted scene from End of the Century you mentioned you and Johnny were massive baseball fans.
Richie: yeah, a few times, if we had an hour or two we’d check out a game. We’d checkout all the stadiums round the country that was kinda fun, we’d hang out for a few innings then go to sound check.
Munster: you a Yankees fan?
Richie: yeah of course, if I was anything different me and John would have problems
Munster: how will they go next season?
Richie: I dunno haven’t been following em much this yeah. They need a good pitcher, baseball really comes down to the pitcher.
Munster: What’s next?
Richie: More touring, we’ve been nonstop this year, next year We’ll take a break for a bit but just playing shows is what we do. It’s a great life what I do and I wanna continue doing it.
Joey and Richie. ANY picture with Joey is beautiful, this one makes me happy inside.
