When most bands put out a live record you expect it to be good, maybe a few of your favourite songs and some banter or whatever. It’s all kind of a pedestrian concept.
But when Me First and the Gimme Gimmes do it all bets are off.
You might know the songs, but it’s doubtful you’re a fan and yeah, there might be banter but sure as fuck things are about to get weird. The Gimmes’ latest live record is set at an actual honest-to-god quinceañera where no one in the crowd knows who they are – because why play to your fans when you can play to a bunch of people who’d likely throw out their stereo if they heard a punk song? It’s a hell of a concept and needless to say, the record fucking rules.
We were fortunate enough to get the chance to talk to CJ Ramone (yes, CJ Ramone of the fucking Ramones) to talk about the new record, ME FIRST AND THE GIMME GIMMES – ¡BLOW IT…AT MADISON’S QUINCEAÑERA!.
So the new album, it’s exciting for a lot of people because, you know, their first live album is a classic, and it’s really funny. So is the new one. It’s really something different to what you get from most bands. How did it come up?
I think it’s 10 years since the Gimmes had done a record and Spike had brought it up and said ’hey, thinking about doing the record’ and he started listing off some of the songs. Initially, we had not heard the Mexican songs that were on there. We had heard the more contemporary stuff – the Olivia Rodrigo [song] and one of the other ones. So when we finally got the list of all the tracks and the recordings of all the tracks, we realised it was going to be a bit more than a typical Gimmes record.
Because, the Mexican songs, although we make them kind of sound like a Gimme song, they’re not actually arranged like traditional rock and roll or punk rock songs are. So it actually took us a while to really nail all those tracks to really get them; Because we weren’t just doing a live recording, we were filming it, too. So we had to get it right.
So when Spike first brought it to us, we all looked at each other like, ‘oh, boy, what audience are we targeting?’ But one thing I’ve learned with Spike [after] playing with him now for several years, is he has an unbelievable knack for picking good stuff. And of course going back early on,it was a kind of a shared thing between the original members and the Gimmies. But since I’ve been in the band he just has a knack for nailing them. And he really, really did a good job picking songs on this one. I mean, having listened to the record a couple of times now, it sounds like a Gimmies record. And that’s the biggest compliment I could give it.
And it’s one of the fun things about the Gimmies; they’ve got their own sound that they’ve infused into songs that everyone knows. I once took a friend to a show when you were in Australia. And he’s like ‘Oh, man I don’t know any of their songs’ and I was like ‘well… you probably do know some’.
Yeah, I tell people that all the time because my friends that I’ve known for years, that saw me with the Ramones and my solo thing. I get in touch with them. When I first started talking with the Gimmies. I’d be like, ‘Hey, I’m playing with the new band come out, see the show?’ And they’re like, ‘I don’t really know the band. And I’ve seen you play a bunch times’. I’m like, ‘You have not seen this. You gotta see it’, and every one of them afterwards. Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, my God, I didn’t know whether to laugh be insulted and cry. Like why? Oh, they were like, ‘Oh, my God, What? What?’
What’s what made you get into this man that have held you end up with this man. But it’s funny, because the gal who used to book me, Stormy Shepherd, booked all my tours [and] also books the Gimmies, and when the Gimmies were looking for a bass player, she actually said, ‘Hey, you should get in touch with CJ, because he’d probably be interested’. And, of course, I was immediately interested.
Yeah, I mean, you’re such a good fit for the band as well. Something that struck me on this record is that, you can actually hear a lot more of your sort of signature sound in the bass… in the way that these songs come together. Obviously, you’ve had to step in for Mike, who has his own sort of sound. Is that something that you’re allowed to, like, really go for when the songs are coming together?
From the jump they told me, ‘You be CJ, we’re bringing you on to be CJ, we’re not bringing you on to try to be Mike or J Bentley’ from Bad Religion, who was actually in the band directly before me.
They were like, ‘We want you… we’re bringing you on to be CJ’. But while my sound is very much the same, I tried doing all down picking on the stuff. And all of the tracks… most of them… are way, way too fast for down picking. So I actually had to learn to alternate pick when I first got into the band, which was fun, and interesting. But now I’m really comfortable with it. And it’s a lot of fun.
But I still pick very aggressively. And, my sound is my sound. It was nice to come in and they just say, ‘hey you do what you do. And that’s what we want on stage’. But it’s a cautionary tale. I tell everybody. I’m like, I am the poster boy for what happens when you stay in the music business too long. You end up wearing cheap clothes playing cover songs. But realistically, when I stopped doing the CJ Ramone thing, I was really done. I had had enough of carrying the ball for a long time, and I was just tired.
But this… man this is so much more fun. All I have to do is show up and play bass. I sing background vocals when I want to. Everybody in the band is really cool. I’m touring in a bus… only took me 30 years of playing in a band to finally tour on a tour bus. It’s a perfect retirement job, like perfect.
It’s unreal. And they’re such fun shows. I’ve seen the Gimmes quite a few times now and it’s always surprising. Different songs, the rotating roster of musicians. The crowd just gets into it. It’s not like going to see some premier rock band where if they don’t play your favourite song you’re gonna cry. Everyone’s just like, what will be will be and that’s alright.
Yeah, well, you know, the interesting thing that Spike and I were just talking about was a lot of the songs are songs that as a young punk, you would have hated – a lot of the songs [are] disco songs and Beach Boys songs and stuff that you definitely would not have listened to. However the older you get, you hear them and they go, ‘oh, maybe they weren’t so bad’. But that’s pretty much the criteria for how the Gimmies pick songs.
They pick songs that most punks would have hated when they were younger, and they just took them and made them into punk songs. It’s kind of funny too… it’s like rubbing people’s faces in it.
Oh for sure. Man back in the day there’s plenty of stuff I would have rejected outright and now I just hear the beauty of the melody or whatever.
I mean, that’s something about me from when I was a kid, I was always a music fan. I wasn’t necessarily a genre fan. I loved Heavy Metal, I grew up playing in heavy metal bands, right? Because there were no punk bands where I lived, right? So I grew up playing in heavy metal bands, I loved metal. But I also grew up on country music, because when I was really young, my mom and dad listened to a lot of country. I grew up with all this stuff.
My parents listen to Van Morrison and Johnny Cash and everything. Rod Stewart, like, all these artists that when I was a kid, I grew up listening to it. My mom also loved classical music. So we had some classical music on in the house. So I really grew up listening to everything.
When I got into metal, I really got into it, because metal was the first style of music I found on my own. I heard Black Sabbath and I was like, ‘oh my god, what is that?’ You know what I mean? And that was it. So for a good long time, I really pretty much only listened to punk and metal.
But as the years have gone on, I go deeper and deeper into my record collection. And I think most people, most older people who are really into music will tell you, the older you get the closer you get to the stuff you listened to when you were a teenager. And even deeper than that.
I think for kids today, it’s not like it was when I was younger, where like, if you were part of the punk scene, you could only be part of the punk scene. There was even a time period where [there were] metal kids and punk kids and hardcore kids. That was three different groups of kids that did not mix very often. The hardcore and the punk kids maybe, but the metal kids and hardcore and punk kids couldn’t stand up near each other or it was on.
But things have changed a lot. I think kids now benefit from that. There isn’t such a stigma attached to being a fan of music in general. And I’ve got to work and play with some younger people who create pretty interesting music because of that.
I think part of what would make it fun as a musician doing what you’re doing is that you’re getting to play all these different genres of music. And year to year you’re playing a whole bunch of different songs. You’re not getting up and playing the same 20 Song Setlist or something? Does that keep it fresh? Is that why it’s such a great ‘retirement gig’ as you call it?
Yeah, it really is. It really is neat. And I gotta say, some of the songs I really do enjoy playing. It’s just playing covers, it’s always fun. It really is. It’s always fun when you do them like the Gimmies are doing. I couldn’t tell you what it’s like to play in a cover band doing contemporary music or something like that. But in the Gimmies it is so much fun.
It’s so much fun just to rip the songs up and be able to riff and be aggressive with it. It really is a good time. And all the guys I played with are really good players. We’re all solid veterans with multiple years on the road. So there wasn’t a lot of drama.
In fact, I really appreciate it… And everyone knows the stories about the Ramones and all the drama there. So it’s nice to be in a camp where everybody gets treated with mutual respect.
Yeah, I can imagine. And, I’ve had a chat with a couple of guys in the band and every one of them has been just really down to earth. I think most importantly, they’re people who love music. They love what they’re doing. Anyway I think we’re running out of time. So, CJ, thanks so much for chatting. The record is great. I think the fans are gonna really really dig it. Is there anything you want to say to the fans that might be reading this on Wall of Sound who are as excited as I am?
The new record is called Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Blow it at Madison’s Quinceañera and it’s a really good record. It’s a really, really good record and all the old school Gimme fans will dig it.