{"id":527,"date":"2024-01-16T15:47:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T15:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjramone.com\/?p=527"},"modified":"2024-09-16T15:49:30","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T15:49:30","slug":"interview-cj-ramone-talks-about-his-last-chance-to-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjramone.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/16\/interview-cj-ramone-talks-about-his-last-chance-to-dance\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW: CJ RAMONE TALKS ABOUT HIS \u2018LAST CHANCE TO DANCE\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Interview with vocalist\/bassist CJ Ramone | By Janelle Jones<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I talked to former Ramones bassist and Marine Corps vet CJ Ramone<\/strong><\/a> about his current outfit, which also includes the Adolescents\u2019 Steve Soto and Dan Root (guitars) and Social Distortion\u2019s David Hidalgo Jr. (drums). The band\u2019s latest album, Last Chance to Dance<\/em>, incorporates all the goodness that made the Ramones so great, vacillating between tough, aggressive songs and poppier tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=sQsbOZIsFbY%3Fshowinfo%3D0\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You just got back from Japan. Do you go there a lot?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I was there in 2010 and last year, 2013, I played the Fuji Rock Festival. This time I actually went over to do some songs from my new record and to do a bunch of Ramones stuff for the Ramones 40th anniversary this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who did you have playing with you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have Steve Soto and Dan Root from the Adolescents and this time I brought a friend of mine, Joe Rizzo from NYC. He plays with Walter Lure\u2019s band [The Waldos] but he\u2019s played with just about everybody who\u2019s ever been big in NYC. We had five shows and every one of them was unbelievable. I started playing out again in 2008 and I slowly started making my way around the world again. It\u2019s been really great because every year we\u2019re pulling in more and more fans. I\u2019ve done everything pretty quietly; I haven\u2019t been real loud about anything. I released my last record Reconquista <\/em>through a crowdfunding site. I\u2019ve kept it kinda under the radar for a while but this year we got signed to Fat Wreck Chords, so we\u2019re starting to make a little bit of noise now. My favorite shows are anywhere from 250 to 500, maybe 1000 people. I like playing in those size rooms where it\u2019s a low stage and the crowd\u2019s right there in front of you and you get that energy trade. I guess it\u2019s kinda old school. But we\u2019ve been really lucky. Every year without advertising we\u2019ve gotten more and more offers. I\u2019ve been in Brazil every year for the past three years. We\u2019ve been down to South America every year for six or seven years. We\u2019ve been over to Europe a few times. I\u2019m flying over to do a show in Munster, Germany, with a band called the Donots. I may do a quick stop over in Berlin and do a show over at the Ramones Museum Berlin, but that\u2019s not a definite, it\u2019s whether or not we have the time to coordinate it. It\u2019s nice touring this way because I have three kids and a wife so it\u2019s nice to go out a few weeks here and there and be home for weeks at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About South America, I forget which book it was exactly, I\u2019m not sure if it was the \u201cofficial\u201d biography or another one, but it said that in South America the people would go crazy for the Ramones.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. When we went there it was like Beatlemania. The last concert we played there was a soccer stadium. We were really big down there. We were up there with the Rolling Stones and Guns N\u2019 Roses. It was wild. We had to have security guys everywhere we went. We couldn\u2019t go out in public; we\u2019d get just completely mobbed, so it was interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh and I noticed on your Facebook page, you were actually in Berlin when the Berlin Wall fell. That\u2019s crazy!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was my first time over in Germany and the promoter wanted to take us over to the Berlin Wall. We were over there and there was a hole broken through and we peeked through and there were two guards on the other side. I actually bought one of the guys\u2019 military covers and his belt buckle off of him for a couple of bucks and I said to the promoter, \u201cWas that enough money?\u201d And he\u2019s like, \u201cThat\u2019s probably a month\u2019s salary for that guy.\u201d I still have them too with a piece of the Wall saved. I was new to the band so that alone was pretty cool. But then to be there for a big historic event like that made it even better. It was just good timing. But the really cool thing was we were the first band to go into East Berlin and play after the Wall came down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was wondering, joining such a huge, iconic band was it hard at first?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a little weird because I was such a big fan. Dee Dee was my favorite Ramone. That made it kinda strange. But the way I treated it was I got hired to do a job and I was just gonna do it the best that I absolutely could. I didn\u2019t wanna let the band down and I didn\u2019t wanna let the fans down. I didn\u2019t try to be Dee Dee; I didn\u2019t try to take his place. I just tried to get out there and be myself. I definitely took a little flak early on. People just weren\u2019t happy. They felt like it wasn\u2019t the Ramones if Dee Dee wasn\u2019t there, but in the end I guess because the fans didn\u2019t just accept me from the get-go it meant a lot more. I took a lot\u2500I mean, I got hit with everything you can imagine: shoes and handfuls of change, bottles thrown at me. I was covered in spit every show so it wasn\u2019t easy. But I didn\u2019t let it affect me. I didn\u2019t care; I was in the Ramones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s crazy to think that all the original guys have passed. Did they give you any words to live by type stuff? Going through all that, did they encourage you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, when I was going through it no, not really. They didn\u2019t say nothing. I guess they ignored it and Johnny just made sure I stayed focused. Johnny was in charge of the band. He did not accept anything less than doing your absolute best which was good because it kept me on my toes. Realistically out of everybody I probably learned more from Johnny and not just about the industry, but just in general. Joey and me were more like friends, we\u2019d go to shows together and hang out, but Johnny was more like my teacher or my mentor. But I learned a lot from them in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then I know you started doing stuff afterwards and then under the CJ Ramone \u201csolo\u201d name and had <\/strong>Reconquista <\/strong><\/em>in 2012 and then this one. What made you go with Fat? Did they approach you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nope. Since the Ramones retired, all the books that came out, to me anyway, there was a lot of negativity in it. It seemed to focus more on them being bad people than their actual careers and stuff. I just felt like they weren\u2019t being represented well out there and that people lost focus of what made them great and what made everybody like them. I figured the best thing to do was to go out and start playing their music again and remind everybody about what made them great and take the legacy back, so to speak. There\u2019s been a lot made of Joey and Johnny\u2019s relationship and people not getting along and all that stuff, but I always tell people it\u2019s just like a family. With families, sometimes you get along, sometimes you don\u2019t. Johnny and Joey had other issues but they understood that the Ramones were important. Before their own personal feelings, they always considered the band and their careers first. To me, that\u2019s the real story. Not who fucked whose girlfriend or who was a drug addict or drank too much. All that stuff to me is trashy stuff. I was never into that type of information on bands. All I cared about was the music. That seemed to be the sole focus of everything that came out after Joey and Johnny had died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, then it\u2019s like, look at how long they\u2019d been together. Of course there\u2019s gonna be some differences and arguments.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yup. Twenty two years is a long time to work any job, and no matter how cool it is it\u2019s gonna get a little boring. Most marriages don\u2019t even come close to lasting 22 years. If you consider how many shows we did a year and the fact that we traveled together, ate together, had rooms next to each other, we couldn\u2019t get away from each other if we wanted to. To me that shows a lot of commitment and drive. That\u2019s really the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you planning a U.S. tour?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully next summer we\u2019ll be out to support the record. Like I said I\u2019ll be over in Europe before the end of the year. Right now, none of this is written in stone, but I think March we\u2019re gonna be in South America, April we\u2019re booking some stuff over in Europe and hopefully in January and February we\u2019ll be going down to Australia and maybe back to Japan for one or two shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So about this record, one song \u201cMr. Kalashnikov,\u201d is that one of your more political ones? I know he died last year, but this is more to do with gun policies?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, it\u2019s got more to do with the gun policy thing. It\u2019s really like a double-edged thing because in some places everybody owning a gun is good because at least the average guy\u2019s got a chance if anything goes down. In other places it ain\u2019t so good. It\u2019s just a way for the bad guys to keep control. But I\u2019m a big fan of the Kalashnikov, I always have been. It\u2019s such a simple little piece of machinery I just happen to be a fan of. I grew up around guns, I\u2019ve always had guns. I maintain at least having one gun in the house forever. I\u2019m a hunter, so it\u2019s not like I do it just because I\u2019m a fan of guns. I\u2019ve written a couple songs in the past about guns. With the Ramones on the last record [Adios Amigos!<\/em>] I have a song \u201cScattergun\u201d so it\u2019s a subject I write about every once in awhile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about choosing the song \u201cLast Chance to Dance\u201d to be the title of the record?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I went into the studio to record I didn\u2019t have a title for the record and as we were sitting around in the studio and I started looking around for artwork and thinking about what I wanted to do I came across the photo which is now the album cover. And when I started to come up with a title I felt that song went with the artwork really well, so I just figured that was the best way to go. The title and the image go so well together that the more I thought about it the more I liked it. It just stuck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You end it with the super hardcore \u201cCluster Fuck.\u201d Did you know from the beginning that\u2019s gonna close it out? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan Root wrote the music for that one and that\u2019s actually the most political song on the record, probably the most political song I\u2019ve ever written. I\u2019m not too big into politics, I\u2019m really not. I vote but I don\u2019t really preach or talk about it that much. I feel like it\u2019s a personal opinion type of thing, but I just felt that song really fit the end of the record well. What we were talking about before, about learning from the guys in the band, that\u2019s one thing Johnny taught me: Your live set and the way you put tracks on your record, the way to do that is to take people through a little bit of an emotional rollercoaster. That\u2019s what I try to keep in mind when I make a set list or when I do the tracking on the record. That one is just really powerful and quick and I felt like it was a suckerpunch at the end of the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about \u201cWon\u2019t Stop Swinging\u201d? There\u2019s something really powerful about that song.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That one Steve Soto wrote the music for and I wrote the lyrics. That one is about kinda growing up here on Long Island. When I was younger I worked at Republic Fairchild, it was an aircraft factory. I worked there pretty much right out of high school. I was only there for a little while and they started closing down the factory, so I lost my job there. That was a really good union job. My dad had worked there for years. He got me in there and I thought that was my security blanket, I wouldn\u2019t have to look for another job because I\u2019d be there until I retired or at least until I did something with music. And it closed down and the economy on LI was really crap back then. There weren\u2019t many good jobs. I was landscaping and just not doing much with myself and I woke up one morning and was like I gotta get out of here and enlisted in the Marine Corps, so I got out of here and funny enough, when I was in the Marine Corps is when I got the audition for the Ramones. So it was a really weird chain of events. That song relates to that whole time period in my life where I just felt like I didn\u2019t wanna give in and do nothing and just live and die in my hometown. I wanted to get out. I wanted to see the world and experience stuff. And that\u2019s where \u201cWon\u2019t Stop Swinging\u201d came in. I just promised myself I wouldn\u2019t give up, I\u2019d keep going. I\u2019m glad I did. I\u2019m lucky enough it actually happened for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working on this record, how long did it take you to write and record?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I never stop writing songs\u2500 I almost have an entire record written right now. So right after we finished recording Reconquista<\/em>, we went out on the road and I started writing. Writing the record didn\u2019t take me all that long. The good thing about that is you have plenty of time before you record to tweak it and make changes, come up with harmonies and melody lines. We did all the tracking in two, three weeks and then of course the mixing and mastering took another couple of months. But it\u2019s not a real difficult process for me. I love doing it, I love writing songs, I love recording. It\u2019s a painless thing for me. I know people who hate being in the studio, writing a new record is like pulling teeth for them, but I really enjoy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you first got into punk and hardcore?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black Sabbath was always my favorite, the first band I fully got into. I come from a total metal background, but I picked up punk rock along the way and got into all the old punk-rock staples, but I never played in a punk rock band, I only played in metal bands. In my town, Deer Park, it was all heavy metal. Anybody who played, [they] played metal. There wasn\u2019t anything else to <\/em>play. But when I got the audition for the Ramones it was really strange because I didn\u2019t play with a pick; I always played with my fingers. The one good thing is a lot of their stuff is kind of aggressive and live they played really fast, so it wasn\u2019t a hard thing for me to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least from, like my boyfriend he was born in 1969, your era, and he\u2019s into everything, metal, hardcore punk, but there was a time when it was partitioned: you couldn\u2019t be in the different scenes. And that time when it merged, like DRI and Corrosion of Conformity. Were you into that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yup, absolutely. It was a really weird time period. There was total separation of everything back then. Everything existed in its own little bubble. But some time in the \u201880s you started to see a lot of crossover stuff and a lot of people that just straddled two scenes and it wasn\u2019t like that before. I always was a music fan. My dad brought me up listening to country and \u201850s music when I was really young. All the \u201960s classic rock and \u201970s pop stuff. I really went through the whole gamut from when I was a kid, which was good. And I kinda never got the whole separation of scenes thing. To me, if it was good it was good. But it\u2019s neat now because that doesn\u2019t exist on any plain anymore. There\u2019s still a conservative music scene but it\u2019s nowhere near like it used to be. It used to be violent towards other music scenes. Even in the punk rock scene, some of the punk shows I\u2019d go to, the classic battle was the punks versus the skins and the metal guys versus everybody.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview with vocalist\/bassist CJ Ramone | By Janelle Jones I talked to former Ramones bassist and Marine Corps vet CJ Ramone about his current outfit, which also includes the Adolescents\u2019 Steve Soto and Dan Root (guitars) and Social Distortion\u2019s David Hidalgo Jr. (drums). The band\u2019s latest album, Last Chance to Dance, incorporates all the goodness that made the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjramone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjramone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjramone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjramone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjramone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjramone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":530,"href":"https:\/\/cjramone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions\/530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjramone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjramone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjramone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjramone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}