Your Favourite glam punks talk about

The RAMONES

Joey Ramone passed away, but in fact, we all know that he will always
live in every rocker's heart. Indeed, every individual listening to punk rock
(whether it is spiked punk rock, skate punk rock, pop punk, hardcore punk or
glam punk rock) owes The RAMONES something. We've all been to the
'Rock And Roll Highschool',all hanged out on the 'Rockaway Beach' and we
still 'Believe In Miracles'. Veglam Zine wanted to hear what glam punk rockers
would like to say about Joey's band.                                                                                                                                                                       

"Where we come from in Sweden people seem to always have loved the mighty Ramones. You can't go to a gig with a new band without them playing 'Blitzkrieg Bop'! The first meeting for me with punk-rock was The Ramones and I absolutely loved it and has been a great fan ever since. The Scarecrows first stuff was almost too Ramones-influed, actually in one of our first gigs we played 3 Ramones covers. Not 'Blitzkrieg Bop' though! I guess that every age, every day has got their own Ramones-clones. Sid Vicious was a Dee Dee, I was a Joey. Judy was a Punk, Jacky was a Runk! I will allways love the kings of 3 chord rock n' roll bliss! The Ramones are just too tough to die!" (Manxxx/The Scarecrows.)

"The Ramones were a huge influence on me and the Trash Brats. I think that is sorta obvious in our sound. I think they were one of the best punk and rock & roll bands ever. They showed us all how to keep it short and great. Real songs and not over-jamming whanking bullshit. The best rock & roll songs are all about the song and not how much junk the guitar player or bass player etc can jam into it. The ramones were the kings of simple 2-3 minute tunes of rock & roll joy, and really helped save rock & roll in the 70's from all the overblown radio rock shit like fleetwood mac, elo, etc etc. They proved that regular every day guys that love the music could pick up guitars and play regardless of what the business seemed to say-that ya had to have huge record contracts and play for years etc..the ramones threw all of that out the window-bless joey and them for it. I don't know if he ever fully realized the huge impact that he had on us all before he left us, but i somehow have a feeling he did-and just maybe knowing that, makes mesmile. Joey and the Ramones music will be with us as long as rock & roll is alive."
(Ricky Rat/the Trash Brats.)

"The first time i heard about the ramones was back in 1976 when my mom got back from l.a. and brought some hot records home. that was the ramones first album and the b-52's. i was a pantyshitter at that time but still i was very impressed by the style and sound of the ramones. my mom was anyways a huge influence on me. she always knew what's going on because she used to make clothes for a local punk rock store in zurich. when she told me how the ramones were like live it blew me away! it was none of that shitty top of the pops-behaviour! it was REAL attitude! so that's when i decided to walk the path of glam punk.
Zygi has also a nice story to tell :
he used to be the singer for quite a famous swiss 60s garage band called the Hitchhikers. they were good and soon they got the opportunity to open for the ramones! unfortunately the day before the gig was the band decided to part ways with zygi! but it was zygi's band! so bummed out and dead sad he got drunk for some months... the other side of the story goes like this: the band had to get immediate replacement - no matter what. so they picked up the first ugly punk rat on the street and thought him to sing. he couldn't sing actually and the gig with the ramones turned out to be a disaster. Imagine a screaching grawling horror voice to nice 60s beat.. oh well yeah, we had all our little memories with the ramones - some are good and some are bad... as live goes..."
(Sarah and Zygi/Gutter Queens)

"My Psycho dad took me to a Ramones show in '78. I wandered backstage and got a eyeful when I spied Joey sitting on the lap of the fattest girl I'd ever seen. Whan they saw me, they said 'Hey, what the fuck do you want ?' I said I wanted a beer and they told me to fuck off ! Outside the club adter the gig, my dad got into a fight with a pagan biker who hit him over the head with a bottle. I had to drive us home that night and I was only 8 years old !" (Johnny Jetson/The Time Bombs)

"I had a dream last nite : Joey just started a new band with Johnny Thunders, Sid Vicious & Razzle. He seemed all happy, the other guys looked fine too. Their tunes sounded great... Then, I woke up ???" ('O'/Undercover fuckin' Slut)

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