CJ Ramone of The Ramones

Today on the Neil Haley Show, The Total Tutor Neil Haley will interview CJ Ramone of The Ramones.

Hey ho, let’s go! For generations of punk aficionados the Ramones remain one of the most important rock’n’roll bands of all time, and in the midst of their amazing career young bassist Chris Ward got to join his heroes on the frontline and spend seven years as CJ Ramone. He talks to Steve Bell about life behind the Ramones’ curtain, strange but fulfilling relationships and keeping the band’s wonderful music alive.

After a particularly fractious time in the band’s notoriously fractured history (which had kicked off way back in 1974), founding bassist Dee Dee Ramone left the band – although strangely he continued to contribute songs for years after his departure – and his big shoes were filled by Ward, who then got to spend seven years alongside his heroes as CJ Ramone (all Ramones members adopted the band name as their own, helping forge the image of a gang), touring the world and playing the songs that he’d grown up worshipping to armies of equally fanatical devotees.

The Ramones eventually split in 1996, and now sadly all four original Ramones members have passed away, leaving only CJ and later-era drummers Marky Ramone and Richie Ramone alive to carry the flame. CJ was a veteran of three Australian tours with the Ramones – 1989, 1991 and 1994.

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