AFTER-SCHOOL SESSIONS 15 YEARS AFTER SCHOOL

AFTER-SCHOOL SESSIONS 15 YEARS AFTER SCHOOL

IF ALL MEN WER BRUDDERS...

Cynthia Rose

by

LONDON—The brothers Ramone—four schlepps whose schleppiness transmogrified the traumas of career adolescence into an entire art form—constitute Americas greatest white gift to rock history during the past 10 years. And if you think thats an overstatement, you should be situated in the U.K.: stranded midway between California dreamers/L.A. hard-heads and Krauts who alternate three-chord steel-bashing with strolls down lonely street to Hotel zur Einsamkeit. From the vantage point, its easy i to see how NO ONE within the domain of honky Hi-Fi affiliations has actually equaled the continuing musical and conceptual impact of the Forest Hills Four.

Born in the spring of 74, the Ramones began to break in the Bicentennial year and their subsequent turnover (which once nearly gave us a Richie, a George, and an Ira Ramone) has included a trio of drummers: Tommy Erdelyi, ex-Voidoid Marc Bell and, currently, Richard Beau (ËœRichie Ramone). Formerly of the Shirts and Velveteens, Beau has taken up the leather jacket laid down after Subterranean Jungle: its Marky on that meisterwerk of new vinyl.

Neither rain nor snow nor personnel disappointments have impeded the original trio of sonic siblings (Jeffrey Hyman aka Joey, John Cummings aka Johnny, and Douglas Colvin aka Dee Dee) In their tireless determination to make more out of less. Each passing producer and platter may have brought greater sophistications, but these are still the same lads who used to handletter posters for their first venue that read: Meet the Ramones! New Yorks Phenomenal Pop Combo!" and They Dont Want To But They Will: Held Over Again!!?!" That was at CBGBs of course: then this sorta slum bar on the Bowery that just hadnt made it," as Joey puts it. We started playin for two, then five, then ten, yknow? Till we were packin the place n the NME hailed us."

Appropriately, Sire signed the band on the Fourth of July, 1976. And the enthusiasm they sought to buy up has yet to fade; just arrived in London, Dee Dee confides that he heard their single bn his hotel radio only an hour ago. So 1 phoned up and said, ËœWowwww! Was that The Ramones? Do you think you could play it again?',

Of course I didnt tell em who I was," he adds hastily, But they were real polite." Dee Dee is something of a Godfather figure on the current U.S. and U.K. hardcore scenes, particularly feted for new classics like Outsider" and Time Bomb" (his lead vocal debut). Hes back hanging out at CBs, too, now t§||t its enjoying a new lease of life as the Roseland of slam-dancing.

But teenanomie is only one theme on Subterranean Jungle, the brothers shrewdest smorgasbord of an LP yet and one which—as Joey puts it—restates a real Ramones vision."

This bands repertoire has always contained some of the greatest songs ever written about being American, about the capacity for wonder and about going crazy. And, like the great grade B and C movies they most admire, the Ramones continue to combine concise social statement with a biting black humorall on a shoestring budget. Critics label them minimalist and conceptualist, both of which they undoubtedly are, but how many other conceptual artists seize on subjects like arson, shoplifting, decapitation, drugstore dope abuse, matricide, kill-happy mercenaries, lobotomy, and the dangers of foreign food—then still manage to come out ahead as the most compassionate brand of visionary?

Ramones sound evolved from purist Beach Boys, revved up past triple speed, but Ramones concerns are rooted in the alienation aspects of teen psychology rather than the peer group pressures of California pop history. And the physical as well as the psychic violence of everyday life has always appealed to them as metaphor. Joey: Like, theres been a lotta axe murders in New York lately and this one guy—he killed these two sisters and then he killed somebody else a few days later and the police said they could see thetstyle in which he cut off their legs and heads and that was the connection between the crimes. That he kind of...had that swing in which he cut off their legs and heads and that was the connection between the crimes. That he kind of.. .had that swing, yknow?"

think that the musical imagination is the only thing that really knows no bounds. — Joey

The Ramones have also admitted that their material comes from the application of a comic perspective to the stuff of their own daily lives. Johnny pegs sniffing glue as the start of his adolescent downfall; Joey, who used to get drunk and hang around mental homes" still vividly recalls falling for one patient turned into a zombie by electroshock; Dee Dees decade-long battle with heroin/methadone (one that continued through the bands first two albums) inevitably added a shove to the bands darker, more doom-conscious leanings.

A lot of its like—well, aggression and shit like that," says Joey, conceding a group tradition of stoppin to shout at each other onstage" which attracted critical attention as far back as the winter of 75. But its always your personal experience that makes you write the songs you write—or attracts you to appropriate covers. Gettin humor out of a black situation is just an individual trait. Its my trait, its Johns, its just this thing we share."

Recently tensions arose over the LP, when Joey wanted to experiment more" but Dee Dee and Johnny held out for stayin hard." Joey says he probably feared getting a little short-changed because I was writing a lotta diverse stuff." And his work on the Ambient Sound series of doo-wop updates that CBS re-issued; was that an influence? Oh yeah...Id writteriithis song called Touring, Touring and the Ambient guy changed it to ËœDoreen, Doreen, shes never boring. Originally it was about bein on tour, r§j|i|? Then it switched to bein about this gbf who travels round me world, who meets this guy from Brooklyn and they fall in love. The Mystics did it. I love all those guys, their whole sound and quality is so perfect yknow, its so resonant and upliftin it sorta cleanses ya out."

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Joey plans something solo (maybe an EP") before Christmas, but stresses that he regards such activities as extracurricular: Its just a personal, honest kinda thing—I just need another outlet, cause the material I write isnt always Ramones material. Myself, I have really extreme musical tastes, really broad tastes in music. And new ideas—thats what keeps ya alive, right?

I think," confides the Tall One, that the musical imagination is the only thing that really knows no bounds—well, besides art itself, paintings or whatever. And when it comes to the mind and the way you put it out, theres no bounds and you, you can do anything. I mean a lotta people may fall into a rut or something...they may become able to live Ëœthe good life or whatever—but thats when they stop and everything stops for em. Im just never totally satisfied, so I guess thats kinda workin for me."

Paramount among the people who individual Ramones usually cite as giving up in favor of the good life" are the Clash. Theyre just so basically different from what they set out to do," comments John. They used to play hard rock, the shows were dynamic, the music would—its just that they were a high energy band at one time and now you buy an album or whatever it is, a triple record thing, and.. .theres not one fast song in the whole package!

We dont feel like weve changed or softened, but of course if you put out a first album with 14 fast songs on it you cant put out album after album of just that; you gotta begin to offer some variety. You gotta make sure to have just the right mixture of slow, medium and fast tempod stuff."

Joey agrees. Its really important that an audience acknowledges exactly what youre doin and that theyre takin it all in, cause if it just goes by em—so what, yknow? I mean, it was obvious from early on that commercial success came first with the Clash, or maybe originally with their manager. I thought the first album was great but the initial idea of em...that they were Ëœthe truth, they werent a bullshit band, aaahhhh—when you get involved in something like that you screw yourself unless what youre puttin out really is from the heart.

I mean, there they was pleadin poverty and livin in the basement and Strummer turns out to be a diplomats son, right?" Joey laughs. I guess they just got so bored with America they cant get up and go home."

Its lonely when everybody you like has either broken up or sold out"—but the Ramones have always held their own through the toughest periods of their existence, honing their personal niche for posterity by perfecting a brand of misfit soul so uniquely high-powered that anyone else who tried to touch it risks getting fried alive. ALIVE is the key work for Ramone-omania, too; this is the most accomplished trash-thrashing, sky-punching live outfit Ive seen since the MC5.. .and Ive yet to see em fail to deliver.

I think thats why were reaching more people, too," says Johnny. We spend so much time on the road, not just in major cities but in all the little nooks and crannies. I also think its more than the hardcore thing; I think people are getting disgusted with the whole programming and the vice of the radio; more people are starting to think for themselves and see what they want to listen to.

I got this card the other day," he continues, from some little girl—she was 11 and her friend was 13 and we were the first rock show theyd ever seen. It made me feel great! Like theyre gettin the right education. They could easily have gone to see REO Speedwagon—or Journey or Toto or somethin."

Bringing that chainsaw buzz and those Chambers Brothers visions to the nation, however, constitutes an ongoing feat of quite substantial physical proportions; since a Ramones show usually manages to wring dry the most fanatical of audiences, what does to do to its perpetrators?

Johnny: Well, it aint easy, because you reach a point where youve worked your way way into it and ya cant slack off even if your arms feel like wet spaghetti. But then theres maybe one slow song (laughs) so thats one rest stop. Theyll dim the lights there, so its also a bit cooler. And—halfway through, ya take your jacket off and thats a relief too. Just little things, but also youve built yourself up to bein able to do it. We dont believe in improvisin."

But do you believe in jogging?

EEEaaahhh—I always want to, but Im too lazy. Once in awhile I get up and go run round my block and want to, but then 1 always say Ëœthats enough. People start to look and say, ËœHey, Johnny! yknow? ËœWhatre ya doin?. Everybody recognizes ya every time ya go outta the house, everybody on every block so, ah, I feel silly. ËœHey, whatre ya doin— jogging? Whore ya runnin from, hmmmm? You know?"

So they dont participate in the ME generation health boom; the brothers are still in a fighting trim few can aspire to emulating. On the recent tour, theyve been surprising those slammers who storm the stage—with their combined tolerance and endurance. (Sometimes," Joey relates over the phone, It gets like theres a whole other show up there with ya.. .sort of a Ted Mack Amateur Hour). The rest of us they amaze by their Houdini-like survival—escaping the evils of selling out, slowing down, splitting up, delivering less. I think it was a Roger Corman character who once said All is art— the rest is graham crackers."

Well: no crumbs on these boys.