Johnny Ramone's last interview

March 18, 2016 10:57 AM

"He's almost a father figure, or a mentor to me," says Robert Carmine, the twenty-one-year-old singer for Rooney, who one night slipped Johnny a demo tape that Johnny liked. "He never had a kid. The Ramones were his baby that he was obsessed with. When he retired, he needed something else to focus on, and that's his friends and his wife. He's given me a lot of great advice: Play to the back row, not the people in front; get a straight mike stand, not a boom stand; own your section of the stage; watch the money; learn what other people did that was cool. He's turned me on to such great old music, like Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent. "He's a much kinder person now than when he was in the band," Carmine continues. "But the thing with Joey is ongoing. We watched the documentary together in his house, and he couldn't stay in the room when they were talking about the Joey stuff. He's still got that pain and anger that he can't quite let go of and become the person he's mostly become."
posted by josher71 (13 comments total)

I own a video tape that was part of Johnny's collection. A blank VHS tape he dubbed a film on to. They used to give them away as door prizes as part of the Grindhouse Festival at the New Beverly Theater in Los Angeles. I can't remember what the movie is, but it's something appropriately trashy. The name is marked on the side in Johnny's handwriting, all caps, the way we all used to mark our VHS tapes back in the day.

I've picked up a lot of weird stuff during my life. This is one of the things I like the most.
posted by maxsparber at 11:15 AM on March 18, 2016 [9 favorites]

Did he go to Joey's funeral?

"No, I was in California. I wasn't going to travel all the way to New York, but I wouldn't have gone anyway. I wouldn't want him coming to my funeral, and I wouldn't want to hear from him if I were dying. I'd only want to see my friends. Let me die and leave me alone."

But they had created all this great music together.

"We had a job together. Doesn't mean I have to like him. So two in-store signings."

...The band had been asked if it would perform with another singer taking Joey's place. "I said, 'No way. See us like we were, or don't see us at all. Go buy the DVD,'" said Johnny. "I would never perform without Joey. He was our singer."

posted by infinitewindow at 11:59 AM on March 18, 2016 [7 favorites]

Why can't anyone write a freakin in depth article anymore? That was like an opportunity to really dig into the soul of how the band worked, talk about where the inspiration came from, talk about the specifics of the drama and get some real inside dirt, find out the process that went into them finding their sound, talk about Johnny's guitar style, etc. Instead it was a surface piece that basically just said yeah the guys were assholes and it was just a job and now I'm dying. That story was like when you see a giant bag of Ruffles potato chips at the store and you're like oh hell yeah look at all those chips and then you get it home and open it up and there is like an inch of chips at the bottom of the bag and the rest is air. Phooey.
posted by spicynuts at 1:41 PM on March 18, 2016 [5 favorites]

Wow. This :

Did he go to Joey's funeral?

"No, I was in California. I wasn't going to travel all the way to New York, but I wouldn't have gone anyway. I wouldn't want him coming to my funeral, and I wouldn't want to hear from him if I were dying. I'd only want to see my friends. Let me die and leave me alone."

and this :

The band had been asked if it would perform with another singer taking Joey's place. "I said, 'No way. See us like we were, or don't see us at all. Go buy the DVD,'" said Johnny. "I would never perform without Joey. He was our singer."

all in the same interview. I have no way of really understanding their relationship, but I have a feeling that about sums it up.
posted by panama joe at 2:11 PM on March 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

(haha, jinx infinitewindow!)
posted by panama joe at 2:12 PM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Feels like a more violent rock and roll version of the whole Jamie and Adam dynamic from mythbusters. (which I'll admit made me sad to discover and then amazed they'd be forthright about their relationship and happy they were)
posted by drewbage1847 at 4:13 PM on March 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

Ah Panama Joe and Infinitewindow I was coming in to post that same section.
posted by biggreenplant at 4:27 PM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Ahh got a picture at the top, eh? Lessee here . . Brass nut, zero-fret Mosrite Ventures model in relentless cynic-chugging black with an ebony fretboard?

*snff*
It checks out.
posted by petebest at 5:25 PM on March 18, 2016

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah," he said
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 9:56 PM on March 18, 2016

I am sure i have posted this before but here is Steve Jones on his Indie 103.1 radio show talking to Johnny , August 9th 2004. . Chat starts at 1 hr 15 min .
posted by stuartmm at 12:25 AM on March 19, 2016

I thought the last line was rather sweet.
posted by oddman at 9:40 AM on March 19, 2016

One of my favourite movies is the Ramones Rock n Roll High School. I never got the chance to see them play but that movie made me a fan. I honest had no idea the joey and Johnny weren't friends. But seeing the intensity of concert footage and backstage just in the fictionalized script, that would be a hard life to form friendships. I do need to go watch that again today though...
posted by biggreenplant at 6:22 AM on March 20, 2016

I always wondered how successful bands stayed together after many years. With a few exceptions, it appears that most of them did so without expectation that the members of the band would be friends.
posted by krinklyfig at 7:25 PM on March 20, 2016