Gee muses

They were the brothers Ramone – even though they weren’t actually brothers. They changed the face of music – even though they had no intention of doing anything so formidable. Spanning three decades, their spirit and energy lives on, gloriously, 35 years after they formed in Queens, New York, and 13 years after they split in 1996. Sadly though, eight years later all three founding members Joey, Dee Dee and Johnny were dead, leaving drummers Tommy (1974-78) and Marky (1978-1983, 1987-1996) as sole survivors of arguably the greatest American punk band of all.

Tommy is now playing bluegrass so it’s down to Marky to keep the gabba-gabba-hey-hey alive with his outfit Marky Ramones Blitzkreig and a solid commitment to the spirit of rock’n’roll that made the Ramones Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Famers (2002) and richly celebrated artists. They have a place in the Rolling Stone lists of the 50 Greatest Artists of All Time and 25 Greatest Live Albums of All Time, VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, and Mojo’s 100 Greatest Albums. Their look was so influential that even now it’s being revisited with Marky about to launch a clothing line of leather jackets, jeans and t-shirts with Hilfiger Denim.

That’s pretty extraordinary if you consider this man - under his real name Mark Bell - drummed in the celebrated US rock/psych outfit, Dust, whose 1971 debut remains a highly sought after album and includes the healthy near-10 minute workout, From A Dry Camel. After a second album Dust became exactly that and Marky gravitated to something even bigger still. As psych faded with hippies, Vietnam and independence in music, punk was blossoming in New York at clubs like Max’s Kansas City and CBGBs. The revolution had begun all over again. And Marky was about to play a major role.

“I met Richard Hell in the bathroom at Max’s Kansas City,” he says. “We decided to put together a band, cut an EP, then the album.” That album was Blank Generation by Richard Hell & The Voidoids - one of the most influential punk albums ever. Its title track was named one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock by music writers in the Rock And Roll Hall Of fame listings. By then it was 1977 and punk was on fire. It was an unforgettable time.

“Richard and I decided to follow The Clash in the UK in 1977,” he says. “When we returned Richard didn’t want to tour anymore and Dee Dee wanted me to join the Ramones as Tommy had quit. The first song I recorded was I Wanna Be Sedated for Road To Ruin [the band's fourth album].” Sedated is, of course, one of the Ramones most loved songs.

“Incredible times, really,” Marky says. “In New York, in 1974/75, we all knew each other. CBGB’s was the focus. There was a camaraderie between us - The Dictators, Dead Boys, Blondie, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, television, Richard Hell and, then, the Ramones. We represented the New York Sound.

“A lot has been said about the Ramones and its impact, but I guess the band was responsible for a whole wave of music, firstly in America, then England picked it up, then Japan, Europe, Australia. We were happy to see bands counting off songs, playing with the sound, wearing leather, t-shirt and jeans.

“The band never intended to change the world - but it did.” I love that. It’s said with no self-aggrandisment, no testosterone or beating of the chest. Not even a strut. “We never changed and we knew that we had to stick to our sound and not change to the whims of record companies. It’s a bit of a fine line - it’s good to have variety but you have to be identifiable and original as well.”

And that is why the Ramones music is still as vital today as it was 30-odd years ago. It’s hard to be original today - there’s more music that’s come and gone. And times have changed, technology has changed and the music industry has changed massively - for the worse. In the Ramones story there is a simple truth: people keep coming back for more. Generation after generation.

“I see it and I’m grateful,” Marky says. “Tommy is grateful. The Ramones have always appealed to youth - the lyrical intent; the energy converged on the audience. It never ends. I think if you analyse it too much it’ll go away. I’m happy to see all the youngsters at our shows.”

One of the things that made the Ramones stand out was their individualism. Each Ramone was a different character - yet each Ramone was the same. “I agree,” Marky says. “We were all different individuals, that’s what made it interesting. We were like cartoon characters in a way but as a unit we worked as a group. We were easily identifiable as was the sound. That wall of sound defined us.”

And here’s a key: punks they may have been, but the Ramones sound is Spectoresque (it’s not surprising he would produce their album, End Of The Century, in 1980) and rooted in pop and r’n'b.
“We liked that kind of music. We listened to ’50s and ’60s doo-wop, early Who and Beatles,” Marky says. “It had a lot to do with the ’60s girl group thing, the Beach Boys, Jan & Dean and, of course, Phil Spector. The sound was great. You can’t make records like that today. They are too clean. That was the essence of that music. To play it, it has to be a little dirty, raw and rough around the edges.
“I have a radio show in the US. All I play is punk but a lot of the newer stuff seems too cold and sterile. There’s nothing like that warm analogue sound when you are rock band. But that’s the nature of things, of the world. I find you have to let technology come and then go. Vinyl, for instance, has a sound that’s warmer, the bass is deeper, the treble is higher. CDs are always very mid-rangy. Digital is very cold. There’s no doubt vinyl is the greatest sounding - that big fat sound. That’s one of the things that’s missing today to me.

“You’d think with technology they’d be able to duplicate the warmth of vinyl. I’m still waiting.”

In the meantime, Marky Ramone is doing what he loves best - hammering out 32 Ramones songs a night. Are you ready? 1-2-3-4 … …

Nick Cave

It was dubbed the festival for people who hate festivals. It was much more. All Tomorrows Parties, curated by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, brought to Australia a laidback, devilishly cool, trippy day out in an almost perfect venue with extraordinarily good sound on all four stages and an exquisite line-up. Not a snotty little faux rapper, pop teen or kiddy punk in sight, this was really music for adults only - and it was celebrated with such flair and brilliance. There were no bad acts at All Tomorrows Parties, only good, gooder and goodest. The latter two words, of course, don’t exist but I’m saving the superlatives.

To the bands then: Young duo (augmented to a four-piece) Hunter Dienna opened proceedings. They need to relax. All earnest sombreness. It’s okay to smile guys. Their dark music is a little predictable but they are young and growing.

The Stabs are a knockout. The Melbourne garage fuzz quartet rocked hard and offered a keen sense of humour. Easy to see why Detroit likes them.

Sydney mostly girl quintet, Bridezilla, were a revelations. Still not out of their teens, this little lot are so obscenely talented it’s scary. They even got legendary actor Jack Thompson to play harp on one song. Their music is a beautiful cascade of equal parts folk, jazz, and edgy pop driven by a sax/violin frontline. They jam, they groove, the vocals are sublime. They are Kate Bush in the fifth dimension.

The five women who make up Melbourne’s Beaches are well into their 30s (I think) and their roots show. L7 meets The Dandy Warhols and Sonic Youth. Fun.

Joel Silbersher’s hard rocking Melbourne outfit, Hoss, delivered good old-fashioned Australian pub rock. And got an A+ for crowd banter.

Dead Meadow, the LA-based Washington trio, were one of the bands of the day. A stunning mix of 60s psychedelia and boogie and ’90s grunge. Awesome. Could have been San Francisco circa ‘68/’69. Ground control to …
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Who would have believed that out of the ruins of US indie psych popsters, Tripping Daisy, a band born of a different time and place and respirited in the ‘90s, would come the all singing, all dancing, quite remarkable entity that is the currently 23-strong The Polyphonic Spree?

And who would have thought a stage full of, initially, people in robes looking a bit like a mass breakout from some nearby cathedral or church, now dressed in black army fatigues and looking like they mean business, would be both viable in the economically challenged early 21st century and last longer than it took for the initial novelty to wear off?

Well, brothers and sisters, happily there have been us believers around the place since the beginning. Now, we could get all religious here but let’s not. There are no Tom Cruises in this story. Eight years after the Spree first formed and five since its first album, The Beginning Stages Of, it is now established as one of the world’s finest live acts and is buoyed by a cult following that is strong enough to keep this massive ark afloat.

Founder, lead singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, Tim DeLaughter, is baking in hometown Dallas, Texas, where the temperature is well over the old 100F (38C). “We’re frying, like little hot tomatoes. It’s a cliché but you really could fry an egg on the concrete out there,” he says.

DeLaughter is one of the smarter people I’ve come across in this business. A veteran of nearly two decades as a musician, he’s nudging into his mid-40s but his enthusiasm isn’t diminishing with age. With Tim, it’s matter of how much conversation you can fit in the time limit rather than trying to find enough conversation to get to the finishing line.
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It’s a long way to the top if you want to … and Regurgitator have. Now they don’t as much. In their halcyon days The Gurge as we fondly dubbed ‘em, sucked a lot of you know what, danced around in videos with animal suits on - Which Warner’s heavyweight executive was in one of those costumes? My lips are sealed!, made cheap keyboards a comeback novelty, veered erratically from the end of the punk rope to the top candy-smeared pop schtick. The singles and albums flowed to the top end of the charts. The Gurge were mighty. Their moments came and went. And when the fizzle and razzle and dazzle faded, they accepted the movement and passing of time with grace and just got on with what it is they do. Now Regurgitator are on an indie label and are a well-inured-in-the-psyche cult band. They will never be less than good because they are that talented. Quan Yeomans, Ben Ely, Peter Kostic and new girl Seja Vogel, take a bow. You deserve it.

Ely, a splendidly friendly Queenslander who is as well known in that State’s underground scene (he’s played in any number of side projects) as he is for his exploits in The Gurge. At home in Glebe, yes, he’s moved out of Queensland, he talks happily about some 15 years or so in and out of the spotlight.

“It’s not so intense now,” he says. “We don’t take it all as seriously as we used to, we don’t tour as often. Quan now lives in Hong Kong while Pete and I live in Sydney and Seja in Brisbane so we’re quite spread out.

“I think we appreciate it more now though because we do it less; you tend to take it for granted when it’s all you do all the time. Now we do a show in, say, Manly or Dubbo and a crowd turns-up and we tend to put a lot more into the show. It’s more of a fantastic thing. less is more when it comes to the band and music.”

The band’s sixth and most recent album, Love And Paranoia, has been dubbed by the band as it’s first romance album. Think broad definition of romance. After all, Blood & Spunk and Drinking Beer Is Awesome, aren’t exactly Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, although at the same time the allegory and associated imagery does linger in a twice removed 21st century kind of way. Anyway, it’s not a balls and all Gurge record but it is - as usual - a lot of fun and perfectly entertaining.

In a way though, Regurgitator are now in a new world. The old kids on the block. Fans who were 16 when the band first appeared are now in their 30s; others in their late 20s are into their 40s.

“Our audience has been amazing. Very dedicated. We genuinely appreciate the fact they are still coming out to see us,” Ben says. “I mean it’s like ‘Thanks for coming out and here’s a song you’ve heard 500,000 times before … ‘.” And while he jests, Ely does recognise that initially The Gurge’s timing couldn’t have been better.
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Politics and music have long gone hand-in-hand. Unfortunately, political flagwavers have sometimes come and gone with the rapidity of their beliefs. Those who tried using politics as a rallying [read ‘selling’] point for an audience rather than offering a committed, solid belief, most rightly, didn’t last. But there are many more who have proved their belief and commitment is as strong as their word. The 1960s had a plethora of acts committed to change, and in the mid- to late 1970s there was a bundle of genuinely political punk acts, but in recent times that kind of solidarity is harder to find: Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine, Pennywise, Billy Bragg, Henry Rollins, the old boy Neil Young, leap immediately to mind. Age after all does engender wisdom. So when a young band burns bright with an apparent commitment to change, to being outspoken – but sensibly so, to put its actions where its mouth is and raising funds for actions, then it’s time to pay attention.

Pittsburgh’s Anti-Flag may be young punks but they have old heads and they’ve been through some horrendous personal circumstances. Bassist Chris 2#’s sister and her boyfriend were murdered. Vices, the third track on the band’s new album, Bright Lights Of America, deals with that.

Lead singer, Justin Sane, is in Austin, Texas, on the end of a mobile which fades in and out and breaks up with regularity.
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