Billy: I was told that apparently, you had attained some kind of a milestone
over in Japan as far as the number of shows you've played....
CJ Ramone: Right, we did our 2000th show in, um, Kawasaki, Japan at Club Cheetah.
B: Sounds good. So, how many shows is this for you, or do you know?
CJ: Johnny knows.... John, how many shows is this for me, about? 400?
Johnny Ramone: 400 or 500. That sounds good.
CJ: Probably between 4 and 5 hundred.
B: That's great. So, the new album......I wanted to ask if there was any particular inspiration that made you do all cover songs.
CJ: Well, when we did Mondo Bizarro we did the Doors cover. And, you know, it was kinda fun doing it, plus it's a lot easier than having to write your own your own songs, so....it came out pretty good, everyone was happy with it, and our manager came up with the idea of putting out an EP of cover songs, which we all agreed on, we thought it would be a good idea.
B: So it just kind of evolved into a full-length release?
CJ: Yeah. Cause when we realized what our tour schedule was and that we probably wouldn't get to do a regular studio album any time soon, we figured a covers album wouldn't be a bad idea.
B: Do you have any current opinion, yourself, on the state of the underground rock scene, like in the United States lately, what with the "Seattle explosion", and all that?
CJ: Is that lately? I think it's moved a little more north. Yeah, I think it's good, it's pretty cool. It seems to be more about music than it had been, like in the 80's and shit. But, it's still a little too fashion-oriented for me, too, you know, it seems like...I don't know, there's too much fashion and art involved in it. It's good, I mean I love it...a lot of it I really like a lot. I guess it's OK. There's bands from other places other than the Northwest who are like, really good, but they just don't get the recognition because they ain't from the new, hip, in place.
B: So, are there any bands that you've toured with recently that you think are really noteworthy, espaecially good?
CJ: That I think we would do good with? That would be good on tour with us? I like the Muffs a lot....but I heard they broke up. Did you hear that?
B: Uh, that rings a bell.
CJ: Yeah, I heard a rumor that they broke up. I hope it ain't true, because I really, really dug their CD a lot....in fact, I went to see them twice in the city, once with the Goo Goo Dolls and once with a really good band from Chicago... man, what the fuck's their name, I'm really good friends with these guys, too. *laughs* Wait, hold on, I'll think of it....the Didjits. In fact, they're label-mates of my own band, too, because with my own band I have a little single coming out on Alternative Tentacles.
B: Really? And what's that called?
CJ: Los Gusanos.
B: I'll be looking for that, definitely. That brings me to another topic. I wanted to ask about record labels. How has Radioactive been treating you?
CJ: Well considering our manager owns it, great!
B: *laughs* Yeah, that helps.
CJ: Not that we get special attention. I mean, there are other successful bands on the label. Like, Dig is starting to hit pretty big, it seems like. Every time I flip on MTV they're on a buzz clip. They seem to be doing good, which is cool because I'm kinda friendly with the band. Scott, the singer, he produced our last record, Acid Eaters. After they'd done the production, they came to a couple shows, and I ended up hanging out with them. They're nice guys, they're really cool. Plus, they did some shows with us. We'll probably be warming up for them next year, as usual.
*laughter*
B: Ah, don't think like that. I wanted to ask, was there any particular thing that led to the Ramones leaving Sire Records?
CJ: I think, really, the way I see it is like if you give a record company 18 years, and you give them 18 years of, like, solid touring and some strong albums, and they can't produce even a gold record for you, something's wrong. I think maybe the rest of the band feels differently, but that's how I feel, you know. I felt like it was a long time coming that they got off of Sire. You know, it's good label.....
B: So, is there anything else you'd like to say for a closing? As far as, what does the future of the Ramones look like? Anything new on the way?
CJ: We're just kinda taking it a year at a time, right now. This year is twenty years, so it's....you can't really think you're gonna be around for THAT much longer, you know, but....we're just taking it a year at a time. We've got Acid Eaters out, we've got a tour planned for this year, and hopefully we'll get some time off after this tour. But, that's it.....that's all we're thinking about, just touring this year, and not really looking beyond that.