CJ Ramone

CJ Ramone as the Ramones bassist in a live performance by the band in 1991

CJ Ramone, portrait photo from 2009

CJ Ramone (* 8. October 1965 as Christopher Joseph Ward in the New York borough Queens ) is an American bassist , singer and guitarist . From 1989 he became known as the bass player for the US punk band Ramones .

Career

CJ Ramone grew up on Long Island , New York , and learned to play the electric bass at the age of thirteen, having previously played drums. In 1980 he heard the music of the Ramones for the first time. When the Ramones were looking for a new bass player in an advertisement in the US magazine Village Voice in 1989 because Dee Dee Ramone had left the band, he took part in the audition and was promptly hired as the first participant. Before he could join the band as a permanent member, however, he had to serve a sentence with the US Marines because he had left the troop without permission during his military service.

He then became the youngest member of the band, which had existed since 1974, and made his live debut with the Ramones on September 4, 1989 on a television appearance. He performed his first live concert in front of an audience at the beginning of a European tour of the band on September 30, 1989 in the English city of Leicester .

CJ Ramone played electric bass with the Ramones from 1989 until the band split up on August 6, 1996 and sang some well-known Ramones songs, the vocal part of which had previously been contributed by ex-member Dee Dee Ramone. His greatest contribution as a singer and composer of the band was in 1995 to their last studio album, Adios Amigos , to which he contributed two compositions of his own and also took over the vocals on four tracks on the album.

In addition to his work with the Ramones, he founded the New York punk band Los Gusanos in 1992, which became his main occupation after the Ramones dissolved. With the Gusanos Ward plays guitar and sings.

He is married to the niece of Ramones drummer Marky Ramone . The couple have two children.

In 2009 he gave several appearances together with Daniel Rey and Brant Bjork ( Kyuss , Fu Manchu ) as the opening act for Die Toten Hosen . He was also seen on German festival stages and played the hits of the Ramones period. Among other things, he opened the Area4 Festival.

Discography

With Guitar Pete's Ax Attack

• Dead Soldier's Revenge (1985)
• Nightmare (1986)

With the Ramones

• Loco Live (1991)
• Mondo Bizarro (1992)
• Acid Eaters (1993)
• ¡Adios Amigos! (1995)
• Greatest Hits Live (1996)
• We're Outta Here! (1997)

With Los Gusanos

• Quick to Cut 7 "(1993)
• Youth Gone Mad split 7 "(1994)
• I'd Love to Save the World EP (1994)
• Los Gusanos (1998)

With Bad Chopper

• The Warm Jets 7 "(as The Warm Jets) (2000)
• Real Bad Time 7 "(2003)
• Bad Chopper (2007)

Solo albums

• Reconquista (2012)
• Last Chance To Dance (August 2014)
• American Beauty (2017)
• The Holy Spell ... (2019)

literature

• Dick Porter: Ramones. The complete twisted history. Plexus, London 2004, ISBN 0-85965-326-9 (English).
• Monte A. Melnick, Frank Meyer: On the Road with the Ramones. Sanctuary, London 2003, ISBN 1-86074-514-8 (English).
• Everett True: Hey Ho Let's Go. The Story of The Ramones. Omnibus, London / New York NY 2002, ISBN 0-7119-9108-1 (English).

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Ramones at pbs.org, accessed September 5, 2009
2. ↑ ^{a b} True: The Story of the Ramones , p. 252 f.
3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated November 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

Commons : CJ Ramone  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• CJ Ramone in the Internet Movie Database (English)