Punk’s not dead!
Or so says Marky Ramone, the Flatbush-born former drummer for punk pioneers the Ramones, will return to his native borough with his new band Blitzkrieg on April 1 for a one-night-only show at The Bell House, where he’ll resurrect some of the most beloved punk classics in rock ’n roll history.
Ramone promises a “set like a barrage, non-stop, 35 or 36 songs,” 32 of them Ramones classics, with more recent Blitzkrieg singles like 2010’s “When We Were Angels” mixed in—and all of them sung by ex-Misfits frontman Michale Graves, who teamed up with Ramone back in 2008.
Ramone — born Marc Steven Bell — was the Ramones’ longest-standing (sitting?) drummer, picking up the sticks after founding member Tommy Ramone retired to become the band’s manager and producer. Graves, in turn, filled the boots of original Misfits singer Glenn Danzig in the band’s second-coming in 1995. The former Mr. Bell also sat behind the kit for other leading 70s CBGBs acts like Richard Hell & the Voidoids and transsexual singer Wayne County. Along with his brothers/replacements Richie and Elvis Ramone, Tommy Ramone, and latter-day bassist C.J. Ramone, Marky Ramone is one of the last living members of the legendary punk outfit, and is the only one still touring and performing the band’s old songs — and he’s stoked to be back in his old stomping ground.
“One of the first big shows of my career was playing the band shell in Prospect Park,” Ramone said. “This show is just a few blocks away from there; it’s going to be great.”
Still, he’s got a few reservations.
“Local shows are always sort of weird cause you get about 300 ‘friends’ asking you to put them on the guest list, which is of course impossible, and then they all get huffy when you don’t,” he says.
Ramone moved back to his native borough 20 years ago, and even though touring frequently keeps him on the road—or in the air—he is bursting with hometown pride, going so far to as to roll out a line of pasta sauce called “Marky Ramone’s Brooklyn’s Own Marinara” in 2010.
“Manhattan is mostly people from other places,” the stickman mused. “Brooklyn is for the real New Yorkers.”
Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg at The Bell House. [149 7th St., between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, Gowanus. (718) 643-6510] April 1, 8 pm. $20. For tickets, www.ticketweb.com.
