Ramonas rock it to Worthing – Pre-Rebellion gig

The Ramonas: pic by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

THE RAMONAS

Chewing out a rhythm on my bubblegum! Sun is out and The Ramonas were back in Sussex – this time in Worthing! A truly packed out Egremont welcomed the guys as a huge crowd filled every spare inch of the venue! Its been a while since we all bumped into each other and I can again confirm – they have to be one of the the best tribute bands you will ever see, and plus, now they have a stock of their own material – Gabba Gabba Hey!

As the name suggests, The Ramonas are an all female tribute to the iconic New York Punk Rock band The Ramones. Originally conceived back in 2004 with multiple different lineups, The Ramonas have evolved into a fully fledged, razor sharp live band in their own right, and releasing some damn fine original material! Touring, Touring is never boring and these girls are guaranteed to play high energy, full throttle one hour shows that’ll leave you buzzing for more of that 1976 spirit.

The Band

It does get confusing as the band has a dual identity – Ramonas names – for Ramones material and Ramonas names for their own Ramonas songs.

Cloey Ramona – Vocals (Lisa)

Rohnny Ramona – Guitar (Maxine)

Pee Pee Ramona – Bass (Vicky)

Cammy Ramona – Drums (Camille)

It was a hot night in Worthing, I half expected The Ramonas to turn up in a huge American, roof down, chevvy as in the arrival sequence of The Ramones in Rock and Roll High School!

Vocalist Cloey/Lisa is so full of energy and passion. When I road crewed for The Ramones back in the day, Joey was pretty animated on stage and Cloey captures the essence of the early years. She handled the mic and struck the Joey stances through out the set. She has a great voice full of power and intensity, swapping out the sunglasses for the Ramonas own material. The fabulous Pee Pee/Vicky has the bass duties, and that is some responsibility. She also has the task of delivering the “1-2-3-4″‘s for every song and joins in with support vocals. A great job again from a great bassist!  Rohnny/Maxine is a firecracker, stage jumps and hair swirling! She plays a Mosrite guitar – the favoured guitar of choice of Johnny Ramone – she belted out the riffs and chords at us at a breakneck speed. And yep – down strokes only. The lady at the back keeping the tight drum patterns was Cammy/Camille. She was set at the back of the performing area, looking cramped with all of the kit.  She has some hard acts to follow from The Ramones but Cammy delivered with style and attitude. Hats off and top marks to her. Well played!

The Set

The set was split into three – Ramones – Ramonas – Ramones. A brilliant mix of material and 7 songs from their first album First World Problems. The set opened up with Teenage Lobotomy, followed by Blitzkrieg Bop, Glad To See You Go, Shock Treatment and the, first time I have heard the guys do this, Chinese Rocks. California Sun was followed with Pinhead – and a mini stage invasion as Pinhead marched up with placard.

Some 20 Ramones fired at us at a blistering speed and intensity. We then were led into a section of Ramonas own material. Their songs are strong, powerful and great for jumping along to! The sweat was running down everyone’s faces by now, but The Ramonas kept at it! We got 2016, Road Kill, Daily Fail and the newest single release Poser. This was rock and roll, fueled by adrenaline,  and sweat, presented in its purest form. These guys were nailing it down tight. Back into Ramones material with Rock and Roll High School, I Wanna Be Sedated and KKK Took my Baby Away. The set closed with Somebody Put Something In My Drink.

A Video!

Suzy and Lets Dance

Not seeing them live for a while it was fabulous to see how tight a unit they have become, I can honestly say they just get better and better every time I see them – and they were great the first time!

Phew! The Ramonas got a well deserved and lengthy round of applause and cheers. Well deserved, absolutely. The Ramonas had generated steam heat! The pub emptied onto the street, along with the band. They chatted with fans, signed CD’s and posed for photos.

Chatting with Cloey/Lisa after the show she was saying how excited the band were to be playing Rebellion this year, and they have two shows! One set for their own material and another full on Ramones material. Congrats to the band for that 2 days! The band have more tour dates lined up so keep an eye out for them. The Ramonas are busy writing and recording new material. First World Problems has done well for them and it may go for a re-run on vinyl. We also talked about the painful broken arm – and went through some of the medical pics – absolutely horrendous break and Cloey/Lisa must have been in agony as she broke it just before they all headed off to Europe for a tour. Then – had to have it re-broken and reset. I hope and wish you have a full recovery from that.

Thank you and well played The Ramonas – its always a lively, fun, rockin night when we meet. Love it – and all the best for Rebellion Festival 2018.

Well done to The Egremont – they kept the beer moving and the staff were great and also a top sound from the sound engineer Lee Farmery.

Official Website

Official facebook page

Official twitter page

Please note all images / video are copyright, please do not copy. If any of the featured artists/promoters/venues want copies of the images – or more if available – please just get in touch.

All original pictures – copyright to IANB/MEDIA WORKS/ SCENE SUSSEX – Ian “The Lens” Bourn 2018.