Ramonas: pic by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
28/09/ 2019:They are back in town. RAMONAS hit the Hope and Ruin like a sledgehammer – They are louder and faster than anyone else out there and they are damn good at what they do. Welcome back to Brighton guys – we have missed you! Now…. lets do this!
Now dear reader…. what to do? Do I head off to catch the new release of part two of Stephen Kings “IT”, or do I head off for some live rock and roll? You guessed it Gabba Gabba Hey – the Ramonas were back in town! No contest!!
The Ramonas
Chewing out a rhythm on my bubblegum! The sun wasn’t out, but on the bright side, The Ramonas were back in Brighton! This time it was destination the Hope and Ruin in Brighton. A truly packed out venue welcomed the guys as the crowd filled pretty much every inch of the venue! Its been a while since we all bumped into each other, last year pre Rebellion I think, 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. They are louder and faster than anyone else out there and they are damn good at what they do, a world class act.
Ramonas: pic by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
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 1976/77 spirit. The guys have been playing to huge audiences as their reputation grows, and its well deserved and great to see how they have taken the tunes of the brudders, Ramones and keep that precious material alive.
Ramonas: The Band
Now it does get confusing as the band has a dual identity: Ramonas names – for Ramones material, and then real names for their own Ramonas songs. Hope I have settled that for you.
Cloey Ramona – Vocals (Lisa)
Ramonas: pic by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
Vocalist Cloey is so full of energy and passion. After the potential disaster of broken glasses she hit the stage running. She handled the mic and struck the Joey stances through out the set. She has a great voice full of power and intensity.
Rohnny Ramona – Guitar (Maxine)
Ramonas: pic by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
On guitars is Rohnny. She takes full control of guitar duties. And she is a firecracker! Playing a blue 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. A super display all topped of with leaps and poses fitting with her role.
Pee Pee Ramona – Bass (Vicky)
Ramonas: pic by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
The fabulous Pee Pee (yep – I know) has the bass duties, and that is some responsibility with what this band achieve . She also has the task of delivering the “1-2-3-4″‘s for every song and joins in with some support vocals. A great job again from a great bassist! You may recognise her from the brilliant Cockwomble.
Cammy Ramona – Drums (Camille)
Ramonas: pic by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
The lady at the back keeping the tight drum patterns was Cammy. She was set back on the stage, almost in total darkness at times but by crikey you knew she was there. Again she has some tough acts to follow but Cammy delivered with style, attitude and hair! Not sure if it was the sound mix or just the pure energy (or both) with which she was playing but she brought out the drum thunder tonight. Sheer percussion power at times ruled the air. Well played!
Ramonas: The Set
Well, Hey Ho! Lets Go! A quick look at the setlist indicated over 30 tracks to be played. Due to the times on the night a couple of songs had been removed! Extraordinary! How the hell were they going to do it! That many songs in an hour!
Ramonas: pic by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
Durango 95, from the often overlooked Ramones album Too Tough To Die, kicked off the set from Pee Pee, Rohnny and Cammy piling into us from the get go. And then Cloey hit the stage as Cammy powered up her kit for Blitzkrieg Bop. Having road crewed for the Ramones, there was never any real chat from Joey with the crowd and the Ramonas do the same, they just power into the next track after a count in of “1-2-3-4”.
Baseball Bat
The baseball bat appeared for Beat On The Brat, Cloey now twirls that thing like a high school cheerleader with a baton, everyone moved back a bit not wanting to come into contact with it! Its a heavy bit of wood! Next up was the originally banned Carbona Not Glue which was brilliantly delivered.
Ramonas: pic by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
Also in the set was Spiderman, the theme from the old Saturday mornings cartoon show, which was covered by the Ramones and was a secret track on the USA import of Adios Amigos. So a real kick to hear the Ramonas do that live. Ok so I am not going to list the entire set, but I hope you get an idea of what was was in store for the crowd tonight. Pet Sematary ( original spelling before checking your dictionary 🙂 ) was in there and that was followed by Chinese Rocks, and it was during the intro that the drum thunder I mentioned earlier really hit home. Powerful stuff Cammy!
Ramonas: pic by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
Some of the 30 odd songs fired at faster than the speed of sound included: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker, Rockaway Beach, Wart Hog, 53rd and 3rd, We’re A Happy Family, I Wanna Be Sedated and more!It was great to hear Rock And Roll High School get an airing tonight.
Ramonas: pic by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
I had lost track of the setlist order and as the final songs were played I found my self at the wrong end of the stage area and I couldn’t get back in front for the finale Pinhead. The crowd who had danced, sang, and let it all go for the last hour were hot and sweaty. The Ramonas had played it hard and fast and the crowd supplied the generated steam heat.
Ramonas: pic by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
And Finally
A brief break and a chance to catch breath – band and crowd included, we were given a couple of Ramonas self penned titles that had been requested by the audience. First up was the title track from their superb first album First World Problems and quickly counted in to Daily Fail. Cloey had taken off the sunglasses for this section and the guys just let rip with their own material.
A quick shout from the sound desk “two minutes”, no problems for the Ramonas as they nailed down R.A.M.O.N.E.S as the set closer. A blisteringly hot one to finish with. Not one minute of their precious set was wasted and it all finished bang on curfew time.
A Video:
A blistering version of R.A.M.O.N.E.S to end the night. Perfect. A stunning set guys. Loved every adrenaline, sweat soaked second!
Great night. Hosted by We Love the Big Blue Shed
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