The Ramonas: Rock It To Worthing!

The Ramonas: Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

The Ramonas – Live at The Factory in Worthing 13 January 2022, Guests Shallow Honey

THE RAMONAS – ROCK IT TO WORTHING!

The Girls are back in town. RAMONAS rocket to Worthing at The Factory Live. Welcome back guys – we have missed you! Now…. Lets gooooo!

The Ramonas: The Band

Now it does get confusing as each member of the band has a dual identity: Ramonas names – for Ramones material, and then real names for their own Ramonas songs. Hope I have cleared that up.

Cloey Ramona – Vocals (Lisa)

The Ramonas: Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Vocalist Cloey is so full of energy and passion. Tonight she hit the stage running as The Ramonas opened up with Durango 95. She handled the mic and struck the classic Joey stances throughout the set. She has a great voice full of power and intensity.

Pee Pee Ramona – Bass (Vicky)

The Ramonas: Photo 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!

Rohnny Ramona – Guitar (Maxine)

The Ramonas: Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

On guitars is Rohnny. She takes full control of guitar duties. Playing a genuine 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.

Cammy Ramona – Drums (Camille)

The Ramonas: Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

The lady at the back keeping the tight drum patterns was Cammy. Set back on the stage, but by crikey you knew she was there. Again, like the other members of the band, she has some tough acts to follow, such as Tommy, Marky etc but Cammy delivered with style, attitude and her huge smile! 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 airwaves!

Ramonas: The Set

Well,  Hey Ho! Lets Go! A quick look at the set list indicated nearly 30 songs on the line up. Extraordinary! How the hell were they going to do it! That many songs in an hour! All I know is that the sizeable crowd at The Factory Live were in for a treat whilst hitching a ride along the Road To Ruin.

The Ramonas: Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Part 1

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 Teenage Lobotomy. 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”.

The Ramonas: Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Chewing out the rhythm…

Chewing out the rhythm on my bubble gum we were into Rockaway Beach! Oh yes, The Ramonas were on fire, this was gonna be a blast tonight! And as if to prove a point the drums pounded out for Blitzkrieg Bop. There has been a shake up on the set list tonight and a different selection, and why not with such a back catalogue to choose from. Pet Sematary, Bonzo Goes to Bitburg and a blasting rendition of the Thunders/Ramones Chinese Rocks. A song always shrouded in rumours, but tonight The Ramonas made it their own. Superb stuff.

The Ramonas: Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Part 2: Haphazard

We were given a fistful of Ramonas self penned titles from their latest album, Haphazard and I Want To Live In Outer Space, providing the opener of this section with So Called This. For You, Haphazard, Imposter and Consumed, all combining to give us a wonderful taster of this newer material live.  Lisa/Cloey had taken off the sunglasses for this section and the guys just let rip with their own material.

The Ramonas latest album – Haphazard

They really seemed to power it up for this selection. I saw The Ramonas supporting the Skids recently where they rocked us through their own material. I would of loved to hear Daily Fail from their first album, but hey! Maybe I am just a wee bit greedy!!

Part 3: A Happy Family.

OK, the guys took a slug of water as Rohnny/Maxine fired up the Mosrite for some more of those loved Ramones classics, California Sun, the wonderful Lets Dance and without pausing to come up for air, Judy Is A Punk. Extraordinary how everyone knows the words.

The Ramonas: Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

The crowd who had danced, sang, and let it all go for the last hour were now hot and sweaty. The Ramonas had played it hard and naturally played it fast! The crowd supplied the generated steam heat! The Ramonas, apart from being one of the nicest bands you could want to meet, are 100% passionate and totally dedicated to what they do. They cant “become” the Ramones brudders, but they they really do capture that spirit. They rocked the sizeable and mixed age audience in The Factory with a vigour that is really hard to describe. They just do it!

The Ramonas: Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Lisa/Cloey nailed a brilliant vocal for Poison Heart, stunning vocals on that track, a favourite of mine. Next we were Sniffing Glue and taken from there into We’re A Happy Family.

The guys left the stage, an arm from Maxine appears encouraging us all to shout for more. And boy! Did we!! The band came back and served up a stunning rendition of Sheena Is A Punk Rocker. Damn that was good!

The Ramonas: Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Initially The Ramonas were formed as an all-girl tribute to the Ramones. Tonight, yet again they raised the bar and showed what a formidable outfit they really are. I always appreciate a chat with the guys and delighted to see Lisa’s wee baby girl. She is gorgeous! I have a lot of respect for The Ramonas, and we have met up many times in the past. Always a joy and a pleasure and I just have to say “ya gotta love The Ramonas!”

The Ramonas: Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

I have seen them performing their Ramones tribute sets a good few times now and it’s never boring! Also now backed up with great selection of their own material they really are well worth seeing them “do it” if you get the chance. They really are rather good at it!

The Ramonas: Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

More!

You can find The Ramonas on the WWW

You can find The Ramonas on Facebook

The Ramonas: Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Guests: Shallow Honey

“We’re Shallow Honey; grunge rock’s answer to ASMR. Comparable to that feeling of being halfway through your 2nd pint. Better than finding a £10 note in an old coat pocket. When every traffic light is green.”

Shallow Honey: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Something I love to do is meet and hear a new, young local band playing. These guys are not “new” however, they have been together for a while now honing those skills and quite unique sound. They engaged with the crowd and presented well with an air of flair, humour and a good slice of energy.

CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTOS

Shallow Honey are a four-piece Sussex outfit. Tonight they had landed a guest/support slot with The Ramonas at The Factory Live in Worthing. They fired up a 30 minute slot with a couple of heavy duty toe tappers, Control, a single release,  and Aim Low. Control is a great opener, not having seen this outfit before. Heavy drums and some delights from the guitar and dirty fuzz driving power from the bass guitar. And at the front some super vocals and almost theatrics. Another track with a delicious hook from the guitars was Draw The Line.

Shallow Honey: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

They set about pushing out sounds from the murky delight of Rock… Or maybe dirty pop? Alt Rock? As Shallow Honey say “ah, who needs labels anyway!!”They pushed on with a cracker of a track, Light-Weight.

They claim to be heavily influenced by peer-pressure and partial to the occasional Double Decker. Start The Ride ended their short, but well received set. These guys have a delightful sense of humour to match their unique sound. Worth going to see these guys if you get the chance. Well played Shallow Honey.

Shallow Honey: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Have a listen on Spotify here.

Check them out on Facebook.

And Finally…

The Factory Live

A huge shout to the super team at The Factory Live. This really is a little gem of a venue and tonight the sound mix was spot on. The lighting had been upgraded since my last visit and it was wonderful to see all the band members and just the right amount of smoke. First class night guys and cheers to the brilliant security and bar staff.

The Factory Live is tucked away in Worthing. It’s a great venue. A great team running the place, the staff were approachable, friendly and helpful. The venue is pretty large and well ventilated with a nice large bar area and outside seating and tables. The venue, The Factory Live, is located at Unit 9A, Ivy Arch Road in Worthing.

The Factory Live are on the WWW here

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