The world’s most famous and influential punk rock band, the Ramones, are most identified with the frenetic New York streets and the beer-soaked, chewing gum-encrusted stage of CBGB. But it might come as a surprise to some fans that the roots of one of the “Fast Four,” those of Marky Ramone, are intertwined with the comparatively slower, markedly idyllic environment of the Hudson Valley. And on December 6, the drummer will reconnect with those roots when Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg returns to the Bearsville Theater to ring in the season with “Marky Ramone’s Holiday Blitzkrieg.”
Born Marc Bell in Brooklyn in 1952, Marky initially made his name on the New York scene with his high school hard rock trio, Dust, which released two earsplitting albums in the early 1970s. But following the demise of Dust and an unsuccessful audition for the New York Dolls, he enrolled in Estus, a rather middle-of-the-road-sounding band that had formed in Missouri and rehearsed in the unlikely Ulster County base of Rosendale. “It wasn’t really my style of music,” he admits about the group. “Part of the reason I did it was because [former Rolling Stones producer] Andrew Loog Oldham was the producer.” Estus evaporated after one album and by the mid-1970s, after an album with bluesman Johnny Shines, the percussionist had joined early New York punk staples Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys. He next moved onto Richard Hell and the Voidoids, playing on that band’s seminal 1977 debut, Blank Generation, before being tapped by the Ramones to replace their founding drummer, Tommy Ramone, in May 1978. His first concert with the quartet would have another Hudson Valley tie-in.
“We were well rehearsed, so the show went really smoothly,” recalls Marky about his debut with the Ramones, which took place at the Chance in Poughkeepsie in June 1978. “I wasn’t nervous, because I already had all this experience with other bands under my belt. So everything kind of gelled and everybody was happy with it.” The iconic photo of the group that appears on the back of his first album with the Ramones, that year’s Road to Ruin, was shot behind the venue prior to the performance. Marky would be with the band for the next five years, touring the world and starring in and playing on the soundtrack of the 1979 film Rock ’n’ Roll High School, and recording the albums End of the Century (1980), Pleasant Dreams (1981), and Subterranean Jungle (1982).
Alcoholism forced him out in early 1983 and the Ramones continued with Richie Ramone and Elvis Ramone AKA Blondie’s Clem Burke on drums until the now-sober Marky rejoined them in August 1987. He’d stay with the group until their 1996 retirement, making four more studio albums and performing around the globe. Following the demise of the Ramones, he and bassist Dee Dee Ramone formed the short-lived Ramainz before he launched Marky Ramone and the Intruders and played in an iteration of the Misfits. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s current outfit is Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg, which includes members originally from South America, a continent where the Ramones filled stadiums and are remembered as gods.
His band’s mission is simple: Keep the Ramones’ music on its ever-forward-moving track by playing the classics for the fans who love them. And what are the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award-winning rocker’s personal favorite Ramones numbers? “Well, I like the first song I recorded with them, ‘I Wanna Be Sedated,’” says Marky, who also hosts “Marky Ramone’s Punk Rock Blitzkrieg” on SiriusXM satellite radio. “I like ‘Rock ’n’ Roll High School’ because of the movie, and ‘Sheena is a Punk Rocker,’ ‘The KKK Took My Baby Away,’ ‘Blitzkrieg Bop,’ ‘Pet Semetary,’ ‘(Do You Remember) Rock ’n’ Roll Radio’ because of the message that it has…There’s so many. I love drumming and I love seeing the world. As long as I can keep going, I’ll do it.”
Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg will present “Marky Ramone’s Holiday Blitzkrieg” at the Bearsville Theater on December 6 at 7pm. Tickets are $43.65 to $69.15.
