BROUGHT TO YOU BY: MARSWORTH
Richard Reinhardt otherwise known as Richie Ramone, from Passaic, New Jersey, has been rocking and rolling since 1982, and it’s high time we take a seat with him to get the low-down on the upcoming album as well as the impacts on his personal life. While taking on the entire globe with his trusty band, Mr. Ramone tells his story in a way that no other has ever done before. Now, I’d like you to meet, Richie Ramone.
Steve Pickles
MARSWORTH: If you could choose 3 words to describe your music to someone who hasn’t discovered you yet, what would you choose?
RICHIE RAMONE: Wow, right away with questions like that! So, the three things that best describe my music is aggressive, honest and real.
M: Following that, what questions do you not like to answer?
R: I’m not gonna answer that either.
M: In a universe where the senses of taste and hearing are mixed up together, what food would you imagine your music would taste like?
R: Hm. Lobster.
M: Clare is still in the band, correct?
R: Yes.
M: Would you say women, such as Clare, are treated differently than men in the metal or punk industries? If so, why do you think so?
R: No, they’re not treated differently. She’s treated just like everyone else in the band.
M: How about people on the outside of the band?
R: I can’t speak for what the other outside people do, you know. The only thing she does differently is go into the ladies room.
M: It’s been about 6 months since you released “Not Afraid”, how’re you feeling about the way it was received by your fans?
R: It’s really good. We just finished the new album which is going to be pressed right now. That single is on the new record, I’m really excited about the new record, so that should be out in the spring!
M: I’m super stoked to hear it!
R: It’s called Live To Tell, the new album.
M: Is there any real-life situation that inspired you to create any part of the new album?
R: Everything is a real-life situation. It’s extremely dark. It’s what my head goes through every day and what other minds experience. A little about their thoughts, difficulties of life, and just being able to wake up and make coffee in the morning. It’s tough, you know. It’s really hard on a lot of people, and a lot of people are really gonna understand this record.
M: Good, we need some more music where things aren’t sugar coated.
R: Yeah, not many things are happy on this record. Not a happy record, but it’s a good sounding record! It’s really good. The songs are very singable. I keep wanting to top myself, so this is my third solo album and it’s beyond everything else.
M: You strive for greatness!
R: Yep, otherwise I wouldn’t do it.
Raven Divito
M: You’re traveling to South America, you’ve already done your Eastern and Western United States, so now you’re going everywhere-
R: Not everywhere! Not going to mainland Europe until next summer, to the festivals. I am going to Argentina this Friday. Looking to finish up down there, we’ll be gone [for] a month. Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Brazil.
M: Oh wow, have you ever been there before?
R: Many times! That’s probably where my biggest audiences are, down there.
M: With your frequent travels, what’s it like being away for so long?
R: I’m not usually away for that long. 5-6 weeks is that maximum, then I come home. 3, maybe 4, months of the whole year, if you added it all up, 12 weeks. I don’t think it’s much more than that. You go out for a month here, for a month there. The rest is writing music and whatever else you do, play golf.
M: I’ve been dying to ask this one: What is one thing you’ve done and will absolutely never do again?
R: Do drugs off the street, I’ll never do that again. All that junk they’re putting in it now, whatever that is. When I was a kid, it didn’t matter if I found it on the corner, but now all that’s changed. It’s very cheap to make it, and it’s all about money. People are really really suffering now, they’d do anything for money.
M: And some people will do anything for a fix too.
R: Mhmm. I feel sad for these college kids dying taking these street drugs. You’re getting brought up in a really tough world. You have a tough 50 years ahead of you, girl. The high and the homeless are out of this world, it’s just gonna be really tough. It is now.
M: And there’s no way to take it on except for head on.
R: Right, there’s no way.
M: Where can people buy and stream Not Afraid?
R: I guess, Amazon. I’m sure you could stream it all over: Spotify, YouTube, and all that stuff. “Not Afraid” and “Cry Little Sister”, the video just came out on Halloween! It’s the B-side. I’ve been doing some acting, Friday the 13th Vengeance 2: Bloodlines, that just came out 2 weeks ago. You can see that on YouTube for free. Lots going on! “Cry Little Sister” I did for this movie, Protege Moi, which is coming out next month. I play a vampire in that, so the record [label] wanted me to cover The Lost Boys song, “Cry Little Sister” from the 80’s. I’ve been doing some horror movies and just trying to stay busy.
M: That’s very fitting with horror movies!
R: Yeah, I mean rock ’n roll, horror, and punk rock they all go together. I do a lot of those conventions, horror conventions. I’ll sign autographs and stuff like that.
Jay Manzano
M: What’s the best piece of advice that you can give to starting musicians?
R: Stay in school. You know, I just did a whole episode of a podcast about this! Kids were asking me questions. It’s just really hard right now; though, you do have the advantage of the internet now. Everybody wants to be a musician. There’s like 5,000,000 bands now, in 1970 there were probably 100,000. The competition is ridiculous. You’re either gonna get lucky and meet someone who helps you, you know, because you need to have more than just good songs. It’s just really really difficult right now to get ahead. Especially if you’re playing rock ‘n roll, forget it. If you wanna do pop and rap, you’ve got a way better shot. Not with rock ‘n roll, it’s kind of really really tough. Some metal bands are doing really good now, but it’s really hard. They ask me what the magic thing is and there IS no magic. I got into the Ramones, I was in the right place at the right time. That’s part of what plays into everything. Keep doing what you’re doing and if you love it, keep writing songs and playing with friends and musicians. Don’t take it too seriously. Maybe something will just click and it’ll happen for you! It’s very difficult if you put all your nuts in that basket, you could be going down a very tough road for the rest of your life. You have to be careful.
M: Right.
R: You never wanna not have that outroute, like a different path, when you’re a musician. I never did, so it was pretty tough for me my whole life, but I think it’s good to have another outlook, just in case, because there’s gonna come a time where you have to start making money. You can’t live at your mothers anymore. You have to be prepared for that. It’s wonderful if you can get out there! It’s a great thing. I don’t wanna turn off people by saying that, you know, keep doing what you love, but you gotta think about the future. I wanna write my next book, called They Never Told Me. Now me in my 60’s and no one ever told me about your 60’s like what I’m supposed to do and how I’m supposed to prepare for that. All of these things in life start popping up that you didn’t learn about; you learned about algebra which I don’t even think they teach in school anymore.
M: They do, at least in my engineering degree they do.
R: They do!? They still teach algebra!? I’ve never used that my whole life. I never did anything that they needed the square root of something. But it’s real-life things that you’ve gotta be prepared for. In 40 years time, you’ll see that it’s tough. Your first parent, your second parent, what you’ve got to go through, and all of the things involved with wills and everything. It’s really tough. I’d like to put some literature out there about that and maybe help prepare some people. Could I have everybody go to richieramone.com where all the movies and all of the dates that we’re doing. Getting back to your question, what’re you supposed to say with that?, “It sucks?”, you know, it’s great! I would NOT do this if I didn’t think it was good. I’m talented enough to know what is good and what is bad. If you can’t decipher between those two things, then you’ve got a problem.
They ask me what the magic thing is and there IS no magic. I got into the Ramones, I was in the right place at the right time.
– Richie Ramone 2022
M: Do people tend to expect a lot from you just for your stage name?
R: I don’t think they know what they’re expecting. I was a drummer in the band, that’s what they know me as. I was a drummer in the Ramones for 4 years and 10 months, now I’m my own artist, my own singer. I front the band, I play some songs on drums, but I mainly front and sing. I don’t think they know what to expect, but I know when they leave they go, “that was the greatest thing I’ve seen in a long long time.” We get that at all [of] the shows, so that’s fine that people say, “God, I didn’t know what to expect tonight, so I came anyway and boy, I’m sure glad I did.” It’s the reason why we do this!
M: Perfect!
R: I’m always scouting the audience. Are there people talking to each other, are they staying in the same spot for the one hour, are they going to the bathroom, or are they going to the bar? If they’re moving, that means I’m not keeping their attention, but 99 out of 100 times they don’t move and they stand there watching and that’s important.
M: You gotta have ‘em encapsulated! Okay, so I’ve got one more for you. Do you get irritated when you get questions about the Ramones?
R: No, ‘cause I’ve answered so many gazillions of ‘em. They don’t get irritated. They gave me the life I have now. Why do you got a Ramones question?
M: Oh, no. I didn’t have any down for today because I’m sure you’ve heard and answered them all. I figured I’d ask some different questions that you hopefully haven’t heard before!
R: Right. You threw me off with a couple of them! I didn’t have any generic answers for any of those. It started out with 2 or 3 weird questions and I was like, “Wait a minute!” haha!
M: Yeah! I gotta keep you on your toes!
R: Yeah! It’s kinda early for that. Then they ask you, “What do you listen to?” I hate answering that one.
M: Hey! I asked you what questions you don’t like answering and you said you’re not gonna answer that!
R: Oh, haha! Well, that’s just one of them! Too many people don’t know what’s going on and they wanna do an interview, but they don’t do any research or know anything about you. Open a book or listen to a record, then they just ask Ramones questions, and they just don’t know anything! They can at least spend a half hour to look me up and see what’s going on or whatever before you do an interview. It’s only fair to the artist.
M: Right. What’s the point of doing an interview if you don’t know who you’re interviewing?
R: Well, it happens all the time. Some of those, I just hang up on. I don’t wanna deal with it.
M: I’m glad you didn’t hang up on me. I hope you had some fun, I had some smiles!
R: Haha! No, I saw that name and I remembered!
M: Alright! Thank you very much for taking some time to talk to The Metal Pit. I really do, truly, appreciate it. Hopefully you had a good time! Do you have anything else to add for the readers of The Metal Pit?
R: Go on to my website and check out what’s going on, Stay happy and healthy, and thanks for being fans! Not only of me and The Metal Pit but of music in general. Without them, we have nothing. You always gotta remember that as an artist, without the fans we’re nothing. It’s important.
Click the image below, if you’d like to know anything more about Mr. Ramone or just to keep up with him on the regular. Catch him on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or even grab something good from his website!
