Can The Ramones count higher than four? Has their new album, 'Animal Boy', got more than three chords on it? Are they really worth two pages? Not one of these questions is answered here...

"Good evening, fuck the terrorists it's great to be here!"

The Ramones are not a shy band. Well, not outwardly so anyway, but even in these troubled times with bands pulling out of tours or rescheduling them for a couple of years' time for fear of attacks from various terrorist factions it doesn't seem like a good idea to go and take the mickey. Do The Ramones care? Nah. After all they're true blue all-American boys.

The Ramones started in 1974 in New York and played their first gig at CBGB's the same year. When all around were playing Disco, The Ramones played Rock'n'Roll. They became an overnight sensation and heralded the next revolution in music — punk. They came over to Europe soon after to the same reception. They were Sid Vicious' favourite band and are considered by many, with the exception of maybe Malcolm McLaren to be the founders of Punk Rock.

Ten years on since it all took off and they're still going, and with a new album released at the end of May and a tour to match some have wondered if maybe they're past it a bit. Ask most people who saw them at the Hammersmith Palais, however, and the answer would be 'no'. For a start the place was packed and outside tickets were changing hands for up to 30 quid. Inside, after the Thrashing Doves and The Prisoners had finished their sets, things started to get a little restless. After all, how many times can you shout 'Hey Ho, Lets Go' to a large unresponsive bunch of assorted roadies and amplifiers without getting just a bit bogged off.

However, after what seemed like an eternity of being pushed and shoved by people who definitely did not think that Punk was dead, on they came to the sound of a military drum beat. 1-2-3-4 and they were off. Any sign that they were getting old or had sold out was certainly not in evidence. Joey screeched out moron-rocker vocals from under a thick black mop of hair, Johnny whacked out fuzzy guitar from his beaten up old Mosrite and Dee Dee and Ritchie held down the rhythm with thudding bass and really thunderous drums. Sweet music.

They played all the old favourites along with a few from the new album, Animal Boy, and live new songs don't sound too different from previous material, but the LP itself shows a progression from older work. Jean Beauvoir (ex-Plasmatics and Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul), producer of the new LP, also plays keyboards on several of the new tracks: a step forward or a sell out?

Joey: "Well it was Jean's idea to put keyboards on and he played it too. It's sort of an extension of the last album (Too Tough To Die) but on this one we've got better material. I think it's the best that we've done so far."

The subject matter on Animal Boy is different to the tried and tested teenage angst-type songs that have dominated their records in the past, though a couple of those still remain. Instead we find songs about Ronald Reagan, Sid & Nancy and reasons for living, or not as the case may be. This could be due to a writing collaboration between Dee Dee and Jean Beauvoir.

Dee: "Well I've always written a lot in the past, but I write all the time now. I usually write on the guitar these days and then put the other stuff on. I write in the studio a lot now too. Not always, though. I mean, I was in the bath when I started to sort of sing Crummy Stuff to myself so I just jumped up and wrote it down. I just worked out the rest later. I think that my songs have improved a lot since we started. I didn't used to know what notes I was playing! Now things are a lot easier, especially in the studio."

And his bass playing's taken on a new dimension too.

Dee Dee: "I take bass lessons these days from a guy in New York. I spend quite a while practising pentatonic scales and stuff like that. Now I understand what I'm playing, ha, ha!"

Technology, though, is not something that has affected The Ramones too profoundly. Their equipment list remains, with the exception of the keyboards on the album, largely unchanged after 12 years.

Dee Dee: "These two," he gestures at a couple of Fenders in the middle of the dressing room looking a little out of place amongst the pile of empty beer bottles "are just straight Precisions, but they're real good. I used to use custom pickups in them y'know, those DiMarzio's, but I don't bother now. They're okay, y'know, weighted just about right."

His two new basses are already rather scratched and covered with gaffer tape around the horns of the cutaway. This man hits his bass pretty hard and seems to strum as much as pluck the strings.

Dee Dee: "Yeah, it's all downward stroke. I tried playing other ways but it doesn't sound like The Ramones. I've tried taking the lead as well and that doesn't sound like The Ramones either. The only thing I really do that's custom is to fill the bass with silicone to make them louder."

Hmmm. Filling it with silicone to make it louder? Well after a few calls Andy's Guitar Centre reckon that filling up your bass with silicone won't do anything at all to it, except make it rattle a bit maybe. Within the office itself there are two factions; one reckons that if you fill your bass with silicone it will give more sustain on some notes because of the changed resonance due to the increased density of the body. The other says that Dee Dee was in fact using 'Hipspeak' and was referring to active circuitry. Whatever it is, if you fill your bass up to the nadgers with silicone and it knackers it don't blame us! Meanwhile, back to the Ramone collection.

Dee Dee: "Those are Johnny's," he says pointing to two Mosrites; a fairly rare sight these days, one black, one white, and a lot more battered than the Precisions, looking as if they're held together with gaffer tape and hope.

"He always plays on the treble pickup, the front one's just there to switch backwards and forwards between them real fast at the end of songs. The treble pickup is one of those Super-Strats and the other is standard."

Dee Dee's writing has contributed to a fair number of the 12 tracks on the new LP. These are split into two halves with one side of the writing being a fairly commercial American FM radio sound, though it should be acceptable to all but the most die hard Rocket To Russia fans and the other half is completely gonzoid goon Rock, which will especially appeal to the most die hard Rocket To Russia fans. 1-2-3-4 indeed. Joey's writing is becoming more diverse and topical with tracks like Bonzo Goes To Bitburg discussing and even challenging Mr Reagan re his visit to the war graves last year. A change from the ultra right stance in the past.

Joey: "We don't write songs that are left wing or right wing, just about things that we consider to be important. Well, The KKK Took My Baby Away was I suppose a bit left wing but these are the sort of issues that are important to everyone. We also try to write songs that are fun, y'know?"

Yeah I know. Well The Ramones are definitely not past it, no way. The new LP is testament to that and as far as being dumb or cartoon characters is concerned they're not those either. They just play R'n'R the way it should be played and Johnny's only comment pretty well sums up the band's attitude.

What do you like playing best Johnny?

"Whatever's easiest!"

GABBA GABBA HEY!!!!!!