Interview with Vicky, Cam, Maxine and Lisa of The Ramonas
Max- I’m Maxine and I play guitar in the band
Lisa- I’m Lisa and i am the singer.
Cam - I’m Camille and I hit things!
Vicky – I’m Vicky, I play bass and shout 1,2,3,4 a lot. A mutual friend of Lisa’s and mine formed the band in 2004, we joined in 2008. It’s grown organically from then on, originally starting as a Ramones tribute. Since 2016 we’ve been writing and releasing our own material, out debut album ‘First World Problems’ was released in 2017. We’re currently working on album number 3.
1. First Punk Rock band you ever saw Live? Where/when?
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Max- I have no idea honestly. Probably a mates band!
Cam - A pop punk band called Home Grown at Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms when I was about 13!
2. First Punk Rock Record you bought? What made you buy it?
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Max- I think it was Good Charlotte Young and the Hopeless.
And I would have stolen it from my big sister. Still think it’s a cracking album.
I was only born in ‘95 so my introduction to punk was primarily pop punk
Lisa- Mine was also the pop punk route as i was a teenager in the late 90’s/early 00’s and it was ’Take off your pants and Jacket’ by Blink 182.
Cam - Same... it was of the time! I think it was Sum 41 - All Killer No Filler haha but my friends copied a lot on cassette for me before that, mainly I remember Greenday and AFI.
Vicky – I think my first vinyl record was Sheena Is A Punk Rocker on 12” from a car boot sale for a couple of quid.
First on CD was All Killer No Filler by Sum 41, that album was played to death, I think I learnt all the basslines on it at the time.
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3. Favourite Venue to play in? UK or abroad
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Max- 100 club is always pretty special.
Lisa- There are so many great venues around Uk and Europe.
However, one of my favourites is The Museum in Köln as it is always packed, rowdy, sweaty and there is usually a hangover the following day.
Cam - one of the most memorable for me was in Berlin in a venue called Cassiopeia. It’s mega!
Vicky – Most recently my favourite is the Casbah stage at Rebellion Fest, the sound on stage was amazing, as was the crowd and atmosphere.
4. Influences (apart from Ramones :))?
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Max- Dave Gilmour. Robert Smith.
Lisa- I love powerful front women like Skin from Skunk Anansie and the soulful Etta James.
Cam - Nirvana, RHCP, Zeppelin, Mars Volta and anything from hip hop
to electronic to prog music.
Vicky – RHCP, Rancid, Pixies, Deep Purple, Beatles and anything classic Rock n Roll/Blues.
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5. Any new bands impressed you and worth a shout out?
Max- I’m listening to mostly a lot of old bands at the moment. Maid of Ace are a fantastic current punk band though and I’m enjoying their new releases a lot.
Cam - been listening to a Finnish band this week called Kairon; IRSE! They’re not new new, but their new album is ace.
Vicky – There’s a couple of great Brighton bands, ‘Gulls’ and ‘grasshopper’.
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6. What’s the future look like for you and The Ramonas?
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Max- hopefully full of new music and new gigs!
Lisa- 2021 is looking packed-lets hope it all goes ahead! We also have a new album to record when lockdown is lifted.
Cam - mostly I’m looking forward to writing and recording more and progressing with our own sound!
Vicky – We have a new album in the works. I’m also working on a Ramonas bass transcription book that I’m illustrating too.
7. When you are not a Ramona, you...?
Max- I’m always myself!
Lisa- Can be found swimming in the Clyde, gardening, playing with my cats and singing soul and gospel.
Cam - Play drums. All day. And eat.
Vicky – Moonlighting in various other bands.
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8. What is the craziest, most memorable thing which happened on Tour?
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Max- Europe in general is always pretty crazy and memorable. A venue we played over there recently was like an old torture chamber and had a real human torture victim skull sat at the back of the stage that Ozzy allegedly drunk out of when Sabbath played there back in the hay day.
Lisa- We were playing in Stuttgart, Germany and i had given the sound engineer my phone to play the intro for us walking on stage “The Good, the bad and the ugly”. However, unfortunately he pressed play instead of selecting the song and the intro ended up being the soul ballad “Overjoyed” by Stevie Wonder. I was laughing so hard I could barely get through Teenage Lobotomy!
Cam - Hahaha I’m just laughing at Lisa’s answer! So good. I think the most memorable memory will always be the day that we crashed the
van and booked a hotel on the wrong side of Germany. Which evidently is what the song Ramonas go to Freiburg is all about hahaha.
Vicky – One of my favourite moments was when we were staying in a hotel in Seattle. We rolled out of bed in the morning, went downstairs to take advantage of the free coffee and bumped into Patti Smith. It was the most ridiculous thing, us there in our pyjamas chatting to her about the show she’d played the night before. We were too embarrassed to ask for a selfie!
9. If 2020 was a person?
Max- Trump
Lisa- Mr Burns
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Cam - Eric Cartman
Vicky – Katie Hopkins
10. What do you dislike the most?
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Max- Trump
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Lisa- Narrow minds…
and Trump and ha ha
Cam - Selfishness and
hypocrisy... oh... also Trump!
Vicky – Disrespect, negativity and egos.
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11. Guilty pleasure?
Max- not guilty but Cyndi Lauper is a mega babe
Lisa- Lionel Ritchie
Cam - too many to mention! Talkin of mega babes... probably Dolly Parton and Cher. NOT GUILTY YOUR HONOR!
Vicky – The Bangles…and I do love a musical.
Interviewed in December 2020
