Share
CJ Says: A Ramones Podcast
008 - Kid Congo Powers Interview
Season 1, Ep. 8
•
When the topic of punk rock comes up in conversation, the Ramones are often at the forefront of the discussion. Their raw energy and unique sound changed the landscape of music indefinitely.
In Episode 008 of CJ Says, we enjoy a fascinating conversation with Kid Congo Powers - former president of the West Coast Ramones Fan Club and guitarist in The Gun Club, The Cramps & Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - in which Kid shares his personal encounters with the band and the impact that they had upon him and countless others...
Here, Kid recalls the early days of punk, the excitement of waiting for that first Ramones’ record, and the thrill of seeing the band live for the first time. He also shares how the Ramones were different from other bands at that time, in that they were accessible, encouraging and cultivating a genuine connection with their fanbase.
The duties that Kid undertook as President of the West Coast Ramones Fan Club can be seen as an early form of social media; he facilitated interactions among Ramones fans in a pre-internet world, and the grassroots efforts of people like Kid played a significant role in promoting the Ramones music early in their career. This sense of community surrounding the band remained prevalent until the end - it’s even still evident today!!!
Throughout this conversation, Kid emphasizes the lessons that he learned from interacting with the Ramones early on. Their approachability and humility set a standard for how musicians should engage with their audience - it's where Kid learnt the importance of treating fans with respect.
Connection and community are central themes throughout Kid's narrative. For him, punk was not just about the music; it meant finding a tribe of like-minded individuals, forming meaningful relationships and a place to belong. For Kid, the Ramones fostered an environment where fans felt valued and included, and this is something he carried into his own musical career.
We’ve already enjoyed some really great conversations in the short lifespan of this podcast, and this episode might just be our favourite so far. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
If you want to hear the second half of it, and stream the rest of our exclusive bonus content, head over to www.patreon.com/cjsays
Thank you to Kid Congo Powers for this amazing conversation!!!
More episodes
View all episodes
27. 027 - 'Adios Amigos' Side A Deep Dive
02:41:54||Season 1, Ep. 27Hey kids!The end is nigh. The leather jackets are battered, the engines are running on fumes, and the greatest punk rock ‘n’ roll band on the planet is staring down the barrel of its final studio album.But Adios Amigos isn't quite the predictable last blast you might expect. There's more going on here than meets the eye…This week, we dive into Side A of the Ramones' final record, from Tom Waits' ‘I Don't Want to Grow Up’—the unlikely cover CJ championed—to Daniel Rey's invaluable contribution behind the boards, and how Dee Dee's solo songs found their way back into the band he left behind in 1989.For CJ, Dee Dee was reaching new heights as a songwriter by this point, bringing a poetic, loose-limbed edge to the band's familiar three-chord assault.Then there's Joey Ramone’s ‘Life's a Gas,’ a playful, philosophical reflection on life's fleeting beauty, and CJ's own personal journey from the Marine Corps to the Ramones.This is a story about chasing your dreams, following your instincts, and sometimes having to choose your own path to follow.The final chapter? Maybe. But there's still plenty of life left in this machine.We’ll see you in two weeks for the Side B Deep Dive, which we’re putting up on all the public platforms. Then we’ll be taking a short break until the new year.But for now, drop the needle and come with us as we revisit the Ramones’ fourteenth and final studio album.Gabba Gabba Hey!!!26. 026 - Linnea Quigley Interview
57:11||Season 1, Ep. 26Hey kids! Welcome back…Before she was dancing with zombies in The Return of the Living Dead, Linnea Quigley was a Midwestern kid who jumped ship for Los Angeles, found punk rock, picked up a guitar and started making some noise.In this episode, Linnea takes us from the early LA punk scene and her adventures in music to cult horror movies, chainsaws, prosthetics and the wonderfully deranged world of The Return of the Living Dead.And then there’s the Ramones…Linnea takes us behind the scenes of the legendary ‘Substitute’ music video shoot, recalling late nights with the band and hanging out with Johnny and giving us a glimpse into that glorious moment when punk rock, horror movies and underground culture all collided.Gabba Gabba Hey!25. 025 - 'Acid Eaters' Side A Deep Dive
01:29:54||Season 1, Ep. 25For the penultimate episode of the CJ Says Deep Dive Series, Matt Stocks and CJ Ramone dive headfirst into Acid Eaters—the Ramones’ glorious trip through the songs, sounds and sub-genres that first inspired the band back in 1977. For Matt, this record is personal. Acid Eaters was the first proper Ramones album he ever owned after being seduced by the album cover and the promise of whatever was happening inside.And CJ was there, in the studio, with the band, and he’s got the intel on all of it.What started life as an EP eventually mutated into a full-length covers album, giving the Ramones a chance to forget trying to second guess the ever-evolving music industry and simply play the music they loved.According to CJ, they absolutely loved the experience!On this Side A Deep Dive, we get into the song selections, the psychedelic concept, the garage-rock DNA of the Ramones, the recording sessions, and the sheer joy of four guys locking into a groove and kicking out the jams…Acid Eaters isn't just the Ramones playing other people's songs. It’s the sound of a band digging through their record collection, pulling out the deep cuts that shaped them into the group we all know and love, turning up the volume and showing us exactly where they came from.The trip starts here.Turn on. Tune in. Drop out.24. 024 - Joe Sib Interview
01:03:35||Season 1, Ep. 24Hey kids! Welcome to another episode of CJ Says: A Ramones Podcast.This week, we're joined by Joe Sib—singer, storyteller, comedian, label boss, lifer, and all-round punk rock renaissance man.We dive deep into the Ramones universe in this interview, from Joe's recollection of first meeting CJ on the Escape from New York tour in 1990 and discovering they were two kids with the same musical background, to why CJ felt like “one of us” when he stepped into the shoes of Dee Dee Ramone.We also head way back to the gloriously chaotic early days of Wax, a pre-fame Spike Jonze and the birth of Jackass, when music videos were fuelled by little more than youthful exuberance, no money, mad ideas, and a complete disregard for personal safety.Then there's Joe's infamous Pinhead story: his extraordinary quest to become the Pinhead at the Ramones' final New York show. The tale involves Johnny Ramone, Eddie Vedder, and one of the greatest cases of mistaken identity in punk-rock history.So join us for a trip through backstage corridors, dive bars and the volatile chaos of the punk-rock underground, where friendships become the stuff of legend and you absolutely never know what's going to happen next.As always, to stream the second half of this week's interview and access all our additional bonus content, head over to www.patreon.com/cjsays23. 023 - 'Mondo Bizarro' Side A Deep Dive
02:21:24||Season 1, Ep. 23Hey kids! Welcome back to CJ Says: A Ramones Podcast.This week, we’re going deep into Side A of Mondo Bizarro with a man who was there. The one and only CJ Ramone…We kick things off with ‘Censorshit’, Joey Ramone’s furious, funny and unapologetically political response to the music-censorship battles of the early ’90s. CJ takes us inside the recording of the track, explains why it was an obvious choice to open the album, and recalls how the Ramones worked out the sequencing in the studio, moving songs around on the board as the record took shape.We talk about Joey’s vocal performance, the Ramones’ history of tackling social and political subjects, and why ‘Censorshit’ worked so perfectly as both a killer album opener and a statement of intent.Then it’s on to Marky Ramone’s ‘The Job That Ate My Brain’, with CJ shedding light on Marky's collaboration with songwriter Garrett Uhlenbrock and the wicked little world contained within the song.From there, as always, it’s a deep dive into all the songs on Side A of the album, including the songwriting, the studio sessions, the sequencing, and the stories behind the tracks—only this time, we get to hear it all firsthand from a man who was actually in the room.So crank it up, drop the needle, and join us for the Mondo Bizarro Side A Deep Dive.And if you want to keep digging, head over to www.patreon.com/cjsays for the Side B Deep Dive and the rest of our exclusive Patreon content.You won’t regret it. Gabba Gabba Hey!22. 022 - Dirty Donny Interview
01:06:10||Season 1, Ep. 22Hey kids! Welcome to another episode of CJ Says: A Ramones Podcast.This week, we're stepping into the wonderfully deranged world of Dirty Donny — artist, hot-rod obsessive, Ramones fanatic, and one of the great modern custodians of the all-American art forms of rock 'n' roll, lowbrow and car culture.Drawing inspiration from legends like Coop and Big Daddy Roth, Donny has spent decades creating a visual universe packed with flames, monsters, skulls, chrome and enough gasoline fumes to permanently alter your brain chemistry. And then there was the small matter of spending six months hanging around Metallica's studio, painting guitars and becoming part of their creative world.We talk lowbrow art, rock 'n' roll, Americana, the DIY spirit and why underground culture has a habit of disappearing into the shadows before roaring back into the limelight. Donny also shares his thoughts on helping younger artists and keeping that creative fire burning for the next generation.So fire up your hot rod and join us for a trip down the rabbit hole of art, music, motorcycles and the beauty of doing things your own way.To stream the second half of this week's artist interview and access the rest of our exclusive bonus content, head over to www.patreon.com/cjsaysAnd to pre-order Donny's new book, Dirty Donny Must Be Destroyed: The Art of Donny Giles, out September 29, head over to www.dirtydonny.com21. 021 - 'Brain Drain' Side A Deep Dive
01:08:59||Season 1, Ep. 21Hey kids! Welcome to another Deep Dive episode of CJ Says: A Ramones Podcast.This week, we drop the needle on Brain Drain—the Ramones' eleventh studio album, released in 1989, and a record that arrived at one of the most turbulent moments in the band's history.By this point, the cracks were beginning to show. Richie Ramone was gone, Dee Dee was battling his own demons, and the band were facing the increasingly familiar struggle between artistic credibility, commercial success, and simply keeping the machine moving. And yet, somehow, Brain Drain produced some of the most memorable songs of the Ramones' later years.From the irresistible 'I Believe in Miracles' to the sublime soundtrack song 'Pet Sematary', Brain Drain is a fascinating collision of classic Ramones songwriting, vintage '80s production, and even a Christmas song thrown into the mix. In this week's Deep Dive, we get under the skin of the record (or skull) of Brain Drain—the songs, the stories, the lineup changes, and the bizarre context surrounding an album that's often overlooked in favour of the Ramones' earlier, more celebrated records.So grab your leather jacket, turn up the volume up dial, and join us as we revisit Brain Drain, an album made by a band who may have been running low on fumes, but somehow still had enough gas left in the tank to go to the distance as they entered the third—and arguably most successful—decade of their career...The Ramones weren't finished yet. Not by a long shot.As always, if you want to hear the Side B Deep Dive and stream the rest of our exclusive bonus content, head over to www.patreon.com/cjsays20. 020 - Joey Shithead Interview
01:04:48||Season 1, Ep. 20Hey kids! Welcome to another episode of CJ Says: A Ramones Podcast.This week, we're heading north of the border to Vancouver to sit down with one of the great survivors of the punk rock underground: Joey Shithead, frontman of DOA, and a man who’s spent nearly five decades making noise, causing trouble, and proving that punk was never supposed to be a spectator sport.Joey takes us back to the beginning—to the first time he saw the Ramones and The Clash and realised that this strange, furious thing called punk rock could change the course of your life. From the Commodore Ballroom to the sweaty clubs and broken-down vans of the Canadian underground scene, Joey’s story is about discovering music and deciding, against all reasonable advice, to throw himself headfirst into the lifestyle.But beneath the noise, the politics and righteous aggression lies something even more important: community. Joey remembers a punk scene where the bands looked after one another, raised money when somebody's gear got stolen, shared stages, ideas, and somehow managed to build a culture out of absolutely nothing.Along the way, we get stories of friendships, survival, and the strange pathways that connect Vancouver's underground music scene to international rockstars like Duff McKagan from Guns N’ Roses—proving that the widespread punk rock family tree is connected to the same roots, all off which spring from the Ramones…As always, to stream the second half of this artist interview and access the rest of our bonus content, head over to www.patreon.com/cjsays19. 019 - 'Halfway to Sanity' Side A Deep Dive
01:01:15||Season 1, Ep. 19Hey kids! Welcome to another Deep Dive episode of CJ Says: A Ramones Podcast.This week, we drop the needle on Halfway to Sanity—the Ramones' tenth studio album, released in 1987, which proved that after eleven years of broken hearts and internal warfare, the brothers weren't ready to lie down and die.By this point, the musical landscape had changed beyond recognition. Punk had mutated, MTV had taken over the airwaves, and the Ramones were deeper into their career than most bands ever survive. Yet here they were, still writing songs, making records, and somehow still sounding unmistakably like themselves…Produced by Daniel Rey, Halfway to Sanity finds the band somewhere between refinement and rawness. Debbie Harry drops by for a vocal cameo, Walter Lure adds additional guitar to the soundscape, and Dee Dee increasingly turns his songwriting inwards—swapping some of the cartoonish chaos of his earlier material for something more personal, vulnerable, and occasionally downright unsettling!In this week's Deep Dive, we pull apart the songs, the production and the circumstances surrounding one of the most overlooked records in the Ramones’ back catalogue. So grab your leather jacket and join us somewhere halfway between genius and insanity…then head over to www.patreon.com/cjsays and join us for the Side B Deep Dive where we turn the record over and discuss the second half of the album. Hey! Ho! Let’s GO!!!