Richard Reinhardt was hanging out in Brooklyn in the early ’80s when a friend of his mentioned that a band called the Ramones were searching for a new drummer.
Reinhardt figured he would put his name into the hat with the other people that were interested.
“I got a call from Monty, the manager, about a week later saying that I was to come and audition,” he says.
Not long after that first audition Reinhardt became a member of the Ramones taking on the name Richie Ramone.
“I didn’t know any of them guys before but that’s how that happened,” he says.
On Oct. 8, Ramone will release his first solo album, Entitled. The Passaic, New Jersey native says long-time fans can expect to hear classic Richie Ramone.
“I have a punk-metal sound to the record,” Ramone says. “There are eight new tracks that nobody has heard and there are a couple tracks that I rerecorded that I did with the Ramones back in the eights.”
Ramone also produced the album and says taking on both roles was a time-consuming process.
“Being on both sides of the glass, doing a take, coming in, and walking back, that gets pretty weary,” he says. “It came out great.”
“It was something that I wanted to do. I’d wanted to get a record out and I think I owe it to the kids,” he adds.
Transitioning from writing in a band to working as a solo artist was fairly simple for Ramone.
“When you’re writing for a band you gear it more,” he says. “I was able to open up the songs a little more with different verses and choruses. Instead of the normal two and four times. I was able to put guitar solos in, which I like. Basically it stays true. I like the hard aggressive sound and that’s what shows on this record.”
Ramone began drumming at a very young age.
“I started playing when I was five years old and it just went from there,” Ramone says. “My brother Lenny is five years older than me, so I was exposed to music by him at a younger age. I’d say five years ahead of my time. I would play in his band and I was already playing live by the time I was 11 and 12 years old.”
Growing up Ramone listened to just about every genre he could. He says it is important for artists to listen to all kinds of music.
“I would listen to everything. That’s so important for musicians, to listen to everything. You don’t have to play it but just listen to it and let it come out in your own way,” he says.
“You never know what you’re going to learn by listening to different kinds of music,” he adds.
Ramone was a member of the Ramones from 1983 to 1987 and was the only drummer to compose and write with the band.
“It’s an amazing feeling. I’m real fortunate to have that position with that band. You know you can be in a band and be the drummer and half the people don’t know who you are,” Ramone says. “You became a brother. It wasn’t like you were just the drummer in the band — you became family. That was important to me. I didn’t want to be just the drummer.”
After leaving the Ramones in 1987, Ramone took a break from music for over a decade. In 2007 he wrote a classical composition with the Pasadena Pops, Suite for Drums and Orchestra, based on themes from West Side Story.
“I always had this thing for West Side Story and playing with an Orchestra because I studied music and I can read music,” he says. “Driving a 90-piece orchestra was insane.”
In 2011, the Ramones received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Although he was not officially on the award list for either the Grammy, he says he is grateful to be have been part of something special with the band.
“That was amazing,” he says. “It was weird because I didn’t get an award but I went there to say a speech about Joey. They left me and C.J. out and that was kind of weird how that went down, but I still wanted to go and say a few words about Joey.”
Later this year Ramone will be heading out on tour to support the album. He says that his team is still working on the tour schedule.
“We are still working on the arrangement of the shows but it probably isn’t going to be for another couple of months,” Ramone says. “The more I think about it the better it is that I let people sit with the record for a month or two before. I want them to come to the show knowing the words and the songs. You know it is hard to come to a new show and hear a bunch of new songs you never heard before. I think it would be more productive to hold off for a couple of months.”
Ramone, who is a youthful 56-years-old, explains that preparing for a lengthy tour at his age is different from when he was touring with the Ramones.
“It takes a little time. You tend to be up later when you are on tour. Two weeks before I go, I generally like to stay up until two in the morning. You want to peak and start getting your energy at like six, seven, or eight at night,” he says. “Right now it’s not that bad but you have to do things when you get old. You have to eat better. You can’t eat like you did when you were 15 years old. You have to eat differently, take care of yourself and ride the bicycle. The beats per minutes on my heart when I’m playing and singing are really high. You gotta condition yourself for that moment,” he adds.
From 1974 until 1996, the Ramones played over 2,200 shows, with Richie playing close to 600 shows behind the drum set. He says he is really looking forward to returning South America as a solo artist.
“The Latin countries are amazing. They love their rock’n’roll,” he says. “They appreciate the music differently. You don’t have to have a hit on the radio to draw a crowd like you do in the U.S.”
For more information on Richie Ramone visit richieramone.com.
