Marky tells why 'If you sit still, that's when you die'. This highly motivated member of The Ramones, keeps moving with his own book and the Remains.
DM) I see is that you're in Brooklyn too.
MR) Yeah, I live in Brooklyn too, but I usually don't say
what area, I've got to keep that asecret. I had to move out of
New York City for that reason.
DM) Were you getting stalkers here and there?
MR) Well, yeah, you know, that's bound to happen. But I tried
to keep a low profile.
DM) That was actually one of my first questions, a lot of
people have talked about how most fans of the Ramones, have seemed
to be almost of bit cultish.
MR) Oh yeah, definitely.
DM) Why is that?
MR) I don't know. I guess that's because they relate to us
and they like the lyrics and the songs that Dee Dee wrote. The
lyrics and the songs. And I think that they see we're a down
to earth band, no gimmicks, who doesn't have to throw up on the
stage or do stupid antics to get attention. It's all in the music,
you know.
DM) What was the strangest thing you have happened so far
with your fans?
MR) A woman in England, would always be by my hotel room door,
she wouldn't go away. I had to tell a security guard to throw
her out. Then she started going after Joey, and after that, she
started being his girlfriend.
DM) Really?
MR) Yeah, that was weird.
DM) Do you find that it's at all possible to have a normal
life?
MR) Oh yeah, I've tried to do that, but it's hard when you
do 150 shows a year, I also have my own band, "The Intruders"
and that for all over the world and I have a spoken word tour,
and I have another band with Dee Dee Ramone called "The
Remains". So it's pretty hard to have a normal... (pauses)
I don't want a normal life!
DM) You don't?
MR) The reason why, I became musician and producer and author
is because I wanted to get away from the normal life. I travel
round the world, I make videos, make records, I stay up late.
In the normal world, I'd probably be very bored in it.
DM) A lot of times, you hear celebrities say that all they
want is normality.
MR) I think a lot of people they want to get away from the
normal things because you end up just going into a grind every
day. It's the same thing. It has no excitement... you know I
mean?
DM) So how do you even keep a balance in your own life, with
the two bands and the spoken word tour?
MR) It's pretty it's a good question, I just... I do a lot
of practicing, I do rehearsing. I'm able to do that. I keep myself
in good shape, I don't self-destructive on drugs or alcohol and
I always give my best to the people who come to my shows, because
if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be there. I don't take it for
granted, you know.
DM) What is the typical day like for you then?
MR) The typical day is getting up going to the airport, going
to the show, doing interviews, sound checks, eating, going to
doing the show, coming back to the hotel room, maybe having a
little party, and then go to sleep, wake up flying again, and
maybe doing TV, stuff like that.
DM) So it doesn't sound like you sit around too much?
MR) No, if you sit still, that's when you die. You got to
keep the body moving.
DM) Do you ever have a day to sit down and relax?
MR) Since the Ramones broke up, no, because I've been involved
with so many activities, that I haven't had time for vacation
in three years. But it paid off, because my second solo album
was coming out tomorrow, and my "Remains" album with
Dee Dee Ramone is coming out this week. If I, wanted to just
sit down, hang out and do nothing I would not have been able
to do that. It Takes a lot of work. You have to rehearse the
songs, write them, produced them, so you have to be active no
matter what you do.
DM) In a lot of articles, the live show with The Ramones has
been pretty highly praised.
MR) An hour and ten minutes straight, no rest, very energetic
music, and it was that way to the end, when we broke up in 1996.
And I just put the energy over in my new group,it becomes a lot
more advanced, it is a new millennium kind of band.
DM) Going back to the Ramones then in 1996, what was the cause,
what happened?
MR) Well, Joey couldn't tour any more. He was tired, and his
voice was shot, and he just didn't want to continue. He's pretty
ill today too. I wish him luck. You're asking me the reasons
and that's the reasons. And he wasn't a team player any more,
thrn Johnny Ramone couldn't take it, so he kind of like ended
the band. and I kind of went along with the two because it was
time.
DM) Do you still miss the band at times?
MR) No, I talk to Johnny a lot . Me and Dee Dee have a second
band together, just for fun. And I speak to Tommy, and Joey just
stays in his house. Occasionally he will do a show at Saint Marks
Place maybe once or twice a year, but he's not really active.
The guy is going to chemotherapy and he has to beat it to be
able to do anything. And I hope he does.
DM) It sounds pretty tough.
MR) Yeah, like I said if you stay still you are going to end
up the dying. You've got to move.
DM) Do you ever get times where you feel like sitting in bed
and doing nothing?
MR) Yeah, before I go the sleep, I put on a movie or I will
watch some TV for a while. But I don't do it often.
DM) There's never time you feel "unmotivated"?
MR) Maybe when I am in a position when I can't mentally or
physically do anything about it. Like when I'm on a plane and
flying, I'll usually write a song or write more stuff for my
book that I'm writing, about my times in the punk rock scene
and the Ramones, but I feel that waste of time is not good.
DM) What you feel started that attitude?
MR) I don't know, drive, motivation, things don't come to
you. I mean, you've got to go for it. You can't expect things
to happen, if you don't work at doing it.
