Hero Worship: Johnny Ramone

Tasked to tell you about one of my lifelong heroes, there are so many people to talk about – like my own band mates, for instance. But I remember feeling strange – you know that feeling you get when you’re around one of your idols, and you realise who you’re talking to and hanging out with – when I spent time with Johnny Ramone on tour. I’m still sad that he passed away back in 2004.

We were opening for Guns N’ Roses in ‘91 in Madison Square Garden when we met Joey and C.J from the band. For us, it was like ‘wow, the Ramones, no way!’ – and they were Soundgarden fans. C.J is still a dear friend, and Joey I think was probably the nicest guy you could ever meet. I’m not kidding – I feel sorry for people who never met Joey Ramone because he was so goddamned nice. But Johnny and I got along really well.

Later on in ’94, we travelled down to Australia to play the Big Day Out tour – The Ramones were on it too, and we’d hang out with Johnny there. He’d ask me questions and make sure I wasn’t losing my mind and that the band wasn’t getting ripped off. He was quite serious about our band and how we ran our business; how to take care of ourselves. He was kind of an uncle figure in a strange way, that he would ask those kinds of things. We could’ve talked about anything in the world but he chose to take a real interest in us, which was just his mentality.

He was a great guy and a total prankster – funny as hell. Most people were tripped out by him. You’ve got to read his book Commando – his autobiography. It’s like a Ramones song, it’s fast and interesting. Then boom – you’ve zipped right through it. Out of all the people I’ve met in this life, he took me under his wing. People were down on me for that and would ask ‘why are you hanging out with him?’ I’d say ‘what do you mean by that?’ They’d say ‘well, he’s such a Republican.’ ‘Fuck, really?’ I had no idea. I didn’t know that at all – we never talked politics.