Photo credit: Dave Green.
Tommy Ramone wrote to me on January 3, 2010 that his and Claudia
Tienan's band Uncle Monk is still working with their second album.
The record is coming along well and it should be available sometime in
2010.
Uncle Monk debut CD was released on March 16, 2006. At first it was coming out a bit earlier, but Tommy Ramone wrote then to me that they had to do some artwork changes.
You can purchase the Uncle Monk debut CD from CDBaby.com (price was only 12,97 US$ on August 21, 2009) or from Amazon.com
(15,99 US$ on August 21, 2009).CD's were first sold-out quickly, but they were happy to say that they were back in stock again.
Also Uncle Monk record is available for digital download (to buy) from many different Internet sites including Apple iTunes. Tommy Ramone wrote to me that it's available to download (buy) from more than 20 different sites.
So Tommy's new duo band is called Uncle Monk, musical style will be a bit surprising mix for some Ramones fans, and also for many refreshing acquaintance. Uncle Monk is an alt-country punk-bluegrass and it's also featuring Claudia Tienan (ex-The Simplistics).
- There are a lot of similarities between punk and old-time music. Both are home-brewed music as opposed to schooled, and both have an earthy energy. And anybody can pick up an instrument and start playing, Tommy says.
Uncle Monk also plays shows, see dates here.
Tommy and Claudia both sing. Also Tommy plays mandolin, guitar, banjo and dobro and Claudia guitar and bass.
- The CD has 14 songs, and the initial pressings will be on Airday Records.
Tracklisting:
1.Round The Bend
2.Emotional Needs
3.Happy Tune
4.Home Sweet Reality
5.Mean To Me
6.Airday
7.Need A Life
8.Heaven
9.Name Of The Game
10.Mr. Endicott
11.Urban Renewal
12.Walking Bandit
13.Bright Fluorescent
14.Wishing At The Moon
You can listen some clips here.
I also confirmed with Tommy where he and Claudia recorded an album.
- We made the record at my own studio, so it was quite comfortable. Since we were using mostly acoustic instruments, things went smooth and easy.
Tommy already told of the Uncle Monk in my second book Rock In Peace: Dee Dee And Joey Ramone. Btw, press text on Uncle Monk site is written by Jim Bessman, man who wrote Ramones book Ramones: An American Band in early 90's.
TOMMY RAMONE WROTE HIS FEELINGS ON APRIL, 2007:
A whole year has gone by since our debut at the 2006 SXSW festival, and what a year it has been. We have played a lot of shows and met a lot of wonderful people, but mainly we got to play our music, which has been a dream come true for us.
Speaking of dreams coming true we just finished a show with the legendary Ralph Stanley, and that was something I could not have even dreamt about. When I was a kid listening to Ralph Stanley sing Little Maggie on my father's record player, there was no way I could have ever imagined that I would meet him, let a lone share a stage with him. It was an amazing experience.
What made it even more special was that we had just gotten back from the 2007 SXSW festival where we did our anniversary showcase at Momo's, a great club on Austin's famous 6th Street. We played several private parties including the famous Guitar Town Party at Mother Egan's, thrown by Cary Baker of Conqueroo. It was a star filled showcase with many great acts. Joining us for most of the shows was Louis Meyers on Banjo, it was great having him help us out, we sound even better as a trio. We also played the Burnside party at Threadgill's, which was a great outdoor event, and many others including a charity show at the Caritas of Austin Community Kitchen, which was especially rewarding for us. All in all we had a great time this year in Austin.