I started Screeching Weasel because of the Ramones. Hundreds of other bands have had similar origins; in fact, so many bands have formed specifically because of the Ramones that it's almost become a cliche. I'd seen plenty of other punk bands before I saw the Ramones in the summer of 1986. Plenty of them provided inspiration. But only the Ramones gave me the straight-to-the-heart jolt that caused me to take the stupid little tunes I'd been writing in my bedroom and bring them out to my parents' garage where I showed them to a couple of other people so I could start a band. If I hadn't seen the Ramones that summer and felt that surge of aggressive, passionate joy, I might well still be working in a warehouse in the northwest suburbs, yapping about the good old days when I used to listen to that crazy punk rock music. Every bit of pleasure and satisfaction I get out of playing music can, in some way, be traced back to the Kings of Queens.

It wasn't until 1991 when Screeching Weasel reformed that I decided to wear my Ramones influences proudly on my sleeve; in the past, it had seemed safer to play as fast as possible, and to sprinkle my stage banter with as much inflammatory invective as I could manage in order to deflect attention away from a band that I felt would be viewed as a bad joke if judged solely on its own merits. I'd written the occasional midtempo pop-punk song here and there prior to '91 but it wasn't until I stopped caring about being laughed at for playing simple, catchy little songs that the band became popular; it wasn't until I really took the spirit of the Ramones to heart that I found the guts to put forth a shameless melody - in key or not - in a passionate, aggressive manner, regardless of whether or not anybody else liked it. Screeching Weasel carved out a niche for itself in the punk rock world and you can either thank or blame the Ramones.

The request to cover our favorite Ramones album in its entirety came during a party for the completion of our fourth album. We were drunk, which was probably why we agreed to do it. Vapid and I realized that Leave Home was the best Ramones record, but we figured that their self-titled debut was a more appropriate choice, if only because nobody had ever covered an entire Ramones album; we kind of had to start at the beginning.

Johnny Personality had just left the band and we'd made the decision to continue as a four-piece with me taking over on sec-ond guitar and Vapid moving back to bass. But for the Ramones project I wouldn't be playing guitar; the Ramones only had one guitarist and so would Screeching Weasel - at least for this recording.

We recorded in a back office of the door company in Lafayette, Indiana, where Mass Giorgini worked (this was also where we'd recorded Wiggle). We started at noon and worked for the next fourteen hours straight. Working on such a low budget (the album had to be completed for $300), we didn't have much choice; as it was, Mass was already cutting us a huge break by charging so little. We didn't have a chainsaw, so we had to use a rotary saw we found in the back for the effect at the beginning of "Chainsaw." For the effects in "Havana Affair, we overdubbed a floor tom and combined it with a drum sample Mass dug up. The rest of the album was pretty straightforward. We didn't go out of our way to do anything much different; how could we possibly improve on the songs? Of course, we played the songs faster than the Ramones had in 1976, and I added a new vocal melody at the end of "53rd and 3rd." but other than that it was a pretty straight (and boring, many reviewers noted) rendition.

Other bands would go on to record other Ramones albums, like the Vindictives with their version of Leave Home (which I still haven't listened to due to Joey Vindictive's assertion to me that he changed the sequencing and put his own twist on many of The song structures; I like Joe and I don't want to have to kick him if he's somehow ruined the best punk record of all time) and the Queers doing Rocket To Russia, which I produced, At this point, the whole thing has gotten ridiculous, what with bands covering horrible Ramones albums that should never have even been recorded by the Bruddas in the first place. But it's the thought that counts, and at least a few bands are still out there singing the praises of the best rock and roll band to ever walk the earth.

The album was pressed only on vinyl. Something like 2,000 copies were printed, with two slightly different covers (one was a regular record jacket while the other was a silk-screened piece of cloth that showed the cover photo, but smaller, and had the Screeching Weasel logo printed in red). It was bootlegged a year ago on a CD that also featured the Queers' Rocket To Russia. It's re-released on Panic Button primarily for completists; the casual fan will likely be unimpressed.

The extra tracks on here are from the Bark Like A Dog session. They were originally released on the Formula 27 EP, which is still in print on Panic Button. This is the last material that we recorded prior to the departure of Vapid and Panic.

Rest assured or be warned, more long out of print, previously unreleased and live material from Screeching Weasel's past is on its way within the next year or two.

OK,
-BW