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After the Ramones, it was more about new wave for me than punk.

The period right before punk rock where people like Lou Reed and Iggy Pop were really strong.

I started listening to and playing other music in the '90s. It was after hearing other bands, like Bad Religion, cover Ramones songs that I started to like our songs again.

I guess, for me, what started me getting real excited about music was the New York punk and new-wave scene. All those bands looked back to the Velvet Underground and the Stooges and the Modern Lovers as well. But that was back when Television were punk, and the Talking Heads were punk.

My first Ramones show was at a small club in Columbus, Ohio, in 1978. It was a transformative experience, even though my memories are a little blurry, since someone kicked me in the head halfway through the show, probably during 'Beat on the Brat.'

I was never really that interested in the punk movement. I was a blues guy: I liked Motown, James Brown.

It was awesome because we were doing Ramones songs.

When punk rock came along, the one thing you were not supposed to be was musical.

I made the big turnaround in the early Nineties when I started hearing all the tenth generation punk bands like Green Day and Offspring and all those people. It just made me fall in love with punk again and remember my roots, and since that time I've always wanted to do more of that kind of music again.

I was a fan of heavy music - first metal, then punk, then hip hop.