The Ramonas exclusive interview

Last week eFestivals spoke to Vix Aka Pee Pee Ramona bass guitarist for The Ramonas the all girl tribute to the Ramones, who will be making an appearance at this year's GuilFest at Vive Le Rock Punk and Ska Stage on Friday 13th July.

Are you looking forward to playing GuilFest?
Yes, I can't wait. It's quite a local festival for us because we've got a base in Surrey. It's going to be good and there's some awesome bands playing as well.

Have you been before?
No, I've not been I don't know whether our drummer has gone before, because she is actually from the Guildford area, but I haven't. I'm really excited.

Will you be staying there for the weekend or just staying for the day?
Yes, I'm going to stay around for the whole of the Friday, can't stay the weekend because we've got another gig. We're playing quite early at twenty past five, so hopefully we'll be able to stick around.

Who else on the line-up do you fancy watching?
I've had a quick look at the line-up, and on the stage the we're playing I think the Buzzcocks are headlining the night we're playing. The Skints are also playing on our stage, so maybe I'll just stay and watch the acts on our stage. Although I suppose I could head over and watch Jools Holland on the main stage. But I'm definitely going to catch as many bands as I can on Friday.

Have you ever seen The Ramones live?
No, I'm a bit too young for that, but I did see Marky Ramone last month when he played Bristol with his Blitzkreig, and we've already done a gig with Richie., I thought there's only a few of them left that you can see now so I went to Marky's gig. That was awesome really good, it was just all Ramones stuff for the gig, song after song after song just like The Ramones would have done I guess.

Is that what you do at your gigs?
Yes, we do the same, burst through the songs really quickly, 1, 2, 3, 4 to start every song, we've got to copy it exactly. We fit about thirty songs into an hour.

How long have you got at GuilFest?
I don't think we've got an hour, we may only have half an hour or 40 minutes, so we'll get through a lot of songs.

How would you describe your fellow band members?
Everyone plays their parts pretty well actually, in terms of looks and attitude on stage, and mimicking what they did, we jump around a lot, and the techniques are pretty much the same, so that it's authentic. Off stage, what can I say, everyone is just really into their music, we're all into the same kind of things. We're all quite a mellow band, none of us smoke or anything, or are crazy party animals. We do like to have a good time but I think we're not really like the Ramones, none of us are alcoholics, and none of us have nearly died yet.

You are also in other bands aren't you?
Yes, I play for quite a few bands that's what I do for a living. The Ramones are my band, but I do play for a lot of other people as a session bass player. I've just been tour with a blues singer called Dani Wilde and we went around Europe for a few months at the beginning of the year. Also, there's an Australian singer called Eliza Jaye, I've just started playing with her and there's an album coming out in October. It's quite nice to do some original dates as well as covers.

Have you done any festival dates already?
we're playing Arundel Festival with Eliza Jaye, and I've got quite a few gigs with Dani coming up, we did a blues festival last weekend, and there's quite a lot blues festivals in Europe in August.

How was the weather last weekend at the blues festival?
It was a little bit wet, it was in Belgium. It rained for half of it and it was sunny for the rest. So, it was a bit like being in England, but it was in a tent, and it wasn't cold it was quite warm.

At least the Vive Le Rock stage at GuilFest is in a tent.
I'm hoping it's going to be sunny, but we'll see. Too many festivals have been mud fests this summer.

What was the first festival you went to?
I really can't remember, I think maybe Download festival, because that was a local festival. I'm trying to think where I've been, I'm hoping GuilFest is going to be the most memorable.

You've played as The Ramonas at other festivals, what have been the most memorable?
Yes, we played on a boat, I suppose you can't really call it a festival because it was on a cruise boat. It was called Rock At Sea it was a cruise that went Finland and Sweden and that was a really good one. It's mainly biker festivals that we play, although we really want to play Rebellion and maybe The Bulldog Bash one day. We really want to play Rebellion.

As this interview is for a festival website, if you had a stall at a festival what would you sell?
Or merchandise, or Ramones stuff probably. If we wanted to make money there would be Ramonas umbrellas. People are always buying Ramones merchandise, there's so much of it. The latest thing I've got is a Ramones Bobble Head. The Ramones logo must be one of the most printed logos, I wonder what percentage of the population owns something with that logo on it. Quite a lot, it's even made into New Look, H&M, and high street shops like that.

Have a good GuilFest, hope the weathers good.
Thank you bye.

The award winning, family friendly, 3 day camping festival GuilFest takes place in Stoke Park, Guildford from Friday 13th to Sunday 15th July 2012.

Unlike some other festivals, you can immediately feel that this festival with a capacity of 25,000 is being run to give everyone a great time, rather than to get rich quick!

The line-up includes Olly Murs, Bryan Ferry, Jools Holland & His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra feat. Roland Gift, Tulisa, Jimmy Cliff, Republica, Candi Staton, Cher Lloyd, Tim Minchin, Chic feat. Nile Rodgers, The Straits, The Wonder Stuff, Postman Pat and Jess, Zingzillas, Levi Roots, ahab, Elvis and Friends, Black Spiders, Goldblade, Buzzcocks, The Undertones, Nouvelle Vague, Skindred, Beth Hart, Young Guns, The Wurzels, Ash, ABC, The South, Heaven 17, The Beat, Andy C, Benga, Sub Focus (DJ set), Kids In Glass Houses, StooShe, The Skints, TV Smith, DragSTER, Bjorn Again, Dodgy, Alvin Stardust, Bastille, Rolo Tomassi, Glitterband, Feed The Rhino, Lost Alone, TRC, Dismantle, Millions Like Us, The Priscillas, Chords, Take Fat, The Ramonas, Tyrannosaurus Alan, Yashin, New Town Kings, The Sex Pistols Experience, Stone Foundation, Rubber Bandits, Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer, John Spillane, Friction, Subscape, Sigma, Brookes Brothers, Pyramid, Polar, Ben Montague, Devil Sold His Soul, Invaders, Charley Farley Sunday Four, Nell Bryden, Pint Shot Riot, Street 13, Rock Choir, and Crowns.

For the line-up details, day and stage splits, as available please click here.

The line-up is always quality, so there's more enjoyment to be got from the bands than you might expect and there's also late night entertainment.

An adult weekend camping ticket is priced at £130, adult weekend tickets without camping are priced at £115, child (aged 12-15 years old) weekend with camping £80 and child weekend tickets without camping are priced at £65. A campervan ticket is priced at £60.

People aged 16 years and over at the time of the festival will have to buy an adult ticket. Anyone under 16 years old must be accompanied by an adult aged 18 years or over. Children aged 12-15 years old at the time of the festival will need to purchase a child's ticket. Children aged 11 years or younger at the time of the festival are admitted free accompanied by an adult with a valid ticket.

To buy tickets from Seetickets, click here.

To buy tickets from Ticketline, click here.

There's live music over seven stages, comedy in the eFestivals Cosmic Comedy tent, The Man In The Moon Theatre Tent, Farmer Giles' barn dance, children's entertainment, street theatre, art and crafts, and delicious food from around the world. There will also be a late licensed 150 foot beer tent bar which means nobody has to wait very long for refreshment, cocktail bars, and lots of clean toilets throughout the site and camping areas.

The extensive Kidzone features fun, games, theatre and activities, with circus performances, face painting, and fun rides. On the Sunday it's over to the children for the annual Kids Parade, where the children get to show the rest of the festival what they have made over their weekend.

Facilities adjacent to Stoke Park include The Guildford Lido which is only 2 minutes walk and The Spectrum Leisure Centre, great for hot showers, a sauna or a swim. The historic town is itself only 10 minutes walk away and has shops, cafes restaurants, bars and pubs galore; Guildford even has its own castle!

eFestivals is again proud to be a sponsor of GuilFest in 2012, as part of our commitment to put 10% of our turnover back into festivals.

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