The Ramones’ Marky Ramone – HuffPost 9.30.13

Mike Ragogna: What’s your advice for new artists?

Marky Amone: Try to be original. I know it’s hard to do because a lot of thing have been done already. Rehearse a lot because you’re going to have a lot of competition, try to be the best you can be. Don’t smoke cigarettes, don’t do any heavy drinking, believe me, I know. Don’t do hard drugs, which I never did, and believe in what you’re doing and try to not be influenced by negative influences out there, people saying, “You’re not going to make it, you can’t do it,” this especially from relatives or friends. Just believe in yourself. The most important thing is to rehearse with other musicians because you’re eventually going to have to play with other people. You’ll have to play with a bass player, a guitar player, whatever you’re doing live as a musician. And try to like all genres of music, not just one thing. You have to learn, it’s a learning process. Try to get into blues, jazz, some metal, definitely punk. Then throw it up and you come down and one day you might have your own style.