Many years ago my good friend the Moose sent me a clipping from village voice, telling the tale of why Dee Dee left the Ramones. Most places you'll read that he left to become a rapper (That's wrong, he'd already been through that and released an album), this is the true story. Through the years I've never seen it anywhere else.

I picked up the NY Loose album "Year of the rat" on a whim one day - I'd never consciously heard of them, but somehow the cover grabbed my interest (possible it was just dog dirt cheap and I need something else for my 3 for 5 quid deal and the combination of NY with the hopefully Stooges inspired Loose was invitation enough). Much later I re-read the clipping and realised Brijitte West from NY Loose had also been in Sprokket.

Recently I read Jari-Pekkas Dee Dee tribute book and it mentioned Sprokket again, so I did a couple of net searches and found nothing but dead ends.

A quick search for him and the name "The Atomic Elf" springs up. This seems like it should ring a bell with me, but I can't figure out why.

So I drop him a line with a couple of questions and this is what he had to say ...

A guy named Daffy Nathanson gave me that name. Daffy has a loft down in Soho, on weekends he hosts a free form jam session. I used to show up there with a little Marshall amp strapped to my back and this carbon fiber fretless guitar called a Bond Electraglide. I was about sixteen. When I walked in on all these jazz guys and Daffy says 'Check it out, it's The Fucking Atomic Elf'. All these guys lost it and fell out laughing and the name stuck. My good friends call me Ricky. Ok, Friend? I think "The Artist, Richard Bacchus" sound pretty fucking hard. Yes, Bacchus is my real name

Probably on the radio. I used to live in a house in Queens at the top of Rockaway Boulevard, not far from Forest Hills. I used to hang out at the band shell in Forest Park and dance around to Rockaway Beach, I guess I was about fourteen. My sister and I used to go to a fine arts program at Cooper Union on Saturdays. We'd sneak out and buy records in at Free Being. We were into all kinds of shit Black Flag, OMD, The Saints, Hanoi Rocks, Kraftwerk, Motorhead. Early on I was into The Beatles, Sabbath. My best friend in seventh grade, Guido Papa and I loved Accept and Metallica because no one had heard of them.

The first Ramone I ever saw was Joey. He was on St Marks and 3rd Ave. wearing a Hawaiian shirt, drunk off his ass. This little punk rock girl was trying to sober him up with a slice of pizza, just like in Rock And Roll High School. I actually never saw The Ramones play until D Generation open for them at City Gardens, I never saw Dee Dee in the Ramones!

The Ricky and Sami show

Sami was always my favorite Hanoi Rock, When Razzle died I remember that Kerrang said that Sami had moved to Mallorca to become a painter, that was just the coolest thing I'd ever heard. I met Sami In New York at a High Times party, I ran into him a couple of weeks later with His wife Karmen and dog Greta, we were an instant family. Sami is musical like no one else, he just channels every thing. I was just over at his place, He's mixing a french version of Venus In Furs that he's just recorded with Mad Juana. It sounds like it was recorded in an abattoir, in a good way.

Brijitte West from NY Loose was writing with Dee Dee (among other things) and they were looking for a guitarist. I went over to their house on Tenth street, Dee Dee had this great big shopping bag of lyrics. I just reached in and the first thing I pulled out was Poison Heart, we had a complete song in about five minutes.

Sprokket was like a lost weekend for Dee Dee. It was pretty amazing.

He got really upset with Joey when we played at RAPP Arts center, but Joey hadn't done anything. I don't know if you've heard the Sprokket stuff, it wasn't anything like the Ramones. Dee Dee was really into playing differently. He felt a little stagnated in the Ramones. He was experimenting with different gear and playing around with his amp settings. Bubbles from the Ramones was working for Joey as the Stage manager at the show. We had sound checked, but right as we went on stage Bubbles did a last minute idiot check of the stage. He saw that Dee Dee's amp wasn't cranked up all the way, like it's usual Ramones setting so he 'fixed' it. So, when we started playing, Dee Dee's bass blew out our whole mix. Dee Dee was really embarassed and blew up at Joey who was completely innocent. Dee Dee was tired of being herded around and not taken seriously, I think the whole amp thing just set off his feelings of helplessness in the Ramones.

Dee Dee could really play the bass. We would jam out 'Down On The Street' by The Stooges and do Small Faces covers, Dee Dee would be amazed, "I had no idea I was such a musician" he would say, unbelievable.

Ricks kicks on route 66

I'm really looking forward to playing the UK. I would never even thought of playing solo acoustic. It was Jesse's idea and my Wife Shelby and Sami's cheerleading that got me going, it's really fucking hard though. I love touring so much. I've gone as far as guitar teching for my friends Interpol and Clutch, just to get out on the road.

I'm pretty easy to get along with, providing you have the right combination of stimulants. I've got loads of amazing friends and no attention span whatsoever. Why do you ask? Who are you again? Oh right.

I do a weekly party at 85 Avenue A called RockLand, spin Rock and Punk. It's a great excuse to get wasted, Princess Of The Night by Saxon is our current theme song (All Hail Biff Bifford). I'm on a Bauhaus kick right now. I get really drunk and get on Limewire, I look at my downloads the next day and it's like, 'What the fuck, Do I really need every Schooly D track ever recorded? Of course I do!" Schooly actually came to a D Generation show in Philadelphia once. I was completely star struck, He is a really nice guy and a huge Rock fan. P Diddy is such a rip off, Jimmy page should have played with Schooly.

I'm looking forward to selling out completely. Where do I sign? Wrap me up in plastic and market the shit out of me.

I dunno. Maybe I'll finally finish that novel, or go back to my true calling, Ice Cream Man. I'll definitely book some Vasquez Shows, I'm dying to go on tour with those guys. Peace

Check out more Ricky including MP3's at his website