INFORMATION OF THE MARKY RAMONE AND THE SPEEDKINGS
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Latest news updated: June 12, 2024.

THERE IS NO ANYMORE MARKY RAMONE AND THE SPEEDKINGS BAND, BUT I (JARI-PEKKA LAITIO-RAMONE) WANT TO KEEP THESE INFOS HERE AS A RAMONES HISTORIAN.

INDEX OF THIS PAGE:
1) WHY THE BAND HAD TO SPLIT-UP?
2) I (JARI-PEKKA LAITIO-RAMONE) WROTE A STORY OF THE MARKY RAMONE AND THE SPEEDKINGS.
3) STUDIO ALBUM (ALSO SECOND WAS RECORDED).
4) INFORMATION OF SINGLES/EP'S.
5) LIVE RELEASE: ALIVE (CD) / LIVE IN BERLIN (LP).
6) WHAT MARKY RAMONE SAID IN 2001....
7) NICK COOPER'S BOOK I 'HEARTBREAK' THE RAMONES - THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE SPEEDKINGS.

SEE INFORMATION OF THE MARKY RAMONE AND THE SPEEDKINGS DATES HERE.





1) WHY THE BAND HAD TO SPLIT-UP?

Back to old days... Marky Ramone wrote to me in January 13, 2004, that there will be no next Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings tour until the new SpeedKings album comes out. Album was already recorded.
BUT two months later (March 13, 2004) Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings announced that the band was split-up, even they were recorded an second album.
AND 20 years later singer-guitarst, main songwriter Nick Cooper tells me: We will finish the album by 2025 (without Marky), wrote Nick.
They are not doing an comeback because Marky is so different person now than 20 years ago. I will write more information soon when I has time in Uganda.

The last Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings show ever was at the Brick By Brick, San Diego, USA on January 17, 2003. Marky was interviewed by my request by Lynne Cameron for my second book,
Rock In Peace: Dee Dee And Joey Ramone and spoke about this situation:
Marky (April, 2004): No more touring with the SpeedKings. I liked them, it was a lot of fun, I think Nick Cooper is a very good songwriter/ frontman and I wish him luck with them. I can't play 150 shows a year which is what they wanted. That's more shows than what the Ramones did, Marky told.

He and Nick had played together also before the SpeedKings. Nick had played in bands before including Midnightmen and Buckweeds. Marky played with the Buckweeds! on their last European tour. Soon after, Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings formed.
So Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings released singles, live album and studio album called No If's, And's Or But's (title was Legends Bleed in the USA). Read more of album here.
One reason to the "first split-up" was that Marky can't do so many tours with SpeedKings than SpeedKings would like to. See live information here.

Below you can read a lot of information of the band and also of new turns 20 years later in 2024. Nick Cooper's I 'Heartbreak' The Ramones - The Life And Times Of The SpeedKings was published on May 31, 2024 and a limited edition vinyl release of live LP was released more than 20 years later on March 14, 2024. Title is Live In Berlin. Nick Cooper, Vito Jr Dagostini, Dee Jaywalker and Glen Meyer attended the release event of book at Vuvve x Printclinic, Kortrijk, Belgium on June 27, 2024. Those gentlemen and I also performed then together. Dee Jaywalker passed away because of cancer on August 10, 2024. RIP Dee.
- He died in first hours in Saturday August 10, 2024, wrote Cooper to me.





2) I (JARI-PEKKA LAITIO-RAMONE) WROTE FOLLOWING BACKGROUND STORY OF MARKY RAMONE AND THE SPEEDKINGS FOR MY THIRD BOOK
RAMONES: SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES :

On summer 2000 Marky Ramone was working on third Marky Ramone And The Intruders that never saw daylight...
Marky had met Nick Cooper from the Buckweeds during the Intruders European tour in January, 2000. Marky agreed to help Nick and the Buckweeds out by providing his drumming services for their upcoming European tour. Marky and Buckweeds toured with The Huntingtons between August 25 - September 17, 2000. The band played more than 20 shows in 25 days in spanning across Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain, Belgium and Netherlands.

On September 19, 2000, when the Buckweeds tour ended, Marky recorded the song I Don't Wanna Grow Up with Buckweeds and Kloot Per W for the tribute album titled Ramones Tribute 1,2,3,4.... For the tribute album, the song was released under the name Marky Ramone Group. Marky Ramone, Nick Cooper and along with Buckweeds bassist Stevey Jay continued to write and perform music. They started recording demos in 2001 and performed six shows in Scandinavia in March-April, 2001. Nick Cooper asked me (Jari-Pekka Laitio-Ramone) following on August 7, 2001: How would you feel to have the first review on your site of the new CD? I have a tape here with a rough mix of the album. If you want I can send it to you so you can have review of the album, two months before the release...?
Of course I replied yes and was honored to do an extensive review of the soon to be released kick ass rawk'N'roll album.

Marky Ramone wrote me following on August 9, 2001: I think new album really rocks. I have let go of the old name, Marky Ramone Group, we used, due to legal hassles surrounding the Ramones estate and legacy. So we are now Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings.
Nick sent me (Jari-Pekka) a T-shirt.
Nick (2001): Take good care of it. Only 66 were made and they will never be printed again. We don't make more because they say Marky Ramone Group. It will be pretty collectable.

Marky and Nick asked me of my opinion of some European record labels and I was happy to give them positive feedback to their questions about White Jazz Records run by Calle Schewen in Sweden. Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings in conjunction with White Jazz Records released their first album entitled No If's, And's Or But's! on November 19, 2001 in Europe. Later it was released in multiple countries including Japan, South America and North America.
In August 2001 Dee Jaywalker joined Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings as the second guitarist. Shortly after this Stevey Jay quit and was replaced by bassist Vito Jr Dagostini in November. The band then hit the road supporting a massive European promotional tour that took to them to places including Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Croatia, Norway and Sweden.

Finnish record label Woimasointu run by Hannu Jokinen released a 7' single on December 1, 2001. The single included unreleased studio recording of SpeedKings Ride Tonight and a great demo version of Hotrods-R-Us from the No If's, And's or But's album.

I had planned on traveling to their show in Stockholm, Sweden on December 28, 2001. When I arrived at the hotel, I saw Marky Ramone, Nick Cooper, Vito Jr Dagostini and Dee Jaywalker walking in and we shook hands. The band had played 25 shows in 26 days in 10 countries. The club Shrine was really close to the hotel and we all went over to check on Marky's drums and a few other technical things, Marky was really precise with everything. After everything was OK at the club, Marky attended a autograph session at Sound Pollution store in Stockholm.
I was feeling excited and in a great mood before the show. It wasn't a surprise that the first shock treatment Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings gave us was SpeedKings Ride Tonight. Chinese Rocks was the first Ramones song, and Telephone Love was the only Marky Ramone And The Intruders song which they played. I was singing and Kenneth Bergdahl playing guitar in Blitzkrieg which was 23rd and last song.

Marky Ramone And The Speedkings recorded a live show at the Wild At Heart Club in Berlin on December 31st, 2001. It was later released as a 10"/CD. Woimasointu also released an EP of this show in 2002 with Nick Cooper re-singing each song in a different Scandinavian language (expect Denmark). I translated Blitzkrieg Bop into Finnish with the help of Severi (Nukkekoti/ Klamydia). Others who contributed include Andre Dahlmann (Norwegian translation), Kenneth Bergdahl (Swedish) and Valgarour Guojonsson (Iceland).

Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings played around fifty shows in 2002. And once again I was on the road traveling to see them in some shows. This time it was only Nick Cooper and Dee Jaywalker with the SpeedKings. Vito Jr. wasn't on this tour because he had previous tour commitments with his other band Liar. (Vito was permanently replaced by Glen Meyer in June 2002).
I and my friends Kimmo Aaltonen, Turo Ihalainen, and Juki Lehtola went with Marky to his hotel room and we started our interview. We spoke for about an hour. That interview is included in my first book Joey Ramone. Heaven Needed A Lead Singer: Fans Remember Joey Ramone.
In that tour in 2002, The SpeedKings were somehow more of a band and tighter then when I first saw them. Their set ended with Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment, Burning Rubber, and Glad To See You Go. Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings played a new song called Eskimo Girl which they just finished writing on this tour; it sounded really cool. Following the European dates were three shows in Tokyo, Japan in November because JVC released their debut album there.
Nick Cooper told me in 2002: We invaded this other planet called Japan and rawked like hell! It was a real pleasure to see all those happy and enthusiastic faces. Special thanks goes out to our friends Yuki and Atsuko (Japanese Ramones Fanclub).

After Japan, Marky Ramone And The Speedkings began their USA Tour on the West coast on December 27 and it lasted through to January 17, 2003.
Nick Cooper (2002): Available on the USA tour is the limited edition US Tour 7' with one rough mix of a song of the upcoming album and on the B-side an awesome track by our good friend Texas Terri, who will do some guest appearances in California!, Nick wrote to me in December 2002.
The last Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings show ever was at the Brick By Brick, San Diego, USA on January 17, 2003. Marky was interviewed by my request by Lynne Cameron for my second book, Rock In Peace: Dee Dee And Joey Ramone and spoke about this situation:
Marky (April, 2004): No more touring with the SpeedKings. I liked them, it was a lot of fun, I think Nick Cooper is a very good songwriter/ frontman and I wish him luck with them. I can't play 150 shows a year which is what they wanted. That's more shows than what the Ramones did, Marky told.





3) STUDIO ALBUM NEWS:

SECOND ALBUM...:
Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings visited in a studio during the Holland tour. They planned to record a four song EP, but at last they had so PUNK in studio that they recorded a new full length album with songs like Love Hates Me, Somebody Like You and Red Rubber Ball. Daniel Rey was making producer works (Tommy Ramone and Ed Stasium were going to have some input too).
Two songs were having a guest vocalist.
AND 20 years (2024) later Nick Cooper tells me: We will finish the album by 2025 (without Marky), wrote Nick.
They are not doing an comeback because Marky is so different person now than 20 years ago..


FIRST ALBUM: NO IF'S, AND'S OR BUT'S / LEGENDS BLEED
Marky Ramone And The Speedkings released in November 19, 2001 the album called No If's, And's Or But's in Europe through
White Jazz records!.
I think that White Jazz was more than perfect choice. Both the band and the record label feel very enthusiastic of their co-operation! White Jazz also released this The Song Ramones The Same -tribute album (more info on news), which contains bands like: The Hellacopters, The Nomads, Sahara Hotnights, Wayne Kramer, Backyard Babies, The Dictators, D.A.D, Toilet Boys, Sator...
White Jazz version of the album contains 13 songs and two bonus tracks from previous recordings with the collaboration of Ben Trokan (Marky Ramone And The Intruders vocalist / guitarist) and Mark Neuman (Sheer Terror). These two bonus tracks are Motivate To Move and Road Rage.

Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings debut was released 11 months later in the USA and Canada: October 22, 2002 (label Thirsty Ear). Title of debut is there Legends Bleed. Release contains 16 studio tracks and four bonus live songs. USA/Canada release (Legends Bleed) has same 15 studio recordings than what are in the European version and then as well Beaver On My Mind. Four live bonus tracks are Ramones songs: I Don't Care, Beat On The Brat, Rockaway Beach and Glad To See You Go. Those four live tracks not released on the Marky Ramone And The Speedkings live release called Alive.

Also there are published versions in Japan and South America. Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings debut came out by Victor/JVC records in Japan on May 29, 2002 (Japanese has new sleeve done by Japanese girl artist) and by Fogon Musica Distribution in Argentina on April, 2002 (license for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Colombia). Fogon Musica version contains three bonus tracks: Road Rage (Spanish version) with special guests Ciro Pertusi and Mariano Martinez from Attaque 77, I Don't Want To Grow Up and Motivate To Move. And Beaver On My Mind is instead of UPS Girl!

MORE INFORMATION OF DIFFERENT ALBUM VERSIONS HERE.





4) SINGLES/EP'S:

1) The White Jazz decided not to release a promo CD-S/ 7". But
Woimasointu released, December 1st, 7"-single as a limited edition of 1000 copies including one UNRELEASED studio recording Speedkings Ride Tonight and a great demo version of Hotrods-R-Us from No If's, And's or But's! -album. 300 copies are on an orange vinyl, 300 on a blue vinyl and 400 on a black vinyl. Single is selling really well and also Speedkings sold it on their European-tour. Woimasointu decided to take SECOND PRESSING with laminated sleeve and splattered vinyls, 300 on a green/yellow vinyl and 300 on red/blue vinyl. Order your copies now.

2) Marky Ramone And The Speedkings recorded live show at the Wild At Heart Club in Berlin, December 31st, 2001. From that show came out live 10"/CD, but also probably these 4 songs are from that show. This is: RAWK OVER SCANDINAVIA!
This 4 song EP by Woimasointu was coming out already in April 2002. Release date was early December, 2002. EP contains songs; Blitzkrieg Bop, Sheena Is A Punkrocker, Now I Wanna Be Sedated and Rockaway Beach.
Nick re-sung each song in a different Scandinavian language. I did translation of the Blitzkrieg Bop with Finnish, with help by Severi (Nukkekoti/Klamydia). Andre Dahlmann did (Norwegian translation), Kenneth Bergdahl (Swedish) and Valgaröur Gudjönsson (Iceland).
Limited edition of 1000 copies, 500 in coloured winyl. Mixed and mastered at Midas Studios by Tony Deblock, produced by Nick CQ Cooper and sleeve artwork by Cunni Cox and Nick CQ Cooper. More info at
Woimasointu-homepage. In example Woimasointu also released Dee Dee Ramone's Born To Lose / Hop Around 7"-single and vinyl version of Hop Around album. More info of the Dee Dee -releases here.

3) The Devils Shitburner Records from Germany is preparing for the release of a super limited Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings picture disc. Release date...?

4) HDPrecords from Sweden put out Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings 7'. 500 on black vinyl and 500 on red/brown. You can order it by E-mailing to: heavydrinking@hotmail.com
Nick Cooper and Fifi (Fifi & The Mach III) sing vocals on track I've Got Dee Dee On My Mind and Marky with Nick on Chinese Rocks.
HDPRecords also released compilation 10' called: "A Collection Of Great Dance Tunes - Vol 3" in early August, 2002, this 10' contains Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings "ScumFucks-R-Us (Live From The Gutter)". This is strictly limited edition: 500 copies on black vinyl and 100 copies on yellow vinyl. This 10' contains 18 bands/songs, like 69-Hard, Rickshaw, Trigger, Branko etc.

5) US tour promo split single with Texas Terri Bomb. Contains Love Hates Me by Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings and Dirty Action by Texas Terri Bomb. Limited to 600 copies (275 red/ 275 black/ 50 marbled red-black).

6) Woimasointu released Speedfinns-7' EP on May 2, 2003. It's been a long waiting this release, but now it's here and it's most important. Speedfinns-EP contains demo version of Marky Ramone And The Speedkings: Girls And Gasoline, and also songs from Finnish bands: Häiriköt: Beneath The Ground, Rehtorit: Badmobile and Pojat: I Do Remember You.

7) Bootleg Booze released Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings single on September 12, 2003. There is two songs on the 7", "Good Cop Bad Cop" and "Sidewalkin", which are written by Dee Jaywalker. This is limited to 1000 copies with cool sleeve and great label-art. 300 copies comes in white vinyl, 700 on black vinyl. In 500 copies of the pressing there is two "temptattoo´s", which are really in SpeedKings style. Bootleg Booze informed on November 10, 2003, that this 7' is soon sold out, so hurry up if you want to get your hands on that great piece of wax.





5) LIVE: ALIVE (CD 2002) / LIVE IN BERLIN (LP 2024)

CD: Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings recorded a live CD at the Wild At Heart Club in Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany on December 31, 2001. CD release was out in September, 2002, on Rawk-A-Hula Records! Alive has 13 songs. It was released with two different covers (white and black). Title of CD is Alive.

LP: A limited edition vinyl release was released more than 20 years later on March 14, 2024. Title is Live In Berlin.
- Alive recordings is released on limited edition in blue, white, red and gold. 100 copies only in blue, white and red. Only 50 copies available in gold vinyl. Gatefold sleeve / 180 grams vinyls, wrote Nick Cooper to me in November 2023.
Gatefold sleeve has more photos than CD release and it has also information of other SpeedKings releases. Thanks Nick Cooper for including also a live (singing) photo of me.

Order LP's from Nick and his friend:
www.huntandpeckmusicandbooks.shop / info@huntandpeckbooks.com . Get your 20 percentage discount when ordering multiple copies with a code ALIVE2024. Check out also other releases they has.
Scandinavian (North-Europe) customers, please order through Woimasointu Records / info@woimasointu.com.
CD versions has 13 songs. LP versions has 18 songs. Bonus live song is a Glad To See You Go and four songs are from Rawk Over Scandinavia! 7'.
Woimasointu Records (Hannu Jokinen) published Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings' Rawk Over Scandinavia! in 2002. Nick re-sung four Ramones songs in a different Scandinavian language. Those songs are included in LP version of this live release.

TRACKLISTING:
1) SpeedKings Ride Tonight (Nick CQ Cooper)
2) I Don't Care (Ramones)
3) Saturday Night (Nick CQ Cooper)
4) Telephone Love (Fred Bell/Marky Ramone)
5) Teenage Rock'N'Roll Suicide (Nick CQ Cooper)
6) Chinese Rocks (Ramones)
7) StagBooks (Marky Ramone/Nick CQ Cooper)
8) HotRods-R-Us (Nick CQ Cooper)
9) California Sun (Glover/Levy)
10) Girls and Gasoline (Nick CQ Cooper)
11) Beat On The Brat (Ramones)
12) Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (Ramones)
13) Scumfucks-R-Us (Nick CQ Cooper)

ONLY LP: 14) Glad To See You Go (Ramones).
ONLY LP: 15) Sheena Is A Norwegian Punkrocker (Ramones / lyrics translated in Norwegian by Andre Dahlmann).
ONLY LP: 16) I Wanna Be Sedated In Sweden (Ramones / lyrics translated in Swedish by Kenneth Bergdahl).
ONLY LP: 17) Rockaway Iceland (Ramones / lyrics translated in Iceland by Valgarour Guojonsson).
ONLY LP: 18) Blitzkrieg Over Finland (Ramones / lyrics translated in Finnish by Jari-Pekka Laitio-Ramone and Sami "Severi" Kohtamäki).

Some songs from this show were released in different versions of Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings album No If's, And's Or But's! / Legends Bleed.
Wild At Heart released CD collection titled That's Life At The Wild At Heart Vol. 1 in 2003 and it contains Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings song Teenage Rock'N'Roll Suicide, it's also recorded on December 31, 2001. CD contains also Terrorgruppe, Nekromantix, Groovie Ghoulies, Psychopunch etc., in all 20 bands.





6) BACK TO 2001... WHAT MARKY RAMONE HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE NEW RELEASE AND OF THE YEAR 2001:

I couldn't think of any better way to end this year than the release a new album and to do an extensive tour. 2001 has been a year with a lot of work but above all, tons of rock'n'roll. I have been touring with The Misfits in the US as a special guest on their 25th Anniversary shows and in between the dates I have set up this new band and recorded a full lenght album.

It all started when I first met Nick Cooper during the Intruders European tour of January 2000. He helped us out on some occasions and his previous band played our support on a few shows. In the summer of that year I agreed to help him out when his band needed a drummer for their European tour. Playing with them was a lot of fun and I knew they had their shit together. By the end of the tour Nick and me knew that some longer term colaboration was getting started.

I liked what I saw, I like what I heard and the rest is history. Here I am with my new band, The Speedkings. There were quite some songs there. We picked the ones that the kids loved at the shows and recorded them. My friend Daniel Rey mastered the album and here it is: No Ifs, Ands or Buts!

2001 was a good year, but there was also a lot of sadness and grief. One of those moments was when Joey Ramone passed away. But although he is not here anymore, the music lives on. RocknRoll will never die and thats why I will keep on playing it.

This year the Ramones have been nominated for the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame and we received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the NY MTV Music Awards. Dee Dee is on the road, CJ has his new band and me and Daniel Rey played on Joeys solo album.

In my case playing in a new band, recording an new album and hitting the road for another tour is my way to say thanks to all the kids and fans out there. We owe it to them for being such a loyal family through all the years. This new album is dedicated to all of them. I hope they will enjoy the songs as much as we enjoyed recording them.

As for the release, I am very pleased that we made this co-operation with White Jazz Records. Their reputation to bring great music was so convincing that they were an obvious choice. And I believe the choice came from both sides. We have a very good contact and treat each other on a friends base. This makes our bond so strong.

I look forward to see all our fans out there in Europe after being away for far too long. I can promise that we have a scorching set waiting for them. After all 2001 is the 25th Anniversary of Punkrock and I will make sure no one will forget about that!

Marky Ramone
Brooklyn, NY
October 7, 2001





7) NICK COOPER'S BOOK I 'HEARTBREAK' THE RAMONES - THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE SPEEDKINGS:

I will explain now especially of Nick Cooper and his three books I 'Heartbreak' The Ramones - The Life And Times Of The SpeedKings, Vergaene Glorie and Anarchist Anonymous and
Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings. Order books and other releases here: www. hapmusicandbook.store/en You can also send an E-mail to Nick: info (a) heartbreakramones.com .
Nick Cooper (Nico Decock) was doing a lot of things with Marky Ramone especially because of Buckweeds and Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings in 2000-2004. Cooper was a singer-guitarist. I 'Heartbreak' The Ramones - The Life And Times Of The SpeedKings was published on May 31, 2024.
- I set up a collaboration with Earth Island Books (UK). Later this year a translation in French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese will be available, Cooper wrote to me.
Earth Island Books is selling books. Nick's own publishing company is Hunt And Peck Publishing (BE). Book has around 484 pages and close to 500 photos. I (Jari-Pekka Laitio-Ramone) got an honor to write an foreword.
Release events:
June 27, 2024: Vuvve x Printclinic, Kortrijk, Belgium. Dee Jaywalker attended this event. He passed away 5,5 weeks later on July 10, 2024.
August 30, 2024: Muziekcafe Twilight, Langestraat 21, 8400 Oostende, Belgium.

I explain here more of Cooper. Nick Cooper born in Kortrijk (Courtrai), Belgium in 1965, had music in his blood. Nick was made for a career in rock'N'roll. His mother looked like she belonged to the Ronettes. His father could have been in the Bee Gees. In 1978, Nick discovered punk music and instantly became captivated by the bands emerging from the vibrant NYC scene. It was during this time that he attended his first live performance by the Ramones, unknowingly setting the stage for a future encounter. Around 1980, Nick picked up a guitar and joined his first punk band.
Nick Cooper played in the Vergaene Glorie, -XXX- and Midnight Men before he met with Marky Ramone. Marky met Cooper during the Marky Ramone And The Intruders European tour in January, 2000. Cooper was playing then in the Buckweeds. Marky agreed to help Cooper and the Buckweeds out by providing his drumming services for their upcoming European tour. Marky and Buckweeds toured with The Huntingtons between August 25 - September 17, 2000. After that Marky recorded the song I Don't Wanna Grow Up with Buckweeds and Kloot Per W for the tribute album titled Ramones Tribute 1,2,3,4.... For the tribute album, the song was released under the name Marky Ramone Group. Marky Ramone, Nick Cooper and along with Buckweeds bassist Stevey Jay continued to write and perform music. Nick Cooper explains also of those things widely in his book The I 'Heartbreak' The Ramones - The Life And Times Of The SpeedKings.
Name got changed from Marky Ramone Group to Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings. The band in conjunction with White Jazz Records released their first album entitled No If's, And's Or But's! on November 19, 2001 in Europe. Later it was released in Japan, South America and North America.
Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings played a lot of shows. The last Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings show ever was at the Brick By Brick, San Diego, USA on January 17, 2003. Band was still active after that. Marky Ramone wrote to me in January 13, 2004, that there will be no next Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings tour until the new SpeedKings album comes out. Album was already recorded. BUT two months later (March 13, 2004) Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings announced that the band was split-up, even they were recorded an second album.
AND 20 years later (2024) Nick Cooper tells me:
- We will finish the album by 2025 (without Marky), wrote Nick.
Amazing news.
In this book you will extensively information and memories of Nick's childhood and early punk years and then how he became the singer, guitarist and babysitter of the Rock'N'Roll Hall Of Fame musician. The Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings also recorded many singles/EP's and toured the world.
- Clubs, squats and festivals hosted the band throughout Europe, Japan and the United States. The kids loved us but the critics spit out. Three years down the road to ruin, we hated each other's guts and called it quits. This is the story of what happened...., Nick explains.
- This coming of age story will appeal to all punkrock fans. It's all about the passion for music, what makes it shine and what makes it go down the drain. Ramones fans will love this book; Ramones haters will love it even more, Nick continue.
Nick's perspective is sometimes blunt, yet often filled with humor and grounded in reality. His outrageously funny anecdotes will make you piss your pants.
- I 'Heartbreak' The Ramones - The Life And Times Of The SpeedKings feels like a roadmovie and you are sucked in as one of the roadcrew. There is no holding back. You have been warned! The story may even be true!
Punk Globe Magazine / Ginger Coyote did an extensive interview with Nick Cooper. You can read it here.

Check out also Nick Cooper's two other books. Cooper and Ludo Halsberghe wrote together Vergaene Glorie that is sold a lot in Belgium and Holland. The first edition is in paperback and (limited edition) hardcover. The second edition is in both the green and the pink cover versions.
- It tells the story of myself and a friend who started a punk band in 1980 and then talks about all the bands I was in. Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings is in there too but only two chapters, Cooper told me.
Vergaene Glorie has also of course some photos related to Marky Ramone And The SpeedKings. Nick Cooper has also wrote the book Anarchist Anonymous about his time in the anarcho band called -XXX-. Group released The First Steps cassette in 1984 and now thanks to Nick Cooper there are also black and yellow vinyls of The First Steps. LP has 12 songs. They are originally recorded and mixed at Joke's Koeienverhuurbedrijf, Wormer, Netherlands in August 1984. Cooper was then 16-17 years old. Anarchist Anonymous book has 114 pages. Book contains the story of the band, lyrics and reviews of -XXX- and reproductions of the fanzines Nick Cooper (Nico Decock) published in the 80's. Zines has as well cartoons. Most of the texts are in Dutch but there is material also in English. You can buy many great books and records from https://www.huntandpeckbooks.com or from www.hapmusicandbook.store/en. You can also send an E-mail to Nick: info (a) heartbreakramones.com .



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