Thomas Erdelyi (born Tamás Erdélyi, ; January 29, 1949 – July 11, 2014), known professionally as Tommy Ramone, was a Hungarian-American musician. he used an older Rogers set in a dark wood finish that was soon replaced once Danny Fields became their manager. This new set, finished in "New England White", was used heavily between 1975 and 1977, and featured a 22-inch bass drum with 9x13 and 16x16 tom-toms. Several photos taken of Ramone during these years occasionally show him using Ludwig Drums onstage as well.

On October 22, 1977, the band lost most of their equipment after it was stolen following a show in Chicago at the Aragon Ballroom and a new, larger set of Rogers "Big R" series drums was obtained shortly afterward. This set, also finished in "New England White", featured oversized 12x15 and 18x16 tom-toms and a 24-inch bass drum and was used by Tommy for the rest of his tenure with the band, and then by Marky Ramone from the time that he joined the band in May, 1978 until his first departure in February, 1983. Featured on the recordings for It's Alive and Road To Ruin, as well as in prominent performance scenes from the film Rock 'n' Roll High School, the set was later sold to a private collector for $10,500.

Behind the scenes with the Ramones

Following his decision to leave, Tommy Ramone was replaced on drums in 1978 by Marky Ramone,

On October 8, 2004, on what would have been Johnny Ramone's 56th birthday, he played as a Ramone once again, when he joined C.J. Ramone, Daniel Rey, and Clem Burke (also known as Elvis Ramone) in the "Ramones Beat Down on Cancer" concert. In October 2007 in an interview to promote It's Alive 1974–1996 a two-DVD set of the band's best televised live performances he paid tribute to his deceased bandmates:

Ramone and Claudia Tienan (formerly of underground band the Simplistics) performed as a bluegrass-based folk duo called Uncle Monk. Ramone stated: "There are a lot of similarities between punk and old-time music. Both are home-brewed music as opposed to schooled, and both have an earthy energy. And anybody can pick up an instrument and start playing."

Bibliography

  • Uncle Monk website
  • Uncle Monk on Myspace