CHRISTOPHER Ward stepped out of the battle hardened United States Marines Corps, swapped his body armour for a bass guitar, and joined one of rock’s greatest band The Ramones.

Ward was the man picked to replace bass legend Dee Dee Ramone, and CJ remained on Gabba Gabba Hey duty until The Ramones’ final show 20 years ago.

“I’d got used to the discipline in the military, so it was a huge culture shock joining The Ramones, learning 40 songs in three weeks and then there was the parties and the chaos,” said CJ Ramone who brings his own band to Blackpool’s Rebellion Punk Festival next weekend.

“You’ve got to remember that I was a huge Ramones fan before I was in the band, and it was an almost out of body experience to look across and see Johnny and Joey there next to me.

“When I left the Marines the one thing I didn’t want to do was live and die in my home town, so that’s why it always felt so surreal, living the life I did with the Ramones.

“I certainly never considered myself a peer or an equal to the original Ramones, though, because they were my heroes.”

His voice crackles with emotion when he adds: “At the final show, Lemmy from Motorhead came on to the stage to play, and I knew then that whatever I did for the rest of my life that nothing would come close to that moment.

“I listen to their music every day and try to keep The Ramones flame alive.”

The Ramones, known for their long hair, leather jackets, ripped jeans and fast musical style, kicked off their career at the legendary CBGB music club in New York, a hotspot for punk and new wave bands.

Although they were never commercially successful, their sound helped shape rock music and is still often cited as inspirations to new generations of musicians.

“No band had played like that before, with that brutal, buzz-saw sound,” added CJ Ramone. “And nobody played pop music in the way that they did.

“Realistically, that’s what The Ramones were, a pop group.

“They were like an evil Bay City Rollers – super infectious with their melodies and punishing beats.

“They just found their niche and nobody’s ever been able to come along and do it better than they have.”

Their three minute songs – Sheena is a Punk Rocker, Teenage Lobotomy and I Wanna Be Sedated, among many others, earned them an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Sadly, the last surviving original member of The Ramones, drummer Tommy, died two years ago, but CJ has a bucket full of memories from punk’s front line.

“The Ramones were just so important to the history of pop, and to the American culture, that I can’t ever see their music just fading away.”

CJ, who made his first appearance with the Ramones on their 1989 British tour, said: “I’ve got a busy life now playing with my own band, but I wouldn’t have missed that incredible journey for the world.

“There was always a lot of emotion, and like any band sometimes we’d argue, but to me the Ramones always seemed like a gang and I was lucky enough to be part of it.”

CJ Ramone plays the Rebellion Festival Blackpool. Other bands appearing at the four-day festival include Slaughter and the Dogs, The Damned, Stiff Little Fingers and The Buzzcocks

Rebellion, Blackpool Winter Gardens, Thursday, August 4 to Sunday, August 7. Tickets from 02476 601678 or rebellionfestivals.com