Cassie Ramone Explained

Cassie Grzymkowski^{[1] [2]} (born March 17, 1986), better known by her stage name Cassie Ramone, is an American musician and artist. Ramone rose to prominence as the guitarist and vocalist of indie rock band Vivian Girls, who broke up in 2014, and later reformed in 2019. She also formed the band project The Babies with Kevin Morby (of Woods). During The Babies' hiatus, Ramone embarked on a solo career, releasing her debut album The Time Has Come in August 2014.

Biography

Born and raised in Ridgewood, New Jersey, Ramone attended Ridgewood High School, where she met her later bandmate Katy Goodman.^{[3] [4] [5]} In 2004, she moved to Brooklyn and began studying at Pratt Institute.

Ramone formed the band Bossy along with Jamie Ewing and Justin Sullivan, that lasted until 2007. The same year, she co-found the indie rock band Vivian Girls with Goodman and Frankie Rose. They released three albums, Vivian Girls (2008), Everything Goes Wrong (2009) and Share the Joy (2011), before breaking up in 2014. In 2019, the band reformed and released their fourth album, Memory.^[6] After meeting Kevin Morby of Woods, they started a side project called The Babies who released albums in 2011 and 2012.

In 2014, Ramone embarked a solo career and released her debut album The Time Has Come, featuring Ariel Pink on bass.^[7] In early 2015, she formed Melt, who only conceived a demo. She also formed another band with Dee Dee from Dum Dum Girls and OJ from XRay Eyeballs called OCDPP. They debuted as a live act in 2015 and released an EP called 7" Long Player in 2020.^{[8] [9]}

Ramone released a Christmas album titled Christmas in Reno on December 11, 2015.^[10]

Art

Apart from music, Ramone is an artist who designed the cover art for most of the Vivian Girls and The Babies' discography, and La Sera's La Sera (2011).^[11] She also does drawings, paintings, sculptures and collages that uploads in her Flickr account.^[12]

Influences

Ramone cites Neil Young, The Wipers, Burt Bacharach, The Shangri-las, Rush, The Bananas, The Ramones, Johnny Horton, The Carpenters, Dead Moon and Elliott Smith among her favorite artists.^{[13] [14]}

Discography

Solo artist

Studio albums

Title	Album details
The Time Has Come	Released: August 26, 2014 Label: Loglady Formats: LP, Digital download
Christmas In Reno	Released: December 11, 2015 Label: Burger Formats: LP, Digital download

Split singles

Year	Single	Other artist
2010	"The Beets/Cassie Ramone"[15]	The Beets
2013	"Less Artists More Condos Series #5"[16]	Hunx
	"I'm a Freak/Only You"[17]	Xray Eyeballs

Album appearances

Year	Song	Artist	Album
2010	"Are Your Parents Still Together?"[18]	Gospel Music	Duettes
2014	"Hanging On"[19]	Various Artists	Love Anyway!	Even If... Fuck Off	! (The Hi-Lo Tunez Plan: 20th Step)

with Bossy

• The Best of Bossy (2009)

with Vivian Girls

• Vivian Girls (2008)
• Everything Goes Wrong (2009)
• Share the Joy (2011)
• Memory (2019)

with The Babies

• The Babies (2011)
• Our House on the Hill (2012)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Cassie Grzymkowski. The Talk House. November 10, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141110063857/http://thetalkhouse.com/music/artist/cassie-grzymkowski/. November 10, 2014. dead.
2. Web site: HANGIN ON . ASCAP . American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers . November 12, 2023.
3. Web site: Cassie Ramone Waves Goodbye to Vivian Girls. Myspace. November 10, 2014.
4. Web site: When I'm Gone: Why Vivian Girls Mattered. Pitchfork Media. November 10, 2014.
5. McCall, Tris. "Ridgewood rocks: A slew of hot indie bands have roots in Bergen town", Inside Jersey, August 12, 2013. Accessed October 17, 2018. "Guitarist and singer Cassie Ramone, a Ridgewood High School graduate who fronts the popular Vivian Girls, says that her parents moved to the Bergen County suburb to take advantage of the schools."
6. Exposito. Suzy. 2019-07-23. The Vivian Girls Come Out Swinging. 2020-08-10. Rolling Stone. en-US.
7. Web site: Hear a Melancholy New Song from Cassie Ramone, Formerly of Vivian Girls. July 30, 2014 . Vogue. November 10, 2014.
8. Web site: OCDPP = Cassie Ramone, Dee Dee of Dum Dum Girls & OJ of Xray Eyeballs: live debut on Thur + date w/ Chain & the Gang. April 8, 2015 . Brooklyn Vegan. November 13, 2015.
9. Web site: OCDPP 7-inch LP (2020). January 7, 2021 . Punk News. December 12, 2021.
10. Web site: Cassie Ramone – Christmas In Reno (PRE-ORDER) . . November 13, 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20151116021943/http://burgerrecords.11spot.com/cassie-ramone-christmas-in-reno-pre-order.html . November 16, 2015 . mdy .
11. Web site: Cassie Ramone. July 24, 2012 . Flickr. November 12, 2014.
12. Web site: Cassie Ramone. Paper Magazine. November 1, 2012. November 12, 2014.
13. Web site: Interview With Cassie Ramone of Vivian Girls. MTVu. November 10, 2014.
14. Web site: RATTLING IT OUT: AN INTERVIEW WITH CASSIE RAMONE. Frontier Psychiatrist. November 10, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141110064324/http://frontpsych.com/rattling-it-out-an-interview-with-cassie-ramone/. November 10, 2014. dead. mdy-all.
15. Web site: Beets, The / Cassie Ramone – The Beets / Cassie Ramone. Discogs. November 20, 2014.
16. Web site: Hunx / Cassie Ramone – Less Artists More Condos Series #5. Discogs. November 20, 2014.
17. Web site: Cassie Ramone / Xray Eyeballs – Cassie Ramone / Xray Eyeballs. Discogs. November 20, 2014.
18. Web site: Gospel Music – Duettes. Discogs. November 29, 2010 . November 20, 2014.
19. Web site: Various – Love Anyway!!! Even If... Fuck Off!!! (The Hi-Lo Tunez Plan: 20th Step). Discogs. September 27, 2014 . November 20, 2014.