Vegas Theater Company dramatizes a punk band’s high-tension collaboration with a pistol-wielding producer….
Odd celebrity pairings are a fascinating aspect of pop culture. There have been some real doozies, from Martha Stewart’s relationship with Snoop Dog to Willie Nelson’s duet with Julio Iglesias. ‘FOUR CHORDS and a GUN’ recreates one of the most peculiar collaborations, when punk group The Ramones joined notoriously fussy producer Phil Spector to record END OF THE CENTURY.
Spector, who would spend his last years in prison for lethally shooting actress Lana Clarkson, had previously collaborated with icons like The Beatles and Ike and Tina Turner. His pioneering recording method, nicknamed the “Wall of Sound”, was a painstaking, time-consuming process.
Being a lean and mean punk band, The Ramones were used to working rapidly and simply. But in a period of flux that included the loss of founding member Tommy Ramone, they agreed to work with Spector, a longtime fan.
Despite being the group’s highest-charting album, END OF THE CENTURY was divisive and an ordeal to record. You might almost say it was “death-defying”:
“He leveled his gun at my heart and then motioned for me and the rest of the band to get back in the piano room … He only holstered his pistol when he felt secure that his bodyguards could take over. Then he sat down at his black concert piano and made us listen to him play and sing “Baby, I Love You” until well after 4:30 in the morning.” — Dee Dee Ramone
“He always carried three guns around with him…We were prisoners in his house for about six hours, and we thought we were gonna get shot. I said, ‘Let’s go,’ and he pulled out a gun and said, ‘Do you wanna leave?’ I said, ‘No, that’s OK, we’ll stay for awhile.’” — Johnny Ramone
The drama within the band was plentiful enough to fill in the 2023 documentary THE RAMONES: End of the Century. In 2019, musician/actor/writer John Ross Bowie debuted FOUR CHORDS and a GUN, an onstage dramatization of the Spector/Ramones malestrom that would mark a significant event in music history.
After a brief sold-out run in 2024, FOUR CHORDS and a GUN returns to Vegas Theater Company this week.
Tickets are $42.54 (inclusive) and can be ordered here. VEGAS THEATER COMPANY is located at 1025 S. First Street. Ample free parking is available.
Graphics courtesy of VEGAS THEATER COMPANY, cast photos by Chase Stevens
