The Ramones’ last heyday member sees the Minnesota State Fair as an ‘all-American’ gig

This month marked the 50-year anniversary of the Ramones’ very first gig at CBGB’s amid the grime, crime and decadence of New York City’s then-hellish Lower East Side. This month also will see Marky Ramone perform his old band’s songs two nights in a row amid the midway rides, fried candy and quilting booths at the Minnesota State Fair.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer said he sees nothing ironic about that dramatic change in scenery.

“It seems like kind of an all-American [gig],” he said. “The Ramones were an American band — really one of the few American bands that have held up in popularity this much.

“As long as the setup is good and the audience is into it,” the 72-year-old drummer added, “I’ll play these songs anywhere.”

Talking by phone from New York last week — his native-Brooklynite accent was as thick as the pasta sauce he used to sell and make for his late buddy, Anthony Bourdain — Ramone mentioned America several times. He was about to crisscross it again on tour with his new band after playing many shows on foreign soil in recent years.

Billed as Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg, the group will perform at the Leinie Lodge Bandshell at 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. Also now a host of the popular “Marky Ramone’s Punk Rock Blitzkrieg” show and channel on Sirius XM, Ramone offered up a perfect radio-man sales pitch of what to expect from this week’s gigs.

“We’re going to do about 35 classic Ramones songs nonstop, with no talking in between,” he said. “It’s high-energy and all the hits.”

He also let out a perfectly gruff New Yorker harrumph when asked if he considers it a tribute band.

“There are a lot of tribute bands, and there are a lot of bands that have one original member and call it the original name of the group,” he said. “This isn’t either of those.”

As is well known by fans, Marky (born Marc Bell) was not an original member of the Ramones, but he joined four years into their run in 1978 under unusual circumstances.

The quartet’s founding drummer, Tommy Erdelyi (aka Tommy Ramone), had grown tired of touring and wanted to focus on working in the studio as a producer. Famously, one of the records Tommy went on to produce was the 1986 classic “Tim” by Minneapolis’ Replacements, which was reissued last year with a new mix (Marky had not heard the remake and sounded skeptical about it).

“I was just coming off a tour with the Clash when I was playing with Richard Hell and the Voidoids in 1977,” Marky recounted. “Tommy said, ‘Hey, I don’t want to tour anymore, do you want to join the group?’ He would see me play a lot at CBGB’s with my bands, and he liked my drumming.

“Tommy said to me, ‘Here’s my drum kit. Here’s my set list. Here’s the demos to ‘Road to Ruin.’ I learned that album and the set list on a drum pad in my apartment in two and a half weeks. The first song I recorded with them was ‘I Wanna Be Sedated.’ That style of drumming isn’t easy, but luckily, I could do it and was there to keep the band going.”

Marky did more than just keep the Ramones going. He bashed through an estimated 1,700 live sets and 10 albums with the band over the next three decades. He was still there when the group disbanded in 1996 following years of well documented personal strife between singer Joey Ramone and guitarist Johnny Ramone.

Each of those co-founding Ramones died of cancer in the early 2000s, while bassist Dee Dee Ramone died in 2009 and Tommy in 2014.

Asked whether the loss of his bandmates adds an emotional tone to his current live shows, Marky bluntly responded, “No, not really. The songs are what it’s all about. The songs are too good to not get played.”

Among those songs are some of the many earlier rock classics famously remade by the Ramones, including Jackie DeShannon’s “Needles and Pins,” Bobby Freeman’s “Do You Wanna Dance?” and the 1963 classic “Surfin’ Bird” by Minnesota rock pioneers the Trashmen.

“It was one of the first punk songs ever,” Ramone raved. “Something like that was never heard of at that time. You’d have called it ‘garage-rock,’ but a lot of those bands had punk elements. So then when punk started a decade later, it’s no surprise our groups paid homage to those bands.”

He described his younger Blitzkrieg bandmates as “just guys that can play really well, put their own touch to it.”

“I didn’t need any famous names in the group. I just needed a good group that’s able to keep up with me, and they definitely do.”

Marky sees his tours with his current band as “one of the best ways left to celebrate the legacy” of his old band.

“There’s not much else for the band to achieve,” he said. “We’re in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We won a Grammy, a lifetime achievement from MTV. We were on ‘The Simpsons.’ It’s like: Where else can the band go?”

One idea that has been thrown around in recent years is a biopic on the Ramones. Netflix even announced plans for such a movie starring “SNL” alum Pete Davidson as Joey Ramone, but the project got caught up in legal skirmishes between Joey’s brother and Johnny’s widow.

“I don’t think that’s happening now,” Marky said, but he did not dismiss future plans for a movie centered on Joey.

“People loved the guy, especially when he got up there on stage. He was a very quiet guy, but when he went up on stage he became Joey Ramone, a true original. Off the stage, he was very introverted. Performing up there on stage for 120 minutes would put him in a whole different world.”

Marky said he’s glad he can still be a part of that world.

“I still love playing live,” he said. “I’ve been doing it since I was 12 years old, and I still enjoy it. I’ll continue it as long as I’m able to do it.

“We’ve gone to China, Vietnam, England, all over Europe, South America. The reactions have been great everywhere, and everywhere you go there are young people in the crowd in addition to original fans. So now I’m doing this tour to bring it back to the U.S.A.”

When: 8:30 p.m. Wed. & Thu.

Where: Leinie Lodge Bandshell, Minnesota State Fairgrounds.

Tickets: Free with fair admission.