The Detroit music community is mourning the loss of Tony Romeo, who passed away this weekend after a long battle with cancer. Tony was a mainstay in the Detroit punk and rock music scene, but is best known as the bassist for the notorious glam-rockers Trash Brats, then in John Brannon’s post-Laughing Hyenas rock band Easy Action.
Trash Brats - 1996: Tony Romeo (L), Craig Cashew, Brian McCarty, Ricky Rat
Tony’s last release was part of the Detroit Covers series by I-94 Recordings where he was backed by The Creampies, consisting of his former Trash Brats bandmates Ricky Rat and Brian McCarty. As news spread and tributes started pouring in, there wasn’t a negative word to be said. Detroit lost one of its own, and he touched a lot of people over the last four decades in these clubs.
I didn’t know Tony well, but we’d met a few times. The first time I ever played Detroit was opening for the Trash Brats at Saint Andrew’s Hall for their 1990 record release show. That was a big deal to us back then, to play with the Brats, who we looked up to in a big way, on that stage that I’d seen so many of my favorite bands on.
My favorite Tony Romeo story takes place a couple years later in that same room. My bandmate and pal Chutes & Ladders/Slug Bug drummer Brian Wimpy and I were at a Saturday night wedding reception of a close friend and had to make the difficult decision to do the wrong thing and sneak out to get over to Saint Andrews Hall where the Goo Goo Dolls were playing. Now, this isn’t the watered-down, housewife-friendly-adult-alternative, guests-on-The- Voice Goo Goo Dolls that everyone cringes at today. This is the Marshalls on 10, let the bass player sing even though he’s not as good lookin’, amazing songwriting, great punk energy Goo Goo Dolls that we’d first seen open for The Replacements in Cleveland a few months prior. I make no apologies for still loving that 3-album run today. Anyhow….
The Trash Brats opened that show and it wasn’t packed (this was pre-“Name” even). The Goos came out and played a couple tunes and were doing their best to pretend they were into it, despite the weak turnout. Third or fourth song in they broke into their biggest song at the time “There You Are,” momentarily lifting the energy in the sparsely populated room. From the corner of my eye I saw someone crawl over the railing of the balcony behind me, jump down and land on the floor in the back of the room, sprint the length of the floor to the stage, climb up right in front of lead singer Johnny Rzeznik (no easy feat - it’s a TALL stage!), turn around, and do a 10-point swan dive back into the “crowd” where there was absolutely no one waiting there to catch him. Tony landed with a splat. “Holy shit – is that guy ok?” Johnny asked from the stage as the band abruptly stopped mid-verse, legitimately concerned. I can’t remember if an ambulance came or if Tony bounced up and walked back to the bar and ordered a PBR, but the show was over, and everyone was in a sort of “what the hell just happened” daze.
Tony Romeo (Photo lifted from Brian T.’s Facebook page, assume it’s his and he’s ok with it.)
That was Tony. Condolences to his friends, bandmates, family, and fans.
Jeremy Porter lives near Detroit, fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos, and plays acoustic shows all over the place. Follow him and them on Facebook to read his road blog about their adventures on the dive-bar circuit.
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