I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: August 3, 2025] Spike and the Gimme Gimmes

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes was a band I knew nothing about but didn’t like, based on their name.  Then I learned that they are a cover band doing punk covers of classic rock songs and I thought their name was actually pretty perfect and I wanted to see them live.   I had a few opportunities but they kept falling through.

And then I saw that the band has changed its name to Spike and the Gimme Gimmes which isn’t as good a name but which apparently makes sense for some reason or another.

The band is made up of a bunch of different people who tour for a while.  Initially the band had a bunch of famous punkers and now it’s made of some less famous (to me) punkers, but they’re still fun as anything.

For this tour the band was Spike Slawson (of Swingin’ Utters and Re-Volts) on vocals and maracas.  He would be the Spike of the band name and has been their lead singer since they started in 1995.  We also had CJ Ramone (of The Ramones) on bass.  Yes and actual Ramone! (He was one of the first people to replace an original Ramone and was much younger than the rest of the band when he joined.  He was a fun guy to have back there.

On one guitar was Joey Cape (of Lagwagon) who has also been with the band since the beginning (I don’t know him).  Chris Shiflett of the Foo Fighters was in the band, but now his brother, Scott Shiflett (of Face to Face and Viva Death), plays guitar.  And that leaves the drummer–I can’t tell who it was from the Wikipedia page.

So the Gimme Gimmes play covers.  Exclusively.  And they play them fast and punky.  But they also play them seriously.  And the crowd is 100% into it.  Indeed, the people in front of me had driven up from D.C. to see them (it was their sixth time, I think).

They were dressed in Hawaiian shirts and were celebrating a Wet Hot America summer.

This tour features a lot of country and country adjacent songs.  They played six in a row (with Spike counting them off on his hand between songs).  And each song was recognizable and fun to shout/sing along with.  The biggest surprise of these first six was Queen of Hearts, a song I haven’t thought of in years but which I loved back in the day.

Then they played a Black Sabbath song.  They started Changes slow, but jumped into a punk appropriate speed after the first verse.

Spike is a hilarious frontman and I wonder if he’s the same way in his other bands.  He would sing along and make gestures.  He would put his hands over his head and shimmy.  He was so much fun to watch.  He was also slightly antagonistic.  “How’s everyone doing?” “Oh, I’m doing fine, thanks for asking…”

I don’t think there were any songs that people didn’t love singing along to (well, Summertime isn’t that much fun).

I enjoyed when Spike told CJ to play the opening to Straight Up and said, I get to ask a Ramone to play a Paula Abdul song!  There was even some Culture Club.

Spike had a lengthy introduction to Me and Julio Down By the School Yard (there was a very drunk man pushing his way up front and shouting Julio! Julio! But he was gone (hopefully kicked out) by the time they played it.  He said the words are inscrutable at best.

The Gimme Gimmes also told us that they played a quincinera and recorded the album (coming out soon).  They had to learn Estos Celos (the only song of the night I didn’t know).  He then explained that the girls at the party were not impressed with any of the old songs they played, so they had to play Good 4 U by Olivia Rodrigo (and it was fun to hear it done in their style).  They ended the main set with a ripping cover of Rocket Man.  So much fun!

After a brief encore break, they came back and Spike played the opening to Madonna’s Crazy for You on the ukulele.  And after a quick runthrough of Over the Rainbow, they played a fantastic cover of Sloop John B by opening it with a Sloop John B chant to the melody of Lobotomy (Teenage Lobotomy, The Ramones).

They ended the night with a Boys II Men song which I was surprised by how much I knew of the song.

And that was that.  It was a ton of fun and I can se why people travel to see them live.  It is, simply put, a really fun time.

1. Jolene (Dolly Parton cover)  ∑
2. Take Me Home, Country Roads (John Denver cover) ∞
3. Riders in the Sky (Stan Jones and his Death Valley Rangers cover) ∑
4. On the Road Again (Willie Nelson cover)∑
5. Queen of Hearts (Dave Edmunds cover)♣
6. Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down (Kris Kristofferson cover) ∑
7. Changes (Black Sabbath cover)♣
8. Love Will Keep Us Together (Neil Sedaka cover)♣
9. Leaving on a Jet Plane (John Denver cover)♠
10. Wild World (Cat Stevens cover)≅
11. Summertime (George Gershwin cover)  ®
12. Straight Up (Paula Abdul cover) ⇓
13. Karma Chameleon (Culture Club cover)⇓
14. Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard (Paul Simon cover) ♠
15. Dancing Queen (ABBA cover) ♣
16. Estos celos (Vicente Fernández cover) ♣
17. Good 4 You (Olivia Rodrigo cover) ♣
18. Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time) (Elton John cover) ♠
    encore
19. Crazy for You (Madonna cover) ⇓
20. Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen cover)  ®
21. Sloop John B   (The Beach Boys cover) ≅
22. End of the Road (Boyz II Men cover) Ø

♠ Have a Ball (1997)
® Are a Drag (1999)
≅ Blow in the Wind (2001)
Ø Take a Break (2003)
Ruin Jonny’s Bar Mitzvah (2004)
∑ Love Their Country (2006)
∞ Have Another Ball (2008)
Sing in Japanese (2011)
 Go Down Under (2011)
⇓ Are We Not Men? We Are Diva! (2014)
Rake it In: The Greatestest Hits (2017)
♣ Blow it…at Madison’s Quinceañera! (2024)