Band Bio
Above: the beautiful St.Albert, AB shopping district
When Marty and Bev Ramonas moved from Winnipeg, Man. to St. Albert, Alberta
they had no idea they would be inspiring the genesis of one of the finest rock bands
ever to come out of Alberta. Their young son Chester, 15 at the time, became friends
with Ric Cheyenne, Stuart Morris, and Terrance Goldman. During their Junior year
in high school, the boys decided to start a rock band. They started out playing songs
in front of their classmates under the name 'The Pixie Stix.' Rewriting songs to fit
their class's current lesson, they became popular at school assembleys. Eventually,
Chet and Ric began writing their own songs and preforming them with the band.
Unfortunatly, later that same year the Pixie Stix were dealt a devastating blow- the
loss of drummer Terrence Goldman. The band decided that they could not go on as the
Pixie Stix.
"After Terry moved away, man, I didn't know what would happen to the band."
Ric Cheyenne
The boys wouldn't perform together again until their graduation. There was still
a huge void that needed to be filled. Luckily, Ric's younger brother Phil had been mastering
the drums his parents had gotten him. Against Ric's wishes, Chet asked Phil to join the band.
Ric and Phil's onstage sibling rivalry would come to rival that of Noel and Liam Gallagher. By
this time the boys, known as 'The Lazy Boyz' had begun performing in bars and doing small
engagements at weddings and bar mitzvah's with the small Alberta Jewish community. They could
still only get gigs through friends and relatives. Then, in 1997 the band got lucky. At one young man's
bar mitzvah, they were introduced to Gene Silverberg, who happened to own a small independant
recording studio. He offered to let the boy's record for a fraction of his normal charging rates.
He recomended changing the name to 'Chet Ramone and the Lay-Z-Boyz', for a more urban appeal. With
that their first record was born. The independant release, "Sloth," sold over 1000 copies. After this
initial success, they were dealt another bad hand. Lead singer Chet decided to up and move to Arizona.
"Man, when Chet left I thought we were finished. I thought I'd have to get a job."
Ric Cheyenne
Then, an apparent tragedy saves the band. When Ric and Phil's grandmother passed on, they fell into
a deep depression. Then, via telephone, Chet suggested to Stu that the use their inheritance to move their
equipment to Flagstaff. They recorded their second independant album. The modern "Chet Ramone and the Lay-
Z-Boyz" were born...
Below: beautiful downtown Flagstaff
