We had the good fortune of connecting with Bonnie Ramone and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bonnie, every day, we about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Bonnie & the Mere Mortals started formulating in my brain in 2016. I grew up on a 103-acre beef cattle farm on the border of the West-Virginian Panhandle as a strange little farm girl, and then I moved to the “big city” of Pittsburgh to go to school for Literature, begin my tattooing career, and live out some of my queer goth girl dreams. When you grow up in a rural area and then you leave that area, especially in the rust belt, you’re taught to be ashamed of your accent, your culture, and your people, and I spent a lot of time in my early 20s doing just that. At some point, that segmentation of my identity started to take a toll on my mental health. Around this time, I also rediscovered my love of old country music, being in the woods, and Appalachian culture in general. I stopped code-switching so much. I fell in love with Gillian Welch. I spent time being myself. I remembered spending afternoons in a tree on the farm reading Edgar Allan Poe for the first time listening to Johnny Cash–like some little goth Anne of Green Gables. I started to think about how the goth music I ran to as a teenager really wasn’t so different than the Appalachian music I grew up on…. and how both of them made me feel like I was home. Listening to P*rnography by the Cure started to sound not so different than The Bridge by Dolly Parton. I noticed similarities between the storytelling, the lush wet reverbs on the guitars, the catchy melodies, the sadness and yearning, the tongue-in-cheek little punchlines. Enter: Tennessee. My first single. I had had bands before, but this was the first thing I wrote that felt like I wasn’t making myself smaller to fit a mold. This sort of exploded and expanded in my mind over time into this giant concept: a Southern/Gothic band. All the glam, all the drama, the camp, the fun, the sad bedroom music, the murder ballads… it all made sense, and Bonnie & the Mere Mortals was born.

People think that Appalachians are a monolith of uneducated, white, straight folks with backwards ideas and no idea of the world around them, and that’s simply not true. Many people in the region are working towards change and are beautiful diverse people with beautiful diverse ideas who need help and visibility. There are goth Appalachians, queer Appalachians, and Appalachians of color who all have a complicated relationship with their region, but nonetheless both grow the culture and respect their roots. I honor and showcase that culture in my music and I make it for myself, but also for all the folks like me that know we’re not all that different, and we also have something special to bring to the table. In my own little goth-girl-with-a-book-up-a-tree way, this is Appalachia. It’s fun, it’s sad, it brings you together, it tears you apart, it’s cowboys & drag queens, big hair and rhinestones, it’s a spooky tongue-in-cheek hoedown. It’s Bonnie & the Mere Mortals.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As someone with two careers, I’m always busy! My tattoo shop in Pittsburgh, the Kindred Spirit Tattoo Co., keeps me busy constantly. I have an incredible business partner (who’s also a super-talented artist), Kristin Hawk, who keeps me sane and holds down the shop when I’m out on tour, and 8 total tattoo artists–myself included. A lot of work goes in daily to have the best possible supplies and environment to create an atmosphere that fosters both inclusivity and top-notch artwork. My other labor of love, Bonnie & the Mere Mortals, is also constantly busy. We have several festivals and tours we’re planning at the moment, and at the same time, we’re in the studio as much as possible working on our upcoming album (releasing in April 2025). All of this while trying to keep up with designing all of my own merch and album artwork, and keeping up with social media! My days are usually split tattooing and taking care of the shop in the morning, and then heading over to the studio to work at night. Tomorrow for instance, I’ll wake up at 8 am, exercise, get to the shop where I’m tattooing a forearm piece of mothman I’ve been looking forward to, and then I’ll head to Sunset Place studios to finalize work on our first upcoming single, Wildfires, and then come home at about 10pm to work on some more drawings, social media, and wind down… before I do it all again the next day.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m becoming a bit less new to Denver, and starting to get some of my favorite haunts. I’ve had the absolute pleasure of working with Disruptive Ink Tattoos, Horrid, and Lady Justice Brewing, and I think all three are must-sees! If I were in town for a weekend, I’d get a tattoo from Disruptive Ink, buy some horror trinkets from Horrid, finally make it over to FashionNation for some new goth essentials, see a show at Red Rocks of course, and then grab drinks from Lady Justice, the Brutal Poodle, and the Hell or High Water tiki bar.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d love to take a moment to shout out my band! Bonnie & the Mere Mortals is not a solo project. The Mortals are all talented artists in their own right and members of my chosen family who are always ready to support my next delusion and call me out when we take on too much. Matt Elias, our guitarist, (who has an amazing new solo album out by the way) has been with me the longest and is an incredible songwriting partner, a ripper on the guitar, and a night cheese connoisseur. Matt is usually the quiet one in the van, but it’s typically because he’s sending you the best meme you’ve seen all week. Andrew “Doc” Roulston, who we call our “booper” and not our drummer, holds down the beats as well as our hearts. He has an incredible producer’s ear and can always tell just what a song needs, or more importantly, when it needs less! Andrew is always ready for an adventure, and is usually the one driving us to it! Jill Storm, our bassist, is the newest Mortal, but probably brings more fun than the rest of us combined. A luthier, a solo musician, and nose like a bloodhound for gas station candy, Jill “baby bronco” Storm can be both 5 and 95 at the same time, and we love her for it. No one creates art in a vacuum, and I’m so thankful for what these guys bring to our art.

Website: https://www.bonnieandthemeremortals.com

Instagram: @bonnieandthemeremortals

Twitter: @MereMortalspgh

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bonnieandthemeremortals

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bonniethemeremortals

Other: @bonnieandthemeretiktok

Image Credits
Studio images: Veronica Baron Photography @veronical.photography
Women Who Rock The Rockies Live shots: Anna Gunderson @annalogphoto
Town Hall Collaborative: will have to find the name

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