Billie Joe Armstrong Is Fronting a Punk Supergroup to Honor the Ramones, and Travis Barker and Tim Armstrong Are in It Too

by · Thought Catalog
Gus Stewart / Redferns via Getty Images

Pop Culture

By Jerome London

Updated 5 minutes ago, July 8, 2026

Cretin Family, the new punk supergroup featuring Billie Joe Armstrong, Travis Barker, and Tim Armstrong, will make its live debut Aug. 30 at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, playing together for the very first time to mark 50 years since the Ramones changed music. All proceeds go to cancer research.

Rounding out the lineup is C.J. Ramone, who took over bass duties from Dee Dee in 1989 and is the direct link to the original band on stage that night. With every founding member gone, he’s as close as the celebration can get to the real thing.

Billie Joe Armstrong throws a fist in the air mid-performance at the 3rd Annual “ten” fashion show and charity event on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, February 2004. Photo by Carlo Allegri / Getty Images.

“The spirit of the Ramones is alive in every backyard punk show, punk club, and festival,” Billie Joe Armstrong said in a statement. “Generation after generation of cretins and weirdos become Ramones lovers. Kids are influenced by the Ramones and they don’t even know it yet.”

At Spring Studios in New York City, June 13, 2026 — the Tribeca Festival premiere of “Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear” brought Travis Barker to the stage. Photo by Arturo Holmes / Getty Images.

Tim Armstrong put it more plainly: “They are my favorite band of all time! I can’t wait to play those great and perfect Ramones songs with my friends CJ, Travis and Billie. It’s gonna be wild!”

Dee Dee, Tommy, Johnny, and Marky Ramone accept their award at the 2002 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. Photo by Timothy A. Clary / AFP via Getty Images.

John Travolta hosts. He attended the venue’s Johnny Ramone tribute two years ago and asked to come back for this one. The night pairs a 50th-anniversary screening of the original 1976 Carrie, which turns 50 the same year as the Ramones’ debut LP, with Travolta’s own directorial debut, Propeller One-Way Night Coach. Proceeds benefit cancer research at Dr. David Agus’ Ellison Institute Research Foundation.

Joey Ramone grips a mic stand at The Roundhouse in London during a Ramones concert on July 4, 1976, in a black-and-white shot that captures the raw energy of early punk. Photo by Gus Stewart / Redferns via Getty Images.

The Ramones broke up in 1996 after 22 years of touring. Joey Ramone died in 2001, Dee Dee in 2002, Johnny in 2004, and Tommy in 2014. When the band entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, months after Joey’s death, Green Day performed in their place.

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