In his posthumous “Commando: The Autobiography of Johnny Ramone,” the Ramones’ guitarist described how he knew C.J. Ramone was the right fit to replace departed bassist Dee Dee in 1989:

“He looked like Dee Dee, he played like Dee Dee, and those were big shoes to fill.”

C.J. still kind of looked like Dee Dee and certainly played bass like him at the Domino Room on Thursday. But the man who spent seven years singing Dee Dee’s vocal parts actually sounds more like Joey Ramone these days — not surprising considering one, the amount of time C.J. spent onstage with the legendary vocalist, and two, the simple fact that C.J. is not in his 20s anymore.

His matured vocal presence made the show Thursday, even with the considerable firepower backing him up (guitarists Steve Sosa from the Adolescents and Agent Orange and Dan Root from the Adolescents, plus Street Dogs drummer Pete Sosa). C.J. and company packed the short yet ferocious set with generous helpings of Ramones classics (“The KKK Took My Baby Away,” “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” and of course “Blitzkrieg Bop” to close out the show) and deep cuts (the hard-rocking version of “Danny Says,” “What’s Your Game”) alongside C.J.’s solo material.

It would be easy to call this group the best Ramones cover band you’re likely to hear, but that’s giving short shrift to C.J.’s solo stuff. While certainly no patch on the Ramones classics, songs such as the C.J. – Soto co-wrote “Won’t Stop Swinging” and especially the snarling new song “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” — a preview of the band’s upcoming third album — sounded just right alongside them. And at least one original — “Three Angels,” a moving tribute to Johnny, Joey and Dee Dee — could be considered among the highlights of the evening.

Of course the Ramones material got the biggest response from the criminally small audience. “Glad to See You Go,” “53rd and 3rd,” “Cretin Hop” and a sped-up, heavy take on “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg (My Brain is Hanging Upside Down)” all crackled with energy, the band channeling the Ramones’ famous wall-of-sound playing.

But again, it all came down to the vocals, and here C.J. had some harmony help from Soto and Root. The Ramones were always loud and fast, but at their heart they were a classic pop band, just as influenced by 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Shirelles as they were by the Stooges and New York Dolls. C.J. has assembled a band of punk stalwarts who fully understand what made the Ramones great.

It’s a shame, then, that you could almost count the people in the audience on two hands — and at least half of that came from the opening bands themselves. Bend’s own Kronk Men and No Cash Value turned in worthy performances, as did San Francisco’s Toy Guitar. It was a little disheartening to learn C.J. was at a bar across the street during all these performances. He’s a Ramone and can do what he wants, of course, but a little support for the support is only punk-rock common courtesy.

That’s about the only (very gentle) criticism you could level at this bass-wielding legend, however. Here’s hoping he keeps carrying the torch for punk’s first band.

— Reporter: 541-617-7814, bmcelhiney@bendbulletin.com