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(Fall 2003) by George Dionne
Hanoi Rocks got thier start overseas back in the early eighties. They became
know for their punk rock musical style and their glam image. In fact, it's
been said that Hanoi Rocks started the glam trend before it became popular
among U.S. bands. The gropu built up a sizable fan base in Europe in Japan.
After releasing a few albums on small Europen labels, it wasn't long before
the majors came knocking, and their chance to conquor America was on the
horizon. Many popular U.S. rock bands cite Hanoi Rocks as musical influence.
It is rumored that Axl Rose once said, if it weren't for Hanoi Rocks, there
would be no Guns N' Roses. In fact, Axl re-released their European albums
on his short lived Uzi Records label so America could hear what they were
missing. Just as their major record label debut hit the States, tragedy struck.
Memebers of the group were partying with members of Motley Crue one night.
Vince Neil and Hanoi drummer "Razzle" left in Vince's Ferrarri
to go to the store. Vince lost control of the car and crashed it, killing "Razzle".
Vince was charged with drunk driving.
It was that accident that took the steam right out of the group. Shortly
thereafter, Hanoi Rocks called it quits. Frontman Michael Monroe went on
to release several successful solo album in Europe, finding only moderate
success in the U.S. Co-Founder Andy McCoy kept himself busy with little side
projects as well. A few years ago the two former bandmates were brought together
by a chance meeting. They mended any old problems they had and started jamming
again. They liked what they were hearing and decided to put an album together.
In 2004 they release Twelve Shots on the Rocks in the U.S. through Liquor
and Poker Records. (read
CD review) Frontman Michael Monroe couldn't be more
excited about it. When I talked to Michael I found that he was full of energy
and had
a
lot to say. Michael wasn't afraid to say what was on his mind, and he certainly
didn't hold back.
RIL: How did you and Andy (McCoy) get back together to reform Hanoi Rocks?
MM: We went a long time without see each other. We saw one another once in
a while, but we never really hit it off since Hanoi. I needed to get rid
of him and come into my own as a songwriter and everything. The first time
we bumped into each other was at a release party for a 4 CD box set that
came out in Europe. I was going to go out and do a jam that night at this
club in the city. I invited Andy over because he seemed like he had it
together and both of us had grown as people. For the first time I felt
that we really connected without any bullshit. That night we did three
of our songs and the people went totally and completely nuts. We thought
it would be cool to do a one-off gig, or a couple of the festivals in Finnland.
We were going to call it Hanoi Revisited. It turned out that a few weeks
before the fisrt gig, my wife at the time Jude Wilder, who was my collaborator
and personal manager for eighteen years, passed away unexpectedly.
At the time I had already started doing songs with
Andy. I got into working to get my mind off of things. The first song I
worte with Andy was “In
My Darkest Moments” which kind of relflected what was going on at the
time. Working helped me get through that hard time. I do demos at home now.
I have all the equipment. Myself and Andy went into the studio to see what
was going to come out, and it came out so good we thought, why the fuck not.
We figured Hanoi Rocks is the coolest name in the world. I never thought
that the name would ever be used again. I’d been preserving it, it’s
like sacred. It won’t be tarnished by money or whores, of things like
that. I figure there has to be one band that can’t be sold for any
price. We would not do a reunion so to speak.
They’ve asked us a million times. In fact they offered us a million
dollars to play in Japan one time. I said “no way!” No way am
I going to ruin the name of this band. This band has ingritey, it has class,
and it’s cool. However, me and Andy started when it was just the two
of us before any of the other guys came in. We just sat down and figured
because of that terrible accident, we lost everything. So did a lot of other
people too. You know, it was our little rock and roll dream. It was for real,
it was our life. It wasn’t a uniform that you put on, and at the end
of the night you were some slob. We lived this life. We still do, twenty
four hours, three hundred sixty five days a year.
RIL: Do you think some people might be upset that there are only two original
members in the group now?
MM: There’s always going to be people that say, “Oh the original
Hanoi..blah..blah..blah”. As a mater of fact (original guitarist) Nasty
Suicide came out to fill in for our second guitar player who left prior to
New Years. We had this gig and I called Nasty, because I wanted to talk to
him anyways, I asked him why don’t you come over New Years Eve? Bring
your wife and your kid. He’s a pharmacist now. It’s a totally
different world for him. He’s been studying for five years. It’s
like he went from one extreme to another. I guess he was the true rebel,
because he rebelled against the whole rock and roll lifestyle and became
the straight guy. Andy says, “Now he can take the pure stuff legally”.
Yeah right I said, he wouldn’t have a job after that. It was funny
because he had been (at the pharmacy) when some young girl had gotten herself
a Hanoi Rocks tattoo on her arm and it got infected. She had to go and get
some lotion or something for it at the pharmacy, and Nasty just happened
to be there.
When Nasty came out to play (on New Years), he played
most of the set with us. We played a lot of stuff, and he had a great time.
After all those years
of studying, he had been inching to back on stage again. He demanded that
we play “Feel Alright”, or at least one fast punk song. Andy
and Nasty were just meant to play together. He can’t join permanently
but never say never. He’s happy to help out whenever. Besides, Sammy
Alpha played with us at Budokan in Toyko, because he’s playing bass
with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. They just happened to be in town at the
same time. I saw him backstage and said, “You’re coming up to
play with us right?” So he came up to play “Up around the Bend” and
it was great. Those guys are around, it’s just a matter of them not
being in the same city or whatnot.
Nasty probably would not consider doing it full time
because he has a steady life with a wife and family. He has a four year
old kid that just happens
to be a Michael Monroe fan. It was good to hear that. The kid would doubt
Nasty saying, “Did you really play with him?” He wouldn’t
believe that his father would really play with me. We’re in the process
of looking for a new guitar player to come in place of Costello. No matter
what happens, it’s an improvement. Nasty put it all into prospective
when he came on stage and his sound was put together. I mean, he sounded
like rock and roll. The other guy had more of that heavy metal sound. Let’s
just put it this way, Nasty came on stage and he was using Costello’s
amp, so he went up to it and turned off all the distortion. He cranked it
up a bit and he was cutting through like a razorblade. All of a sudden, you
could hear everything. It sounded like rock and roll.
RIL: On your latest CD Twelve Shots on the Rocks, you stay true to
your classic sound without deviating. Did you feel any pressure to change
your
sound or image?
MM: No, No. Does it look like I have?
RIL: No you haven’t, but some of the labels today are looking
for a certain look or sound. Kind of like Skid Row, they changed their
sound
to sound a bit more modern.
MM: Really? No. We would not do anything for the labels.
They asked to sign us years ago back in ’81, but they wanted us to change a music style
to heavy metal or whatever was happening at the time, like a Duran Duran
type of thing. We said, “fuck you very much!” We either do it
on our own terms, or we don’t do it at all. We don’t listen to
nobody. Over hear we are our own record label. We didn’t have anyone
breathing down our necks. It was nothing like in America where an A & R
guy comes in to the studio and you have to play him two same mixes and ask
him which one he likes better. He’d always say the second one was better.
RIL: Do you have any favorite songs on the new CD?
MM: Oh yeah. I listened to it the other morning while
I was reading some reviews. I could see that Americans like good guitar rock
and roll, and
this is a good record for them. There’s been a lot of phony rock
and roll out there, which is a crime. No wonder rock and roll is pretty
much wiped off the face of the Earth. There are a lot of mediocre, not
very good bands out there that made it big. I won’t mention names
now, I might tomorrow. I think people got into them because they were big,
but then it didn’t have the susbstance. So they said, “This
is it, this is rock and roll? I guess I’ll just go listen to some
rap music.” It’s all about fasion. It’s easier to move
along in a crowd and be a robot. I don’t think anyone would want
that though. This is a good rock and roll record. My favorite songs are “A
Day Late and a Dollar Short”, “What You Want”, “Bad
News”, “New York City”, and “Delerious”.
You can hear we were really into the old punk bands. I like everything
on the CD. “In My Darkest Moment” came out pretty well, because
it’s heartfelt.
“People Like Me” was the first song we wrote. The hot dog stands
here on the weekends are a nightmare for me. I’m very famous here.
Everyone’s like, “Hey Mikey, come over here”. It’s
usually drunken, stinking Finnish people with their stinking, garlic, alcohol
breath. I don’t drink so it’s not easy to listen to someone talk
about nothing. They don’t respect your privacy. People like that helped
me come up with the idea for “What You Want”. It’s like
I walk up them and it’s who are you, and what you want? I was thinking
of the group Heart when I wrote the ryhtem part, probably “Magic Man” or “Barricuda”. “Moonlight
Dance” was a joke from years ago. It was a joke about hippies. It’s
a long album, there are a lot of songs now.
RIL: What do you think of the rock music scene in the U.S. today?
MM: Is there one? It seems like it’s all country western and rap. I
think the music scene, because of the money and the greedy people at the
record company that made it a business, has sort of watered down the music.
It’s all about business, money, and investments. They’re not
really about being creative. Companies used to be more involved in the creative
process. You had an A & R guy who listened to your work, or helped you
buy new equipment. It was more fun that way. Now business affairs is the
biggest department at the record labels. They want a safe investment. They
want to try and create a product or fasion. Some band comes out of nowhere
like Nirvana and that’s great, but one is enough. Then there’s
a whole surge of bands that want to be Nirvana wannabees, but they all suck.
In the old days everyone had there own thing. They didn’t try to create
what was popular. At the end of the day, people will see through it. We have
all the substance that a good rock band requires. To me, it’s hard
to keep a striaight face and say I’m a rock singer after seeing all
of these clowns making foolish stereotypes of themselves. I’m just
glad I’m me. I think it’s a good time for us.
RIL: Are you planning to tour the U.S. this year?
MM: Yeah. We’re going to first do a showcase kind of thing; a couple
of dates on the east coast then west coast. I think that’s the best
way to present the band, in a live setting.
RIL: Is there any chance you’ll end up on the Poison tour?
MM: No way! I know we would wipe the floor with them
of course. The thing is, they’re one of the bands that gave rock and roll a bad name.
They became so big and they were so sucky that people thought they must
be “rock and roll”, and they’re not.
RIL: Are you still friends with Axl Rose?
MM: Well, I was very friendly with him whenever we
bumped into each other, but I haven't talked to him in a long time. I speak
to Slash regularly.
I'm closer with him than with Axl. A weird thing happened when we played
in Japan a couple of years ago. Axl was headlining the show with the new
Guns N Roses, the hired Guns N' Roses. I never realized how much chemistry
the origianl band had until I saw Axl with those hired guns. They were
just sort of lost on stage. When Axl heard that Hanoi Rocks was playing
the same festival that he was headlining, he got nervious and said he would
not play on the same stage as us on the same day. I checked it out with
many different sources, and he thought that the audience would react more
to us than to him. That was a great compliment and a good favor too, because
it leaked to the press and people where like "Hanoi Rocks must be
really great if Guns N' Roses are shaking in their pants". I did get
along with him and he was very nice to me. I didn't think we were that
good of friends until he was nice enough to give us that kind of promotion.
I watched him on the monitor on the second day of the show, and the guitar
player (Buckethead) was just so mediocre. It was like watching a cover
band, and they looked rediculous. They had no connection with the audience.
I told Slash myself that you were really shining by your absence. That
weren't even doing any new songs, it was all old ones.
RIL: Do you think Axl's ever going to release Chinese Democracy?
MM: I don't know. He's even beat Billy Idol for procrastination.
Billy Idol used to be the king of that. Two million dollars later and you'd
ask him, "when
is the album coming out?" "Two weeks, two weeks" he'd say.
There's probably diffent things holding up Axl. The guy got so much money
so quicky, and you can imagine all the scumbags around him. It must be
hard not knowing who your friends are. Let's put it this way, I don't envy
him. It was funny, when I saw him play he opened the show with "Toyko,
do you know where you are?" Of course we're in Osaka, so I said, "Do
you know where you are motherfucker!" Then he realized he messed up
and tried to correct himself. Then a few songs later he say, "Alright
Tokyo". I was like, maybe he should cut down on the Prozac or whatever.
One time I was having dinner with Axl in New York City, I had a couple
of white wines with orange juice, that's when I used to drink thought,
I don't drink now. Anyway, I was feeling good, but Axl thought I was really
out of it. He's looking at me because I'm smiling and he says, "Mike,
do you know where you are?" I said, "I'm in the jungle baby,
I'm gonna die!" Oh yeah, I knew the answer to that.
RIL: I read in Entertainment Weekly that you and Andy were upset about the
title of the new Motley Crue box set, Music to Crash Your Car To: Volume
1. Is that true?
MM: It just gave bad taste a bad name, that's all I can say.
RIL: Do you think it was done purposly?
MM: No. I think that they are really just that dumb.
They're dumb, they're ignorant, and they're insensitive that they would do
something so disgusting.
I'm not just thinking of Razzle, Razzel's dead. I'm also thinking about
the two teenages that became parapeligics for life. I'm not sure if another
person died or not, I've heard different stories. Think about it, those
two teenagers were sitting up in their Hospital beds watching thier videos
on MTV, Kickstart My Heart I think it was, it's all car crashes. Some other
videos, I think it was that stupid "Dr. Feelgood", they're burning
cars. I was like, "what the hell". I don't pass judgements on
anybody, let everybody out there comment. I wouldn't touch any of that
shit with a ten foot pole. We were asked to comment about that by Entertainment
Weekly. I didn't know what to do. I don't give a shit, they can be the
dumb-ass motherfuckers they are. I think it's embarrasing to them. Somone
told me when the comparison was made, Motley Crue said it was too late
to change the name. That just goes to show what kind of people they are.
We said three things, it was the most tasteless and murderous thing to
cash in on the past, there's nothing cool about death or becoming a parapalegic
for life, and they just gave bad taste a bad name.
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MICHAEL
MONROE
