Michael Monroe - Trick Of The Wrist

The Finnish national treasure Michael Monroe in a sense paved the way for both Mötley Crue as Guns N 'Roses. Harvested a great success with his band Hanoi Rocks in the 80's. Now he goes solo with his new band featuring Sam Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks, Demolition 23 & New York Dolls) on bass, guitarist Steve Conte (New York Dolls), drummer Karl Rosqvist (Steel Prophet, Danzig) and the latest recruiting guitarist Dregen (Backyard Babies, Hellacopters), who replaces Ginger, frontman of British band The Wildhearts, who appeared with Monroe for the last time in Provinssirock in June. Dregen's first concert with Monroe was is June 26 at Fishing Harbour in Helsinki when Michael Monroe open for Foo Fighters.

Unlike other members of Hanoi Rocks' in the 1980s, Monroe was never a big drug user or a big drinker although in his book "All Those Wasted Years" Monroe tells about being addicted for a short while to Amphetamine in the 1980s. This appears indeed for this 49 year old chap is in an excellent shape.

With his sixth studio album "Sensory Overdrive" in their luggage did they visited Debaser Medis, Stockholm last night.

That it was a very pleasant evening can surely most people who were there testify about. Something that was difficult during this evening was to pinpoint an average age; for it was really spread out from 18 to 60:) The Swedish relics Nomands opens up and creates a fine atmosphere inside the room with his straight rock, would think that many arrived there under Nomands flag and got Monroe as a bonus.

Michael Monroe's band got a lot of attention, it photographed and conducts interviews, largely due to Dregen connect with his teenage hero. That this little Sly dog is everywhere, is a mystery to me, later in addition to merge their bags with one of his idols, he has been developing its own favorite bag of Candy, or rather pimped an existing product to attract the younger candy-eating public. Polly, manufactured by Cloetta, now comes in a new flavor - licorice, lemon and chocolate in a bag designed by Dregen. He is a really nice guy, he almost always comes up and talk about this and that, we talked for a couple of occasions, one was about the classic band "Secret Service" and their achievements back in time ...you might remember the tunes, Oh Susie! and Flash In The Night :) It is great that is going so well for him, "you're going strike while the iron is hot, someone said”.

How does Dregen fit in the band then? Oh yes, like to be cut out for the job, he lift up the band lots, even the other guitarist Steve Conte ends up in the shade when all the focus lands on Swede and Monroe are enjoying every bit of it now that he has found a irascible equal. Dregen was incredibly enthusiastic about the gig that he kicked wildly around in the air as if he was attacked by a swarm of angry bees. Romp as a small mischievous schoolboy and headbanging so sweat chafed over the audience, in other words, he gave everything.

The bottom line is that this is probably the best setup Monroe had sofar and they really delivered a great gig. Do you have the chance to see them during their tour, so do it.

Todays tune "Trick Of The Wrist" is from the latest solo album "Sensory Overdrive" and this clip is filmed on the Swedish TV 4 on Nyhetsmorgon (Sep 6, 2011) includes a Interview with Michael Monroe & Dregen.



Setlist from Debaser 7/9

Trick Of The Wrist
Got Blood
Mordern Day Miracle
Motorvatin’
Hammersmith Palais
’78
Nothing’s Alright
Not Fakin’ it
Bombs Away
Dysfunctional
Back To Mystery City
Malibu Beach
Dead, Jail Or Rock ’n Roll
—————————————
Wanna Be Loved
Taxi Driver
Fee Alright


Tour Dates:

09.09.11, Kaivohuone, Naantali, Finland
10.09.11, Radio Rock Cruise, Finland
30.09.11, Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA, USA
01.10.11, Sonar Baltimore, MD, USA
02.10.11, Bowery Ballroom, New York City, NY, USA
04.10.11, Great Scott, Boston, MA, USA
05.10.11, Les Foufounes Electriques, Montreal, QC, Canada
06.10.11, Mod Club Theater, Toronto, ON, Canada
07.10.11, Peabody’s, Cleveland, OH, USA
08.10.11, Reggie's Rock Club, Chicago, IL, USA
09.10.11, Station 4, St. Paul, MN, USA
10.10.11, Fubar, St. Louis, MO, USA
12.10.11, Moe’s, Denver, CO, USA
15.10.11, El Corazon, Seattle, WA, USA
16.10.11, Dante’s, Portland, OR, USA
18.10.11, Avalon Theatre, Santa Clara, CA, USA
19.10.11, Galaxy Theatre, Santa Ana, CA, USA
20.10.11, Whisky A Go Go, Hollywood, CA, USA
23.10.11, V-ROCK Festival / Super Arena Saitama, Japan
04.11.11, Finlandia Club, Lahti, Finland
05.11.11, Tavastia Club, Helsinki, Finland
05.11.11, Tavastia Club, Helsinki, Finland
24.11.11, Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton, England
25.11.11, Ritz, Manchester, England
26.11.11, Rock City, Nottingham, United Kingdom
27.11.11, Garage, Glasgow, United Kingdom
28.11.11, Academy, New Castle, England
29.11.11, Academy, Leeds, England
01.12.11, Academy, Bristol, England
02.12.11, Electric Ballroom, London, England
03.12.11, Hard Rock Hell, Prestatyn, Wales, United Kingdom

More info @
Official Michael Monroe Web
Official Michael Monroe MySpace

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Michael Monroe - '78

Matti Fagerholm (born on June 17, 1962 in Helsinki) is best known by his stage name, Michael Monroe. He is a Finnish rock musician, vocalist and a multi-instrumentalist, Michael Monroe is a man born for the stage. After being inspired by Black Sabbath on TV at the tender age of eight he further educated himself with the works of Alice Cooper, Little Richard and The Rolling Stones. He decided to become a rock’n'roll frontman and never looked back. His old school mates still remember him as the guy with longest hair in not only the school but in the whole city. The guy with an outrageous taste for clothes who dropped out of school during a field trip to Stockholm to become a full time rocker.

After the whirlwind crash and burn of the early Hanoi Rocks years Michael relocated to New York City and launched a succesfull solo career that spanned until the rebirth of Hanoi Rocks.
With his critically acclaimed first worldwide solo release “Not Fakin’ It” (1989) he was well on the way to be a mega star in the States but due to a disagreememt with him over the marketing tactics, his record label “pulled the plug” on the record, which is best remembered by the video of the song “Dead, Jail Or Rock’n'Roll” featuring a cameo from Axl Rose.

During his 10 years of living in New York he made quite a few guest appearances on different artists’ records. For example, with Guns N’ Roses on their “Use Your Illusion” and “Spaghetti Incident” albums, as well as recording Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride” with Slash for the “Coneheads” movie soundtrack in 1993.

Monroe’s 1994 solo band project and album “Demolition 23″ (produced by Little Steven Van Zandt) featured Sami Yaffa (Hanoi’s original bass player) on bass and later on tour guitarist Jay Hening (R.I.P.) was replaced by original Hanoi guitarist Nasty Suicide.
In the late 1990′s Michael packed his bags and cat and moved to Finland relocating to the country’s old capital Turku where he lives today.

Now he is out with a new record "Sensory Overdrive” that was released on 16th of mars. The band features bassist SAMI YAFFA who has played with a remarkable variety of bands including Hanoi Rocks, New York Dolls and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, and guitarist GINGER who has dazzled audiences over the world with his band The Wildhearts. Also on guitar is STEVE CONTE, the New York Dolls master fretman who has played with Willy DeVille and his own bands The Crazy Truth, Crown Jewels and Company of Wolves. Rounding out the band is drummer KARL “ROCKFIST” ROSQVIST, whose resume includes providing rhythm for the likes of Chelsea Smiles and Danzig.

Tomorrow Michael Monroe and his band be on the stage at Debaser Slussen, I'm a bit tempted to go and see them play, however I have to work during that night so we'll see how I will do, have seen him a few times before and it rocks nicely live, I highly recommend to go there if you dont have anything to do tomorrow.

Todays tune "'78” is the first single from Michael Monroe’s latest album "Sensory Overdrive".




Sensory Overdrive Tour 2011

31.03.11 Debaser, Stockholm, Sweden
01.04.11 Sigurdsgatan 25, Västerås, Sweden
02.04.11 The Rock, Copenhagen, Denmark
04.04.11 Concorde 2, Brighton, United Kingdom
05.04.11 Academy 2, Bristol, United Kingdom
06.04.11 Phoenix, Exeter, United Kingdom
07.04.11 Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
08.04.11 O2 Academy, London, United Kingdom
09.04.11 T.J.’s, Leeds, United Kingdom
11.04.11 Waterfront, Norwich, United Kingdom
12.04.11 Corporation, Sheffield, United Kingdom
13.04.11 Academy 2, Newcastle, United Kingdom
14.04.11 Academy 3, Manchester, United Kingdom
15.04.11 Garage Glasgow, United Kingdom
16.04.11 Rock City, Nottingham, United Kingdom
17.04.11 HMV Institute, Birmingham, United Kingdom
12.05.11 R'n'R Arena, Novara, Italy
13.05.11 New Age Roncade, Treviso, Italy
14.05.11 Rock Planet, Pinarella di Cervia (Ravenna), Italy
19.05.11 Razzmatazz 2, Barcelona, Spain
20.05.11 Durango Club, Valencia, Spain
21.05.11 Sala Penélopev, Madrid, Spain
22.05.11 Kafé Antzokia, Bilbao, Spain
01.06.11 Namba Hatch, Osaka, Japan
02.06.11 Diamond Hall, Nagoya, Japan
03.06.11 Studio Coast, Tokyo, Japan

More info @ Official Website

Listen to ”Michael Monroe - '78" on Spotify here!

Follow tuneoftheday.blogspot.com on Spotify here!