Michael Monroe – Interview Exclusive 

Written by Tazz Stander
Monday, 03 January 2011 05:00

“One of a kind” replies Michael Monroe without hesitation when I ask him to sum up his whole life in one sentence.  That’s a pretty bold statement in my terms considering that I was asked just the other day to write a biography paragraph on myself and all I could come up with was, “music journalist and rock ‘n’ roll misfit”.  Then again I’ve not been the frontman in Hanoi Rocks (twice), Demolition 23 and Jersulaem Slim as well as having seven solo albums under my belt, and Michael has…. so I guess he’s stolen more than just a yard on me on that front.

 

The prospect of spending time with Michael gave me a very warm feeling on a super freezing evening in Brixton South London where I was about to catch up with him as he and his band were in town supporting Motorhead on their 35th Anniversary.  From the moment that I stood outside his dressing room door until the moment he welcomed me onto his couch, I almost knew how he would react to what I had to ask him.  You see Michael is incredibly sincere in the way he expresses himself, very true to what he says and coupled with his incredible abilities as being perhaps the ultimate frontman, I only stopped short of asking him to do the splits for me because I knew he probably would do so, such is his commitment to his art.

 

A true gentleman to the end, you will notice that Michael did ask for some of his fuller answers to be simply annotated as “yes” or “no” replies and whilst respecting this wish to the grave, I’ve tried to leave in as much of the emotions behind this request as I could as events were unfolding.

 

So let me take you on a little trip to a freezing cold South London venue on the last but one night of Michael Monroe’s UK tour I met a man who really is “One of a kind”. 

Newly released ‘Another Night in the Sun’ is a live album covering tracks off both your solo career and various other bands.  What factors did you consider when choosing which tracks to record live?

 

We just chose to capture a live set for a live album pretty much as it was played.  It’s the live set that we’ve been playing for pretty much the whole year; we just took out a couple of songs.

 

Did you, at the time of that gig, plan to release this show live in an attempt to bridge the gap between the end of Hanoi Rocks and your much spoken about upcoming release in 2011?

 

You could say that.  It was more to put something out for the kids, for the fans, to tide them over until the next studio album.

 

When releasing a new album, are you confident in advance of it’s potential success or do live shows give you a sense of how well you’ve done?

 

We use the live shows to promote the album and present the band as it is.  It’s been going well so far, even without the album.  We have a lot of choices of songs for the live sets.  When the album comes out it’s going to be perfect:  it’s one of the reasons of capturing the live set from this year because the live set is going to change quite a bit once we bring the studio album out.

 

You’re still being very tight lipped about your studio album.

 

(Laughing)  Well, it’s recorded and it’s great:  great songs but it’s not mixed yet.  Mixing is the other half of the process.

 

I was in LA when you guys were out there recording it and it was pretty exciting reading all Ginger’s tweets about running, recording and shopping in Ralphs.

 

You were in LA at the same time?

 

Yeah I was.

 

That is really great.

 

You’ve stuck rigorously to the setlist over the last few gigs, which interestingly doesn’t feature the 2 new tracks, “You’re Next” and “Motorheaded For A Fall”.  Are you keeping these for a headline tour and promoting the new album?

 

No not really it’s just that we had to tighten the set up for this tour.  We only have 40 minutes to play so we just wanted to put together a really tight set.  The songs weren’t chosen on what’s on which record.  “Motorheaded For A Fall” is being reworked for the new album.

 

Finally, I’m getting a bit of insight into the new album (laughing)

 

Yes, you did get something out of me (laughing).  It’s going to be something different.

 

So, it didn’t fit in with your set list for this tour then?

 

[After much hesitation, I finally get this out of Michael!]  It’s going to be called something else.  Lemmy and I rewrote the chorus and we sang it together.

 

Dude, that is totally awesome.

 

(Laughing) Now you know.  It’s going to be great.

 

Thank you for telling me first!

 

 

As far as musical pedigrees go, the Michael Monroe Band is by all senses of the word a Supergroup, yet it’s not a word I’ve yet heard being used in musical circles yet.  Why do you think this has gone unnoticed?

 

I think it’s fine that we’ve not been called a super group because we don’t think of ourselves like that.  We think it’s a group of great rock ‘n rollers:  great players and personalities in one band which makes a really strong unit.  Super Group to me sounds like guys with big names – big stars that get together and say, “lets do something amazing” and maybe it doesn’t turn out that great.

 

You technically are because you’re all big stars, as you called it, in your own rights.

 

I guess we’re more notorious than famous (laughing) well, me and Ginger are.  We’ve managed to stay out of jail (laughing).  It’s flattering to hear that but I just think we’re just a perfect rock ‘n roll band.

 

You recently played your first set of gigs back in the States after about 22 years.  Did this in any way evoke emotions that have long since been laid to rest?

 

It was just great to be able to play there.  The ‘new’ Hanoi Rocks could not go because of Andy McCoy because he couldn’t get into the country so I was very happy to be able to get over there now.  Also, I didn’t know that about Andy’s problem until about 2 years ago and it turned out that he was bullshitting everybody (laughing). So this time I was very happy to be able to play there, it was great to see the fans over there – I was happy to see so many people turn up for the shows after not being there for so long.  It was great to be remembered.

 

With the release of Vince Neil’s new book and album, ‘Tattoos & Tequila’ comes the backlash of Razzle’s untimely death.  This has been further fuelled with said individual being involve with another DUI case.  Noticeable within the Motley ranks is an  aged animosity for either individual members or collectively as a band for Hanoi Rocks.  At what point do you think they will learn to let go and why does Nikki seem so vocal when in reality it should be Vince begging for forgiveness?

 

[Michael goes dead quiet for about 30 seconds and finally composes himself enough to get the following ‘statement’ out]

 

My answer is, I don’t know.  I have no comment (laughs)

 

Ok, that’s understandable.

 

All I can say is, I have nothing against Nikki or Vince or Motley Crue or any of those people, God bless them, I wish them the best of luck.  I think all of us would like to put that accident behind us, we have been wanting to do so for a long time.  I would rather not go digging up the past, especially with anything negative.  They do their thing, I do my thing and I’ve got nothing against them, good luck to them and really, sincerely, I mean it.  I have nothing against Nikki:  Whatever I have said in the past, I have never blamed anybody, it was an accident and I would just like to put it behind us.

 

I honestly believe that you have been the bigger person in everything that’s been said:  The outburst from Tracii Guns of LA Buns…(sic)

(Laughing) oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

You were the first one to apologise, for their backlash!

I remember that, it was all about ‘that’ album title, “Music To Crash Your Car To….”  I would rather rise above it really.

Most Hanoi fans claim that ‘Mostly Crude” (sic) put an immediate end to one of the most successful bands in rock ‘n roll.   Do you think Hanoi Rocks could have made it in today’s musical climate if you were just starting out?

There is no way of knowing that (laughing).  The fans that do think that … it was an accident, it resulted in the end of Hanoi Rocks but it was not intentional, you can’t blame anybody, that is all I’m saying.  If Hanoi Rocks started now, there would be no way of knowing:  we were always either ahead of our time or the wrong place at the right time.  Hopefully now I could be in a good place.  If Hanoi had only come out now, the history would be different.

It just seems to be an incredibly safe climate at the moment, musically.

Oh I know.  I’ve never been safe and I think it’s always a good time to be Michael Monroe but especially now with this band.  I’m very happy right now and I think with the new Hanoi, I made totally the right decision to put Hanoi to bed for good, with integrity intact.

 

In both April and August this year, Nasty Suicide joined you on stage even though he is now a pharmacist.  Do you think there could ever be a reunion show with Terry Chimes back on drums?

[Michael did initially talk for 2.09 minutes before then asking me to capture him saying the final word, which was…] No.

Finally, if you had to give me one sentence that sums up Michael Monroe, what would it be?

“One of a kind.”

I like that, I can live with that. Michael, thank you very much.

Thank you.

 

I’d just like to finish off by saying a personal “Thank You” to Michael for being “one of a kind”, whilst also sending out big thanks to Toni Lish for braving Michael’s dressing room with me! Oh and just in case you have yet to witness Michael Monroe and his band live here’s a tasty little video of them from this year’s Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo, this TV broadcast of the show really captures the spirit of this great band live. 

Now let’s have that new studio album and April UK tour so we can all “Rock Like Fuck” once again.