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12 ноя 2025
MICHAEL MONROE: 'HANOI ROCKS Was Not A Hair Band; We Were A Hat Band'
"So rock and roll is rock and roll," he continued. "HANOI ROCKS, they tried to categorize us, call it heavy metal. Metal was, back then, becoming a genre. They tried to call us metal, then they called us punk, and then they came up with the glam thing. Well, we grew up around the glam period like — in the '70s, me and Andy [McCoy, HANOI ROCKS guitarist] and the guys, of course we were influenced by that. The first band I saw live was SLADE in '72, and then I saw THE SWEET and Suzi Quatro and all. I discovered Little Richard and THE ROLLING STONES, and rock and roll was rock and roll, from the blues the '50s rock, from Little Richard to ROLLING STONES to the RAMONES. So all influences — we took everything, every influence everywhere, and made our own thing about it. And that's what I think everyone should be — find their own thing and be that, and that's it. I mean, somebody's style could be a crew cut and a t-shirt and jeans, and they're fine as that. So just be what you are, be yourself. It doesn't mean [you should] try to look like me. I look like a freak. I mean, most people look ridiculous trying to look like me. And they did at some point, and I thought it was really crazy. Anybody, even if they were a 200-pound truck driver, had to have eyeliner and big blonde hair at some point. And, to me, it was a little bit frustrating, [I would] see so-called hair metal bands who played their hairspray cans better than the instruments. And, to me, music was more important. So it was always the thing. And besides, HANOI ROCKS was not a hair band; we were a hat band. We had the coolest hats. We had a lot of cool hats. So, really, if you wanna call us anything, it would be more a hat band than a hair band. And hair metal — I never wanted to have a big hairdo like that. My hair, I didn't get to cut it so often, so when it was long, I kind of teased it up, it was became bigger than I really wanted. But looking at some of those old pictures, oh God, I didn't want it that big. It was more like a Ronnie Wood kind of cut. Neal Smith, the drummer from ALICE COOPER band in the '70s, he had the coolest hair. He had it nice and wavy and down to his waist, and that's the kind of hair I always wanted. So, it was inadvertently, unintentional that it was so big. It was never supposed to be [like that]."
In support of "Outerstellar", Monroe and his band will embark on a U.K. co-headline tour with BUCKCHERRY, kicking off in Southampton on February 24, 2026.
The Monroe band's all-star lineup features former HANOI ROCKS and NEW YORK DOLLS bass player Sami Yaffa, who has played with Michael since the '80s. On guitar duties are Rich Jones (formerly of the Ginger Wildheart band) and Steve Conte (best known as the guitarist who filled the void left by Johnny Thunders in the NEW YORK DOLLS, as well as playing guitar with many other name acts such as Suzi Quatro, Eric Burden and many more) and drummer Karl Rockfist (who has played with notable acts such as DANZIG).
This past August, Monroe canceled his participation in this fall's U.S. tour as the support act for BUCKCHERRY in order to recover from a ruptured meniscus.
Monroe's latest solo album, "I Live Too Fast To Die Young", came out in 2022 via Silver Lining Music.
Monroe celebrated his 60th birthday in September 2022 at the Helsinki Ice Hall (Helsingin Jäähalli) in Finland. As the grand finale of the concert, the original lineup of HANOI ROCKS, one of Finland's most significant rock bands of all time, took the stage: Monroe, Andy McCoy, Sami Yaffa, Nasty Suicide and Gyp Casino. The "support band" for the show was the reunited DEMOLITION 23. Led by Monroe, the band rose to great cult fame, although they only released one album ("Demolition 23") in 1994 and broke up shortly afterwards. This was DEMOLITION 23's first performance since the band's breakup in 1995.
Monroe and McCoy founded HANOI ROCKS in the late 1970s and the band's original lineup was established in 1980. HANOI ROCKS, the first Finnish rock band to make an international breakthrough, recorded their first three albums with the original lineup: "Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks" (1981),"Oriental Beat" (1982) and "Self Destruction Blues" (1982). Casino was replaced in 1982 by Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley who became an integral member of HANOI ROCKS. Razzle died in a tragic accident in 1984. Unfortunately, this led to the band's untimely demise in early 1985.
HANOI ROCKS did reform once before in 2002, albeit with only Monroe and McCoy from the band's classic lineup, and released a comeback album, "Twelve Shots On The Rocks". The reunion lasted until 2009.
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