Michael Monroe is a true maverick. A rock‘n’roll icon that in his long and storied career has tasted both mud and wine, the sweet taste of success and the bitterness of tragedy more than once, which also seemed to interfere with his career. But as a “winner” he never let anything put him down permanently and would just get up again and shake the troubles away by rocking and rolling again! “Blackout States” his tenth overall solo album and third (plus a live) one since the second demise of Hanoi Rocks, is as usual choke full of crazy rock & roll stories and brimming with authenticity. We got touch with the man who, despite his heavy touring and his participation on the “Voice of Finland”, was very open to answering some of the questions our editors (Rockavlon & Thanos) had come up with, read on...
The follow up to “Horns and Halos”, “Blackout States” is here, congrats on your 10th solo album, man!
M: Thanks!
Which are the similarities and the differences between “Horns and Halos” & “Blackout States”?
M: Well, it’s the same band, except Dregen was replaced by Rich Jones on “Blackout States”. “Blackout States” is maybe a bit more melodic, versatile and punky, as opposed to “Horns and Halos” being maybe a bit more “hard rockfish” and bluesy... I dunno, I think both albums have their own identity and are both great in their own way.
You seem to have been on a relative roll, during the past few years, with frequent releases of albums and an ever changing line-up of musicians, what’s the deal with you not being able to keep a line-up, solid for too long? People getting interested and then drifting away simply or is it just the volatile chemistry that rock n roll is all about that causes people to grow unhappy and want to pursue different things?
M: What do mean by “an ever changing line-up”? This band has been the same since the year 2010, only the other guitar player has changed twice: Ginger to Dregen and Dregen to Rich Jones. The rest of the band has been the same with Sami Yaffa, Steve Conte, Karl Rockfist and me. And the reasons for those two guitar player changes had nothing to do with me personally or with the other guys in the band.
Again the title – seems to be a bit allegorical. Is there some deeper “meaning” or am I just reading too deep into it?
M: Nothing too deep, it’s about different states of mind... Blackout state is obviously in the darker side of life. The name was mainly chosen because it sounded good.
Give us a bit of a rundown of the tracks on the album and share any anecdotal stuff from the recordings, if any?
M: “This Ain’t No Love Song”: It is what the title says. Surely a lot of people can relate to these lyrics since so many find it hard to maintain a functioning relationship, unfortunately... Anyways, the message is “you’re better off alone than in bad company”.
“Old King’s Road”: A little visit to the past and a homage to some of the great ones.
“Goin’ Down with the Ship”: To me this one’s about getting on the tour bus and hitting the road with my best mates, my band that is.
“Keep Your Eye on You”: A reminder to look after yourself and not to let anyone distract you or make you give up on your dreams. Keep concentrating on your goals in life etc. This is one of my favorites on the album because I was expanding my “vocal horizons” on it in a new way.
“The Bastard’s Bash”: Another one of my faves. And we’re all gonna be there in the end... at the Bastard’s Bash.
“Good Old Bad Days”: This came to me one night like a stream of consciousness kinda thing, I just had to force myself to get up and record the idea on tape – otherwise I would’ve forgotten it in the morning!
“R.L.F.”: Sami Yaffa had written the music and made an instrumental demo of it with a working title “Fuck Shit Up”. So I wrote the lyrics and called it “Rock Like Fuck”, which has been my slogan since the 80s. And it certainly rocks like fuck!
“Blackout States”: Rich Jones wrote this song mostly. It was about an addict friend of his and is basically about being hooked on stuff, alcohol, drugs, or whatever and about how we don't shine so bright in that kind of “blackout state” of mind.
“Under the Northern Lights”: During my 10 years of living in New York City, back in the early 90s there was a time when me and Dee Dee Ramone hung out quite a lot. He had a bunch of songs he offered for me to do, especially this one, “Under the Northern Lights” because I was from Finland. I still have his handwritten lyrics for it. I’ve had the song for about 25 years waiting to be recorded and now was the time to do it for this album. A never before officially recorded Dee Dee Ramone written song, recorded for the first time on the new Michael Monroe album. Pretty cool, eh?!
“Permanent Youth”: Age is just a number and a state of mind. If you maintain a fresh young mind you can stay young forever. To me Rock‘n’Roll is the fountain of youth and enables me to do that.
“Dead Hearts on Denmark Street”: This song is about a certain historical part of London that’s being demolished and torn down beyond recognition to make way for some modern construction etc. That area is particularly important in terms of the history of Rock‘n’Roll and holds a lot of fond memories from our youth.
“Six Feet in the Ground”: About a Rock‘n’Roll hero, in this case quite obviously about Johnny Thunders.
“Walk Away”: Steve Conte wrote this about keeping your distance and protecting your privacy living in the public eye.
“Break the Noose”: The bonus track for vinyl only. Another one of Steve’s. It’s a wordplay on “news/noose” etc.
The album was produced by Chips Kiesbye (The Hellacopters, Nomads, etc.) in Gothenburg, Sweden, and mixed by Petri Majuri in Helsinki, Finland. How did you decide to cooperate with Chips & Petri and are you totally satisfied by the final outcome?
M: Chips was recommended to us by Dregen and he was a good choice. For example, on this album we have totally organic drum sounds, there was no need to enhance them with samples or such because they were miked right to begin with. Petri Majuri was an obvious choice; he’s just simply one of the best mixers in the world.
You seem to never let go… you’re always doing an album or touring it or keeping in the public eye one way or the other. Obviously that’s great career wise, but have you ever desired to take a vacation or are you a workaholic? (or managed to get the perfect balance between work and fun?)
M: My work is fun. Of course it has an unpleasant side, like a lot of traveling and sleep deprivation etc., but I feel lucky being able to do what I love doing the most to make a living.
Out of all those years as a professional touring musician what’s your “finest/proudest” moment?
M: For example, being invited to “jam” on stage by Alice Cooper, Motorhead, or Aerosmith and such, having been part of Little Steven’s “Sun City”-project back in 1985, having worked with people like Little Steven, Stiv Bators, Johnny Thunders etc., but my “finest/proudest” moment nowadays is performing live on stage with my current band.
Will we get the chance to see you perform live in Athens at any point?
M: I certainly hope so. The sooner the better.
How did you participation at the “Voice of Finland” occur? Do you enjoy the show? Do you believe that something good can come out of such TV shows?
M: After initially turning down the offer, I agreed to participate after I realized I would be a Coach, and not a “judge” and that this program is about positive constructive advice to new talented singers, and no one gets dissed. In other formats they choose some singers that clearly don’t have any singing talents, so that the judges can “mock” them by saying stuff like “don't quit your day job” etc. No one should ever be told that they’re “not good enough” or that they “can’t sing”, especially young people. So the “Voice of Finland” is like a positive counteraction against other formats where singers get dissed etc. I don’t know about “The Voice” in other countries, but the “Voice of Finland” actually does help singers with their careers. And my coaching and helping the singers goes beyond the show – when the cameras are off or after the season’s over I continue to help the singers the best I can. I also enjoy doing the show very much and through the show I get to present songs and bands to people that they wouldn’t normally hear or even know about in this country. Obviously because of my participation there’s a lot of cool Rock‘n’Roll in the “Voice of Finland”.
Are you in touch with the rest of the Hanoi Rocks alumni, (except from the obvious) and is there any life in that old beast? A few years from now will be a 40th anniversary, so if you’re still rocking away and in good health all of you, would you consider doing something – as a “celebration”?
M: Razzle is dead and the band is not functioning anymore so I don’t see any point in arranging a “celebration” or such.
You always were pretty big in Finland – for obvious reasons and manage to really make a “dint” and be well known and probably sell more than a few albums both sides of the Atlantic back in the day, but never quite enjoyed the visibility of the LA scene or other bands that were somewhat similar, but have outlived most of those. Do you think that that was due to Hanoi disbanding after “that tragedy” and not soldiering on? Had that not happened do you think you’d have reached the level of sales etc. of the GNRs of this world? You certainly didn’t lack the talent or good songs...
M: Who knows what could’ve or would’ve happened without that tragic accident. For one thing, I could never relate to the 80s “LA scene” with the big hairdos, posers and all the other superficial crap. But then again, that scene could’ve possibly been a bit cooler and classier, had Hanoi Rocks been there to show a good example...
Some “weird” questions just to relax somehow… Matti Almighty – If you were God for a week, what would you do with the omnipotence?
M: I would eliminate all starvation, wars, disease, violence, injustice and abuse towards all/any living things etc. so that negativity would only exist to remind us why we need to stay positive at all times. I would make the earth’s climate supportive of life and protective to humans against any harmful effects from outer space or anywhere, that might shorten our life-span or cause discomfort or disease. Love, Light, Joy, Health and Happiness would be permanent all over the world... Y’know, your regular Utopia.
Fill in the phrase… “Rock & Roll music wouldn’t have evolved the way it did, if it hadn’t been for…”
M: Little Richard, Rolling Stones and The Ramones.
Which do you consider to be the best vocalist in rock history?
M: Little Richard…
Had you been born, let’s say, in LA at the “correct” timeframe, do you think you’d still have become a musician?
M: I don’t know what you mean by the “correct” timeframe, but regardless, I think yes.
Now after all these years what do you think of the motto “Sex, Drugs & Rock and Roll”?
M: Oh, I rewrote that boring old cliché decades ago into “Dead, Jail or Rock‘n’Roll”.
Is there someone in the music business you just can’t stand?
M: No, I just ignore them.
If the world ended tomorrow – would you party like it was the end of the world? Or do something else?
M: I would stay home with my wife and two cats – my loved ones.
Was there a musician that you really looked up to, or even felt slightly “jealous” over?
M: I don’t feel jealousy, I’m merely happy for other people’s talents and success. If anything, I’d be inspired by them.
As far as I know you’re not terribly political – at least you don’t express political views through your music, but I wanted to ask you with all the unrest in the world, from people in Europe being unable to be cool to each other, to others under extreme circumstances having to flee war torn countries and some “crazies” just randomly killing people just to cause chaos even in gigs, is our world going “south” and completely crazy, fast? Do you feel a bit of “fear” mounting a show, until the “dust” settles down on all of this and some normality restored?
M: The world is in constant turmoil because of too many people in positions of power with big egos, selfishness, possessiveness, greed, intolerance, shortsightedness and willingness to kill and destroy for personal gain. This kind of behavior unfortunately also sets a precedent for “ordinary” people to think and act the same way.
The fact that there has not been one day on this planet in living memory without a war somewhere is insane. Everybody knows there would be enough food for the whole world and no need for starvation, but the people with the power or the money to make a change choose instead to invest in building weapons or other useless and destructive things or just in making more money in their greed.
If I had hundreds of billions of dollars I would do something to change the world for the better. With that kind of money one could actually make a difference. Still there’s a bunch of billionaires in this world sitting on huge amounts of money, which they can’t take with them anyway when they die. It’s a hell of a waste.
It’s all very frustrating, but what can one do, except constructively discuss things, address the issues and raise the right questions and that way hopefully connect with more people who think the same way. Maybe we can all make a difference in the end...
Who is the sexiest female Rock Star of all time and why?
M: I don’t think of female, or any Rock Stars that way, I merely focus on their talent.
Thx for taking the time to talk to Grande Rock, Michael. I wish you the best for the future and I hope you keep on rockin’ us for many more years. Say anything you feel like saying before we close… take care dude!
M: Thank you! I would like to thank all the fans in Greece for your patience and loyalty and I hope we get to play there very soon! In the meantime, keep diggin’ “Blackout States” and stay cool! Love & Respect…
M: Thanks!
Which are the similarities and the differences between “Horns and Halos” & “Blackout States”?
M: Well, it’s the same band, except Dregen was replaced by Rich Jones on “Blackout States”. “Blackout States” is maybe a bit more melodic, versatile and punky, as opposed to “Horns and Halos” being maybe a bit more “hard rockfish” and bluesy... I dunno, I think both albums have their own identity and are both great in their own way.
You seem to have been on a relative roll, during the past few years, with frequent releases of albums and an ever changing line-up of musicians, what’s the deal with you not being able to keep a line-up, solid for too long? People getting interested and then drifting away simply or is it just the volatile chemistry that rock n roll is all about that causes people to grow unhappy and want to pursue different things?
M: What do mean by “an ever changing line-up”? This band has been the same since the year 2010, only the other guitar player has changed twice: Ginger to Dregen and Dregen to Rich Jones. The rest of the band has been the same with Sami Yaffa, Steve Conte, Karl Rockfist and me. And the reasons for those two guitar player changes had nothing to do with me personally or with the other guys in the band.
Again the title – seems to be a bit allegorical. Is there some deeper “meaning” or am I just reading too deep into it?
M: Nothing too deep, it’s about different states of mind... Blackout state is obviously in the darker side of life. The name was mainly chosen because it sounded good.
Give us a bit of a rundown of the tracks on the album and share any anecdotal stuff from the recordings, if any?
M: “This Ain’t No Love Song”: It is what the title says. Surely a lot of people can relate to these lyrics since so many find it hard to maintain a functioning relationship, unfortunately... Anyways, the message is “you’re better off alone than in bad company”.
“Old King’s Road”: A little visit to the past and a homage to some of the great ones.
“Goin’ Down with the Ship”: To me this one’s about getting on the tour bus and hitting the road with my best mates, my band that is.
“Keep Your Eye on You”: A reminder to look after yourself and not to let anyone distract you or make you give up on your dreams. Keep concentrating on your goals in life etc. This is one of my favorites on the album because I was expanding my “vocal horizons” on it in a new way.
“The Bastard’s Bash”: Another one of my faves. And we’re all gonna be there in the end... at the Bastard’s Bash.
“Good Old Bad Days”: This came to me one night like a stream of consciousness kinda thing, I just had to force myself to get up and record the idea on tape – otherwise I would’ve forgotten it in the morning!
“R.L.F.”: Sami Yaffa had written the music and made an instrumental demo of it with a working title “Fuck Shit Up”. So I wrote the lyrics and called it “Rock Like Fuck”, which has been my slogan since the 80s. And it certainly rocks like fuck!
“Blackout States”: Rich Jones wrote this song mostly. It was about an addict friend of his and is basically about being hooked on stuff, alcohol, drugs, or whatever and about how we don't shine so bright in that kind of “blackout state” of mind.
“Under the Northern Lights”: During my 10 years of living in New York City, back in the early 90s there was a time when me and Dee Dee Ramone hung out quite a lot. He had a bunch of songs he offered for me to do, especially this one, “Under the Northern Lights” because I was from Finland. I still have his handwritten lyrics for it. I’ve had the song for about 25 years waiting to be recorded and now was the time to do it for this album. A never before officially recorded Dee Dee Ramone written song, recorded for the first time on the new Michael Monroe album. Pretty cool, eh?!
“Permanent Youth”: Age is just a number and a state of mind. If you maintain a fresh young mind you can stay young forever. To me Rock‘n’Roll is the fountain of youth and enables me to do that.
“Dead Hearts on Denmark Street”: This song is about a certain historical part of London that’s being demolished and torn down beyond recognition to make way for some modern construction etc. That area is particularly important in terms of the history of Rock‘n’Roll and holds a lot of fond memories from our youth.
“Six Feet in the Ground”: About a Rock‘n’Roll hero, in this case quite obviously about Johnny Thunders.
“Walk Away”: Steve Conte wrote this about keeping your distance and protecting your privacy living in the public eye.
“Break the Noose”: The bonus track for vinyl only. Another one of Steve’s. It’s a wordplay on “news/noose” etc.
The album was produced by Chips Kiesbye (The Hellacopters, Nomads, etc.) in Gothenburg, Sweden, and mixed by Petri Majuri in Helsinki, Finland. How did you decide to cooperate with Chips & Petri and are you totally satisfied by the final outcome?
M: Chips was recommended to us by Dregen and he was a good choice. For example, on this album we have totally organic drum sounds, there was no need to enhance them with samples or such because they were miked right to begin with. Petri Majuri was an obvious choice; he’s just simply one of the best mixers in the world.
You seem to never let go… you’re always doing an album or touring it or keeping in the public eye one way or the other. Obviously that’s great career wise, but have you ever desired to take a vacation or are you a workaholic? (or managed to get the perfect balance between work and fun?)
M: My work is fun. Of course it has an unpleasant side, like a lot of traveling and sleep deprivation etc., but I feel lucky being able to do what I love doing the most to make a living.
Out of all those years as a professional touring musician what’s your “finest/proudest” moment?
M: For example, being invited to “jam” on stage by Alice Cooper, Motorhead, or Aerosmith and such, having been part of Little Steven’s “Sun City”-project back in 1985, having worked with people like Little Steven, Stiv Bators, Johnny Thunders etc., but my “finest/proudest” moment nowadays is performing live on stage with my current band.
Will we get the chance to see you perform live in Athens at any point?
M: I certainly hope so. The sooner the better.
How did you participation at the “Voice of Finland” occur? Do you enjoy the show? Do you believe that something good can come out of such TV shows?
M: After initially turning down the offer, I agreed to participate after I realized I would be a Coach, and not a “judge” and that this program is about positive constructive advice to new talented singers, and no one gets dissed. In other formats they choose some singers that clearly don’t have any singing talents, so that the judges can “mock” them by saying stuff like “don't quit your day job” etc. No one should ever be told that they’re “not good enough” or that they “can’t sing”, especially young people. So the “Voice of Finland” is like a positive counteraction against other formats where singers get dissed etc. I don’t know about “The Voice” in other countries, but the “Voice of Finland” actually does help singers with their careers. And my coaching and helping the singers goes beyond the show – when the cameras are off or after the season’s over I continue to help the singers the best I can. I also enjoy doing the show very much and through the show I get to present songs and bands to people that they wouldn’t normally hear or even know about in this country. Obviously because of my participation there’s a lot of cool Rock‘n’Roll in the “Voice of Finland”.
Are you in touch with the rest of the Hanoi Rocks alumni, (except from the obvious) and is there any life in that old beast? A few years from now will be a 40th anniversary, so if you’re still rocking away and in good health all of you, would you consider doing something – as a “celebration”?
M: Razzle is dead and the band is not functioning anymore so I don’t see any point in arranging a “celebration” or such.
You always were pretty big in Finland – for obvious reasons and manage to really make a “dint” and be well known and probably sell more than a few albums both sides of the Atlantic back in the day, but never quite enjoyed the visibility of the LA scene or other bands that were somewhat similar, but have outlived most of those. Do you think that that was due to Hanoi disbanding after “that tragedy” and not soldiering on? Had that not happened do you think you’d have reached the level of sales etc. of the GNRs of this world? You certainly didn’t lack the talent or good songs...
M: Who knows what could’ve or would’ve happened without that tragic accident. For one thing, I could never relate to the 80s “LA scene” with the big hairdos, posers and all the other superficial crap. But then again, that scene could’ve possibly been a bit cooler and classier, had Hanoi Rocks been there to show a good example...
Some “weird” questions just to relax somehow… Matti Almighty – If you were God for a week, what would you do with the omnipotence?
M: I would eliminate all starvation, wars, disease, violence, injustice and abuse towards all/any living things etc. so that negativity would only exist to remind us why we need to stay positive at all times. I would make the earth’s climate supportive of life and protective to humans against any harmful effects from outer space or anywhere, that might shorten our life-span or cause discomfort or disease. Love, Light, Joy, Health and Happiness would be permanent all over the world... Y’know, your regular Utopia.
Fill in the phrase… “Rock & Roll music wouldn’t have evolved the way it did, if it hadn’t been for…”
M: Little Richard, Rolling Stones and The Ramones.
Which do you consider to be the best vocalist in rock history?
M: Little Richard…
Had you been born, let’s say, in LA at the “correct” timeframe, do you think you’d still have become a musician?
M: I don’t know what you mean by the “correct” timeframe, but regardless, I think yes.
Now after all these years what do you think of the motto “Sex, Drugs & Rock and Roll”?
M: Oh, I rewrote that boring old cliché decades ago into “Dead, Jail or Rock‘n’Roll”.
Is there someone in the music business you just can’t stand?
M: No, I just ignore them.
If the world ended tomorrow – would you party like it was the end of the world? Or do something else?
M: I would stay home with my wife and two cats – my loved ones.
Was there a musician that you really looked up to, or even felt slightly “jealous” over?
M: I don’t feel jealousy, I’m merely happy for other people’s talents and success. If anything, I’d be inspired by them.
As far as I know you’re not terribly political – at least you don’t express political views through your music, but I wanted to ask you with all the unrest in the world, from people in Europe being unable to be cool to each other, to others under extreme circumstances having to flee war torn countries and some “crazies” just randomly killing people just to cause chaos even in gigs, is our world going “south” and completely crazy, fast? Do you feel a bit of “fear” mounting a show, until the “dust” settles down on all of this and some normality restored?
M: The world is in constant turmoil because of too many people in positions of power with big egos, selfishness, possessiveness, greed, intolerance, shortsightedness and willingness to kill and destroy for personal gain. This kind of behavior unfortunately also sets a precedent for “ordinary” people to think and act the same way.
The fact that there has not been one day on this planet in living memory without a war somewhere is insane. Everybody knows there would be enough food for the whole world and no need for starvation, but the people with the power or the money to make a change choose instead to invest in building weapons or other useless and destructive things or just in making more money in their greed.
If I had hundreds of billions of dollars I would do something to change the world for the better. With that kind of money one could actually make a difference. Still there’s a bunch of billionaires in this world sitting on huge amounts of money, which they can’t take with them anyway when they die. It’s a hell of a waste.
It’s all very frustrating, but what can one do, except constructively discuss things, address the issues and raise the right questions and that way hopefully connect with more people who think the same way. Maybe we can all make a difference in the end...
Who is the sexiest female Rock Star of all time and why?
M: I don’t think of female, or any Rock Stars that way, I merely focus on their talent.
Thx for taking the time to talk to Grande Rock, Michael. I wish you the best for the future and I hope you keep on rockin’ us for many more years. Say anything you feel like saying before we close… take care dude!
M: Thank you! I would like to thank all the fans in Greece for your patience and loyalty and I hope we get to play there very soon! In the meantime, keep diggin’ “Blackout States” and stay cool! Love & Respect…