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

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