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I love Michael Monroe. I think I’ve made that pretty clear. If you want to see Psychotic Frenzy: The Band, you really need to catch his show. I did… twice.

First up was the Bowery Ballroom in NYC. I’d never been there before, and my first thoughts upon entering were, “Oh God, he’s gonna die.” It’s not a huge venue, but Mr. Monroe is a fucking monkey. I’d seen him with Hanoi Rocks, and he jumps, climbs, leaps, kicks, flies, swings, hangs upside down, and basically bounces off everything, and in this space, I really was kind of nervous.

Bu nothing too terrible happened. I mean, he fell off the stage and head-butted a guy… It was kind of priceless seeing his face go from total panic to acceptance to thud. It was even more priceless seeing his wife look like she was about to have a heart attack from off-stage. But Michael Monroe is nothing if not the consummate showman, and he kept on going, head bleeding and all.

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Speaking about glam metal, Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott claimed that Hanoi Rocks were the only band that “pulled it off.” And while Def Leppard is now lumped with glam bands like Poison, and are currently touring with Motley Crue, that doesn’t make his assertion any less true. Hanoi Rocks were originals. That angry, shithead punk mixed with the New York Dolls/Bowie glam sound that Guns N’ Roses did so well would not exist without Hanoi Rocks. “Paradise City” is actually a mix of different Hanoi Rocks riffs, and Andy McCoy, guitarist and co-founder of Hanoi, has claimed it’s just a slowed down version of “Lost in the City.” Their influence ranges far and wide, from Manic Street Preachers to Alice in Chains, and Michael Monroe was one of the original two founding members of the band. He and McCoy were the guitarist/lead singer duo that would’ve outshone even Jagger/Richards… had they got the chance.

In 2007 Hanoi Rocks released Street Poetry, but only two years later, McCoy and Monroe announced that they’d taken the band as far as they could. After playing farewell shows in Finland and Japan, Hanoi Rocks disbanded for good in 2009. It’s a shame that they’re known more for the fact that their drummer, Razzle, infamously died in the car accident where Vince Neil drove headfirst into another vehicle while inebriated, than they are for their music.

But while the band may be no more, Michael Monroe is certainly not done yet. Backed by a stellar group of musicians including Sami Yaffa (ex-Hanoi Rocks), Steve Conte (ex-New York Dolls), Dregen (Backyard Babies), and Karl Rockfist (ex-Steel Prophet and touring drummer for Danzig) ,he’s released Sensory Overdrive under his own name just this year. Michael was nice enough to take a few minutes to talk about what he’s been up to these days. In fact, he was so nice he called me before I was supposed to call him.

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First it was my turn to take a vacation and now it’s Axl’s; I haven’t spoken with him since he left for the lake house last Saturday and that’s a good thing, not because I don’t love the dude but because it means he’s having fun instead of stressing about work. Hopefully as I write this he’s stoned out of his gourd and enjoying something tasty from the grill. But guess what? I’m gonna be away again this coming Monday and Tuesday conducting super-top-secret business in L.A., meaning it’ll just be Axl and the rest of our fine contributors for the early part of next week. But don’t worry; come Wednesday things will be back to normal with our usual Axl + Vince full frontal attack.

Meanwhile, here’s what Axl missed this week:

• We premiered new music by ’90s hardcore legends Earth Crisis and new Metal Blade signees Battlecross, and we premiered a new video from Last Chance to Reason
• We spoke with In Flames’ Bjorn Gelotte and IKILLYA’s Jason Lekberg.
• Landphil pondered the best wrestling “shoots” of all time.
• We looked at new releases by After Oblivion, Doctor Midnight and the Mercy Cult and Michael Monroe while Corey Mitchell gave us the rundown of his bleeders and blowers for June.
• We checked out Mastodon’s “different” new album artwork.
• Sergeant D wondered whether or not melody has a place in metal.
• Periphery lost guitarist Alex Bois while Pig Destroyer gained drummer Adam Jarvis.
• The metal world chimed in on the Casey Anthony verdict; we chimed in on the metal world.

Adios.

-VN

My iTunes decided to define Michael Monroe’s Sensory Overdrive as indie rock, which is just wrong. Indie rock makes me think of like… wait, I don’t even know anymore. Pavement? The Postal Service? Do those count? My college roommate would listen to all that stuff so any knowledge I have is very much secondhand. Anyway, after a twelve-year hiatus, Hanoi Rocks put out one of their best releases with Street Poetry in 2007 and a year or so after that proclaimed they were done for good. Mr. Monroe and co. quite irked me with that news before I realized this is a band we’re talking about. “For good,” rarely means forever so I still have hope. But, eh I’m also still hoping for a Guns n’ Roses reunion with Axl Rose, so take that as you may. I’m either highly optimistic or stupidly naïve.

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I was gearing up to do another Album of the Day, but it gets trying having to express just how much some album is making me figuratively shit myself. Saying I love it over and over like a broken record (har har) isn’t all that much fun to write, let alone read, so I was going to let The Wildhearts’ The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed fall by the wayside. I just got a little lazy.

But Wildhearts front man Ginger has been anything but these past few months. From joining The Michael Monroe Band to supporting Motorhead on tour to recording a new solo album, he’s quite the manic musician. So instead of waffling for now and then eventually raving about some of his past work, I decided to see what the future holds for Devin Townsend’s British BFF. (Seriously, follow them both on Twitter. It kind of makes you go, “Awww.”) I shot him an email with a few questions and he, on top of business as usual, responded back in less than an hour.

He warned me to keep it interesting. Well, I tried.

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In 1984 Vince Neil went driving while drunk and subsequently killed or maimed three people, only one of whom had actually been stupid enough to get in the car with him. Then, last week, he was arrested in Vegas for drunk driving, demonstrating that the fateful night twenty-six years ago really had a long-lasting impact on him and the way he looks at life.

And how does Vince feel about his DUI? By all appearances, really, really guilty: Last Thursday, three days after the arrest, he asked a crowd in Vegas, “Who’s been drinking tequila tonight? Who’s gonna drink some tequila tonight?” And we know this happened ’cause TMZ has video of the incident.

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Hanoi Rocks have called it quits. The news comes a shock to millions thousands hundreds dozens of fans, not least of all me, because I didn’t even know that they were still together.

“Michael Monroe and Andy McCoy feel that they’ve taken the band as far as it can go” the band tells us via a statement that was obviously meant to be released in 1984 but was stuck behind a publicist’s couch and is consequently just seeing the light of day now.

ANYWAY, R.I.P. Hanoi Rocks. Here’s the band’s video for “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” to help you mourn. Unless you’re like me and you thought the band had already broken up.

-AR