MICHAEL MONROE On HANOI ROCKS: 'We Could Have Become One Of The Biggest Bands In The World'

In a new interview with FaceCulture, former HANOI ROCKS singer Michael Monroe reflected on the band's breakup following the death of HANOI drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley in December 1984. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): " The band was so tight and so close that Sami Yaffa, the bass player, he left. After that, he decided, 'Okay, that's it.' He's gonna leave. And we were all devastated. And then the band broke up. And, actually, I thought we couldn't replace Razzle, and Sami had left too. That situation was such that HANOI was such a cool band and I couldn't imagine anybody replacing them, so it was better to just call it quits. And I'd rather have the world know HANOI as it was, as opposed to making it big with what it wasn't."

Asked what he thinks would have happened to HANOI had Razzle not died, Michael said: "Well, we knew that we were the best band in the world, and we were gonna make it the biggest band in the world. [Laughs] And all the possibilities. We had what it takes. We could have become one of the biggest bands in the world, had we been luckier. But fate had other plans, so that's what happened."

Pressed if it was "hard" for him to let go of HANOI ROCKS knowing that the band had so much potential prior to Razzle's passing, Michael said: "Only that I lost my best friend. That was the worst thing about it. Losing Razzle, he was such a great guy and such a nice, great personality. And just losing him, we were all devastated, losing our best friend. And, of course, the band was my life. So it was a big, big adjustment. But I knew that rather than having somebody replace Razzle and Sami — I mean, we tried a couple of people auditioning and it just felt really weird; I was, like, 'Huh, this is not right.' So I decided, rather than have the band, even if we could have become one of the biggest bands in the world, still it wouldn't have been right. That would've been even worse, 'cause it wouldn't have been the same band. So I decided it was best to break up the band and just call it quits. And that's the end of it."

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 was killed in a car accident caused by MÖTLEY CRÜE's Vince Neil. 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.