MICHAEL MONROE Releases Video For 'I Live Too Fast To Die Young' Featuring GUNS N' ROSES Guitarist SLASH

Former HANOI ROCKS frontman Michael Monroe has released the video for the high-octane title track of his latest solo album, "I Live Too Fast To Die Young", out now via Silver Lining Music.

"I Live Too Fast To Die Young" is quintessential Monroe, playing with words and concepts in a playfully irreverent way and wrapping it all up in some proper kick-in-the-balls rock 'n' roll.

"This one started life as just a song title — a tongue-in-cheek nod to Vivienne Westwood's 'Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die' t-shirts after I had been gifted one by a fan in Japan," guitarist Rich Jones explains. "It's a reference to Michael's seemingly boundless energy and the fact that he's still kicking ass after all these years."

"I love reinventing old clichés," Monroe laughs. "The whole 'live fast, die young' cliché is so boring, so I live too fast to die young! It takes more to survive and be here today than to self-destruct and die young!"

A close friend of Monroe, Slash from GUNS N' ROSES, throws down some lead guitar on the track.

"Slash is one of the nicest guys that I know and one of rock's greatest guitarists as he's maintained the spontaneity, the human touch and the heartfelt kick-ass attitude in his playing," Monroe enthuses. "I figured this would be a good one for him to play a solo on, he said he loved the song and that it's super catchy."

"Having Slash play an absolutely ripping guitar solo on it was a real honor and it's since become a fan favorite in our live shows," adds Jones.

Recorded at Inkfish Studios in Helsinki, Finland between November and December 2021 and produced by the band with engineer Erno Laitinen, the album features Monroe on lead vocals and harmonica, Steve Conte (guitars and vocals),Rich Jones (guitar, vocals),Karl Rockfist (drums) and Sami Yaffa (bass/vocals/guitar).

Regarding the musical direction of "I Live Too Fast To Die Young", Monroe previously said: "The punk is always gonna be there — it's part of my thing and our sound — and overall I think we've really renewed the band's sound in the best possible way without getting away from who and what we are."

He continued: "I always wanted to maintain the excitement and curiosity of life, to keep that mind of a child and excitement about stuff and not get complacent, not get tired. Of course, I can be cynical and I'm sarcastic, and I haven't had the best of luck, but then again who does? And I still have a lot of things to be happy about. It doesn't take much for me to be happy. To be able to do what I love doing the most, and make a living out of it, that's a gift."

Monroe and his band are getting ready to join BLACK STAR RIDERS on their 2023 UK tour along with MOTÖRHEAD's Phil Campbell and the BASTARD SONS. The tour will kick off on February 13 at Nottingham's Rock City and conclude on February 26 at London's 02 Shepherds Bush Empire.