MICHAEL MONROE Won't Let Politics Keep Him From Playing The U.S.: 'It's Not Our Audience's Fault If The President Is' Who 'It Is'

In a new interview with The Logan Show, former HANOI ROCKS frontman Michael Monroe spoke about his plans to tour the U.S. in support of his latest studio album, "Outerstellar", which came out on February 20 via Silver Lining Music. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We definitely wanna come to the States to play. We came over a year ago or in the spring. When we played there, it was fantastic. It was a great reaction. And rock and roll has such a strong foothold. It was just such a strong part of the culture already in the States. In America it's always been taken seriously, unlike growing up in Finland, [where] it was kind of, like, the parents would tell the kids, like, 'Come on. Just put 'em down in the basement. Make some noise, and then they'll grow out of it soon and they'll get real professions.' But especially in America, it's already been established so much as part of the culture. And Little Richard, Chuck Berry, they started it. They actually were the key people, and Buddy Holly and all that, that's such a strong thing. And you could tell when you play a gig in America, you guys love the guitar rock, especially with two guitars. So, we definitely wanna play in the States more.

"Before the last tour we did, I hadn't played there for 13 years, so it was great to come back and see how people were really… I was surprised how much they were into it and how much fun it was being there," Michael continued.

"Some people say, 'Well, no, we're not gonna go and play in America 'cause of [U.S. president Donald] Trump.' Fuck that. Politics and rock don't mix. Who cares? That's more of a reason to go and play there," Monroe added. "It's not our audience's fault if the president is what it is. I mean, if you're not gonna not go to America because of that, then you're kind of giving up and playing in to doing exactly what they want — joining the enemy. There's a great audience there. I love American people. [They] are fantastic. I love playing there, and I wanna come there as much as possible.

"We don't have a concrete tour booked yet at this point, but we're working on it — definitely. Me and [guitarist] Rich Jones got work permits for two more years now, so we gotta put 'em to good use… We're working on another [tour], getting something happening in the States, coming back to tour there, one way or another, before too long, with this album, for sure. We're doing the best we can, and as soon as possible we're coming to play there — the promised land of rock and roll."

Asked why there was such a long gap between Monroe's last two visits to the U.S. and whether it was cost-related, Michael said: "It was not by choice… Well, COVID period, that didn't help either. Financially, I mean, we played there… We did a couple of months touring, but playing clubs in America, I just came to the conclusion that at the level that we were doing it, you're just pissing away money. And it's not worth it. You're just losing money unless you get some kind of grant or somebody sponsoring something, because it is such a big country that you have to really — if you wanna break it, make it there… Well, it's a big area. Nowadays, actually, what I noticed when we played there last time, it's different. It's not the same anymore as it used to be. It used to feel like, yeah, you had to play for two years opening up somebody big in stadiums and stuff, and then you get noticed. But things are different. Maybe that's one good thing about the Internet. So, you reach more people maybe through that too. But it was not by choice. It's just the way it turned out. And also my band lives all around the world. Steve Conte lives in New York City, the guitar player. Rich Jones lives in Toronto. [Bassist] Sami Yaffa, he lives sometimes in Helsinki, sometimes in Mallorca in Spain. [Drummer] Karl Rockfist lives in Spain, but far away from Sami. And they're all all over the world. So getting this band together, all the members in one place, is always a bit of a challenge. So that's been part of it too. And just the cost of going to the States and touring, it's not very cost effective. If I had a lot of extra money, that would've been different, but it's a challenge 'cause of expenses and all, how to make it work. However, I haven't had a decent manager in my solo career since I started my solo career, except till a couple of years ago, Gav McCaughey, my current manager, Gav, he is the best thing that happened to me for a long time. For the first time ever, I can say I have a great manager in my solo career. I'm not talking about HANOI, but solo career. And I have faith that things are gonna — they're already being turned around, and gradually they are getting better and better all the time in terms of touring and stuff. So things are starting to — hopefully everything is gonna keep going the right way, which it is now. The wheels are turning the right way now. So, hopefully that means that we get to play everywhere we wanna play and expand our [fanbase] to a point where we are able to play in every country in the world without losing everything, without losing money."

The Monroe band's all-star lineup features former HANOI ROCKS and NEW YORK DOLLS bass player Sami Yaffa, who has played with Michael since the '80s. On guitar duties are Rich Jones (formerly of the Ginger Wildheart band) and Steve Conte (best known as the guitarist who filled the void left by Johnny Thunders in the NEW YORK DOLLS, as well as playing guitar with many other name acts such as Suzi Quatro, Eric Burden and many more) and drummer Karl Rockfist (who has played with notable acts such as DANZIG).

Last August, Monroe canceled his participation in last fall's U.S. tour as the support act for BUCKCHERRY in order to recover from a ruptured meniscus.

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 died in a tragic accident in 1984. 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.