Hanoi Rocks

Formation and early days (1979–1980) Hanoi Rocks were formed in Helsinki in 1979 by Michael Monroe (Matti Fagerholm) and his friend, guitarist Andy McCoy (Antti Hulkko). McCoy did not join the band immediately, because he was the guitarist for the Finnish punk band Pelle Miljoona Oy. McCoy allowed Monroe to form the band with the agreement that McCoy would join the band later. The original line-up of Hanoi Rocks was Monroe on vocals, former Pelle Miljoona Oy guitarist Stefan Piesnack, Monroe's guitarist Nasty Suicide, bassist Nedo Soininen, and Peki Sirola on drums. The band toured Finnish clubs, playing McCoy and Monroe's own songs and covers like Cheap Trick's "He's a Whore", The Police's "Born in the 50s" and MC5's "Looking at You". At one of the band's first shows was Seppo Vesterinen, who had brought big-name artists like Iggy Pop and Frank Zappa to Finland. Vesterinen soon became the band's manager after speaking with McCoy and Monroe. In late 1980 Andy McCoy left Pelle Miljoona Oy to join Hanoi Rocks, and was later joined by another former Pelle Miljoona Oy member, bassist Sami Yaffa. McCoy replaced Stefan Piesnack, who had been arrested for drug possession, and Yaffa replaced Nedo. By then Peki had left the band, and when they relocated to Stockholm, they hired an old friend of Monroe and McCoy's, drummer Gyp Casino formerly of Warheads. Stockholm, early recordings and London (1980–1981) When they moved to Stockholm, the bandmembers lived mostly on the street, begging for money, except Andy McCoy, who lived with his wealthy girlfriend. In November 1980, the band struck a deal with Johanna Kustannus and released its debut single, "I Want You / Kill City Kills". produced by Michael Monroe and Andy McCoy, calling themselves "The Muddy Twins". The album was well-received, reaching number five on the Finnish album charts. In September 1981, after extensive tours in Sweden and Finland, the band moved to London, where they recorded their second album. On 19 September 1981, the band made their debut at the Marquee Club in London. In late November they returned to Finland and released the single "Desperados / Devil Woman". Another single, "Dead by X-Mas / Nothing New", was released in December. Oriental Beat and Razzle joins (1982) In January 1982, Hanoi Rocks recorded their first music videos at the Lepakko, a concert venue and centre of independent youth culture, for the songs "Tragedy", "Oriental Beat", and "Motorvatin'". That same month, the band released their second album Oriental Beat. found out that Monroe was the singer for Hanoi Rocks, he attended some shows, showed up backstage, and asked to be the band's drummer. McCoy and Monroe fired Gyp Casino for his drug use, depression, and suicidal thoughts, and Razzle was hired as the new drummer. Hanoi Rocks toured the UK and in Finland until June 1983, when the band made a deal with CBS worth £150,000. Bob Ezrin and All Those Wasted Years (1983–1984) In August 1983, Hanoi Rocks released the 7" single "Until I Get You / Tragedy", and the 12" maxi-single "Until I Get You / Tragedy / Oriental Beat". On 13 August, Lick Records released Hanoi Rocks's first three albums in Britain for the first time. The next day, the band played a show at the Ruisrock festival in Turku, Finland. Before the show, Michael Monroe stated in an interview with the Finnish television station YLE that McCoy and Suicide's alcohol use had gotten out of hand, and that he did not drink or use drugs. In October 1983, producer Bob Ezrin flew from the US to see Hanoi Rocks live in London, and in December he was confirmed as the producer for the next album. Their December shows at Marquee were recorded and released as a live album and an accompanying live video, both titled All Those Wasted Years. Two Steps from the Move (1984) In early 1984, Hanoi Rocks and Bob Ezrin recorded Two Steps from the Move, Andy McCoy and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee went looking for Neil and Razzle. They drove by the crash site and saw Neil handcuffed and put into a police car. They were informed that Razzle had been taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. McCoy informed the band's manager Seppo Vesterinen, who then told the rest of the band. The band returned to London. The only tour dates not canceled were two shows at Helsinki Kulttuuritalo on 3 and 4 January 1985, which were broadcast live under the title of "Europe A Go-Go" to a worldwide audience of 200 million viewers. Both shows became memorials to Razzle, with "Million Miles Away" dedicated to him. Former Clash drummer Terry Chimes played the drums. On 25 May, it was announced that the band's new drummer would be Swedish drummer George Atlagic. By this time Monroe and McCoy had come to the decision that Hanoi Rocks's time had come to an end, as they no longer had collaborated since 2007 and things were getting stale. Eventually Monroe and McCoy released a statement that they had taken the band as far as they could and that the band would break up. In late 2008 an autobiography titled All Those Wasted Years was released. It mainly covered Hanoi Rocks's career in the 1980s and included rare photos of the band and its members and new interviews with Monroe, McCoy, Nasty Suicide, Gyp Casino, Seppo Vesterinen, Richard Bishop and countless others. Hanoi Rocks did a farewell tour in Japan in spring of 2009 where they played six shows. Tokyo's Studio Coast on 8.3.2009, Fukuoka's Drum Logos on 10.3.2009, Osaka's Namba Hatch on 11.3.2009, Nagoya's Diamond Hall on 12.3.2009, Kawasaki's Club Citta on 13.3.2009 and finally Sendai's Zepp Sendai on 15.3.2009. A rare farewell tour of Japan 2009 book was released of the Japan tour which included many old band photos and history information about the band and the albums they recorded. Hanoi Rocks announced that they would play eight farewell shows over six days at the Tavastia Club in Helsinki. All the shows were sold out, and the band's original guitarist Nasty Suicide appeared as a special guest in three of the last gigs, and Lacu also appeared at the final show. The last show was released as a DVD in late 2009, titled Buried Alive. Second reunion (2022) On 23 September 2022, an early line-up of Michael Monroe, Andy McCoy, Nasty Suicide, Sami Yaffa and Gyp Casino reunited in celebration of Monroe's 60th birthday, at the Helsinki Ice Hall. ==Legacy==

Although Hanoi Rocks never achieved huge commercial success, they have a very big cult following and they have received critical acclaim for their musical style and energetic live performances. On 5 January 1985, Hanoi Rocks was featured in almost every category in a poll cast by Sounds, including Best Album (5th), Best Band (2nd) and Best Live Act (3rd). Hanoi Rocks's influence can be seen in various bands, including Guns N' Roses, and their glam look has been used by many bands, including Poison, L.A. Guns and Ratt. Other bands like Manic Street Preachers, Murderdolls, Skid Row and the Foo Fighters have acknowledged being Hanoi Rocks fans. Alice in Chains also often played Hanoi Rocks's "Taxi Driver" live in their early days. Other Finnish rock groups that were influenced by Hanoi Rocks include The 69 Eyes (with whom McCoy has also worked) and Negative. In Finland, Hanoi Rocks is known as the Finnish rock band who, at their time, had come closest to real international fame, only much later giving way to such groups as HIM, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius, Children of Bodom and Turisas. Hanoi Rocks also brought the glam rock look of the 1970s back into style. In 2003, when Nasty Suicide was asked about the band's look, he said that he and Michael Monroe decided to keep the punk leather jackets but bring a kind of "transvestite vibe to it". Even though Hanoi Rocks influenced many 1980s glam bands, some feel that these bands ripped off Hanoi Rocks. In 2008 Joe Elliott, frontman of English hard rock band Def Leppard, described his dislike of 1980s glam metal bands like Mötley Crüe and Poison, and said this about Hanoi Rocks: Michael Monroe and Hanoi Rocks have influenced many rock'n'roll artists and bands: Slash and Duff McKagan had bought tickets to the sold-out gigs in Los Angeles, which were canceled because of the death of Razzle. In the Hanoi Rocks autobiography "All Those Wasted Years" Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett says "The Hollywood scene changed in just one night after people saw the pictures of Hanoi Rocks. After that everyone was wearing the same kind of hair, clothes and make up as Monroe". Michael Monroe and Hanoi Rocks have often been mentioned as the starters of the Hollywood's glam-rock scene, which was then adopted and developed by many 1980s glam, punk, and hard rock bands like Mötley Crüe, Jetboy, LA Guns and Poison. Hanoi Rocks is cited as one of the most influential glam metal bands of all time in the Metal: A Headbanger's Journey documentary movie. American TV Channel VH1 named the top "hair bands" of all time, and Hanoi Rocks was at number 40. When Sami Yaffa was asked about it, he replied: "We were a hat band, not a hair band!". In 2013, American newspaper LA Weekly listed Hanoi Rocks at number 1 on their list of the "15 Best Hair Metal Bands of All Time". Andy McCoy has said that the Guns N' Roses song "Paradise City" is a compilation of a few riffs of Hanoi Rocks. He said the chorus is the same as the riff in "Lost in the City", just slowed down. Nasty Suicide can also be seen in the music video for "Paradise City". The Guns N' Roses song "Right Next Door to Hell" was co-written by former Hanoi Rocks bassist Timo Kaltio. Hanoi Rocks is mentioned in the Bret Michaels song "Human Zoo" on his 1998 soundtrack album, A Letter from Death Row. Hanoi Rocks is mentioned in the NOFX song "We Got Two Jealous Agains" on their 2003 album The War on Errorism. Hanoi Rocks is mentioned in the Red House Painters song "Cruiser" on their 2001 album Old Ramon. The fictional character Peacemaker mentions Hanoi Rocks as "only the greatest band of all time" in the eponymous 2022 TV series. The same episode also features Hanoi Rocks songs "11th Street Kids" and "Fallen Star". The characters go on to refer to themselves as "the 11th Street Kids" in subsequent episodes. ==Band members==

;Final known lineup • Michael Monroe – lead vocals, saxophone, harmonica, occasional drums, keyboards • Nasty Suicide – rhythm and lead guitar, backing and occasional lead vocals • Andy McCoy – lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals, occasional keyboards, piano • Sami Yaffa – bass, backing vocals • Gyp Casino – drums ;Former • Peki Sirola – drums • Nedo Soininen – bass • Stefan Piesnack – lead and rhythm guitar • Tumppi Varonen – drums • Razzle – drums, backing and occasional lead vocals • Terry Chimes – drums • René Berg – bass • Timo Kaltio – bass • Lacu – drums • Timppa Laine – bass • Costello Hautamäki – rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals • Stevie Klasson – rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals • Conny Bloom – rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals • Andy "A.C." Christell – bass, backing vocals • George Atlagic – drums Timeline ==Discography==

• Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks (1981) • Oriental Beat (1982) • Self Destruction Blues (1982) • Back to Mystery City (1983) • Two Steps from the Move (1984) • Twelve Shots on the Rocks (2002) • Another Hostile Takeover (2005) • Street Poetry (2007) ==Videography==

• All Those Wasted Years – The Marquee Club • The Nottingham Tapes – Rock City (in Nottingham) • Buried Alive – Last show at the Tavastia Club ==References==