Last Train to Tokyo - New Michael Monroe video

The second single of the upcoming Michael Monroe Album One Man Gang was just released. Last Train to Tokyo is accompanied with a cool video with footage shot on their recent Japanese tour. 

One Man Gang will be released Oct 18.

Pre Order here.

ShouldaWouldaCoulda #3 - The Dead Tricks

From the Universal Church of Bators came The Dead Tricks. These New York punks released an E.P. and two singles before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2014.

From what I can find on the web, singer James Donovan is a bonafide old-school rock n’ roll wild-man onstage, thrashing around until he bleeds and eating snot all while screaming his lungs out. 

2011’s E.P. “You Should Have Worried About It” (great title btw) was produced by Agnostic Front’s Mike Gallo. The Dead Tricks released the record themselves and pretty much nailed it. It’s kinda Undertones meet the Dead Boys but so much more than a 70’s revival band, eardrum blistering guitar solo’s with big hooks and catchy choruses. Tight and loose at the same time, if that makes any sense..

While “Worm Travesty” is delightfully weird and feral, “Don’t Get High (Without Me)” is a perfectly written and executed instant punk classic, the struggles and drags of getting high and going through withdrawal often make for great songs. “Chocha Wave” is The Vaselines on steroids, a cool snotty song that invites you to yell along with the chorus. Funny story, with me being from the Netherlands, I had to look up what chocha means, thanks for that. More walls of guitars, bassrumble, drum pounding, weirdness and outrageousness are to be found in opening tracks “Heat Burns the One-Eyed Monster” and “Go-Go the Bone Mobile”.   

Two years later the band released two more adrenaline rushes of songs. “The Despicable Summer” & “Serf” show the band had gained momentum and started writing even better songs. Donovan especially is on fire here, switching between cool and absolutely berserk like Jeckyll and Hyde with a microphone. The guitars on “The Despicable Summer” have an awesome Cheetah Chrome vibe to them, the whole band is freaking tight. This is should’ve been a breakthrough hit if anything.

This excerpt from their biography sums it up best: 

“This is a gang that obsesses over The Dead Boys, Johnny Thunders, The Dictators, as well as The Stooges, The Damned, MC5, Link Wray, The Cramps, The Gun Club, Hanoi Rocks, Dead Kennedy’s, and The Misfits, but also realizes, hey it’s 2012— best way to show you love your influences is to try to equal them in songwriting quality and musicianship. It’s called inspiration.”

I can’t believe these guys didn’t pop up on my radar sooner. Indefinite hiatus means there’s hope though, right..?

Buy their records here.

Listen on Spotify:

Blistering new Michael Monroe single "One Man Gang" + Press release about album.

Finally! 

We get a snippet of new Michael Monroe album "One Man Gang" in new title track single. With breakneck speed riffs and verses and a gang vocal chorus that will piss off neighbours around the world. Punk rock guitar hero Captain Sensible of The Damned beautifully guest stars on lead guitar. The lyrics "Well..  I know that I ain't no Elvis or Jesus but I got a pretty face" are among the best I've heard in a while.

This is just a taste of what's to come, 11 more songs will be released on "One Man Gang" October 19th, available for pre-order August 9th.

There's also a press release in the video's description:

Michael Monroe's dirty and dangerous new album "One Man Gang" is set for release on October 18th 2019.  The title track is the 1st single to be released.

A genuine rock star since birth, Michael Monroe innately knows exactly how to sing, swagger and walk the most glamorous and colourful of walks. One Man Gang, the former Hanoi Rocks man’s brand new offering on Silver Lining Music, is all about the fun of Friday nights, seven days a week, letting your hair down (or up!) for a dirty, dangerous, damn good time, and embracing a total escape into the rock ‘n’ roll dream.

Recorded and mixed by Petri Majuri at E-Studio in Sipoo, Finland over three weeks in March 2018, the 12-song record was mixed that following Autumn with Monroe and band-mates Rich Jones and Steve Conte on production duties. 

With stunning presence, Monroe’s vocals blaze their unique trail across catchy, low-slung guitars mixing with saxophones, harmonicas and trumpets, plus a smorgasbord of exciting hooks and melodies. One Man Gang is old-skool strut with rudely fresh vigour. 

The title-track’s bombastic bar-room blitz (featuring a guest appearance by Captain Sensible of The Damned) is a valuable reminder that even if born in the gutter, you must always look to the stars.

“It sometimes seems like everybody’s pissing on their own parade,” says Monroe, “whether that’s voting stupid people into power and then complaining about them or whatever, but I’m all about living with a P.M.A. – positive mental attitude – and I’ll never allow myself to be forced away from that.”

Then there’s “Last Train To Tokyo”, with the sort of sticky-yet-crispy riff that was designed to take over radios from Japan to Jamaica.

“In the ‘80s, Hanoi Rocks had a very special relationship with Japan,” explains Monroe, “and it will always be one of my favourite countries.  Plus, they still live for rock ‘n’ roll as it should be celebrated, they still have physical product, they still make it crazy, exhausting and really exciting every time you go there, which I am really grateful for.”

With the further electric likes of “Junk Planet”, “Hollywood Paranoia” and “Wasted Years” on board, One Man Gang is going to smash down doors and give the rock ‘n’ roll scene a swift, and necessary, kick up the ass. 

Michael Monroe will soon be striding back towards the arenas he was born to be in, and everything you see is everything you get.

“I do what I do and I’ll never change,” says Monroe, “I don’t dress any different on or off stage because this is who I am… this is the real me.”

ONE MAN GANG TRACK LISTING:

1.      One Man Gang

2.      Last Train To Tokyo

3.      Junk Planet

4.      Midsummer Nights

5.      The Pitfalls Of Being An Outsider

6.      Wasted Years

7.      In The Tall Grass

8.      Black Ties And Red Tape

9.      Hollywood Paranoia

10.    Heaven Is A Free State

11.    Helsinki Shakedown

12.    Low Life In High Places

Available on CD, Coloured Vinyl, Digital formats and as special D2C editions, pre-orders available from Aug 9th 

RECORDED AND MIXED AT: E-Studio in Sipoo, Finland 

PRODUCED BY: Michael Monroe, Rich Jones and Steve Conte. 

RECORDED, MIXED AND ENGINEERED BY: Petri Majuri 

BAND LINE-UP: 

Michael Monroe - vocals, sax and harmonica

Rich Jones - guitar and vocals 

Steve Conte - guitar and vocals 

Sami Yaffa - bass 

Karl Rockfist - drums

Guest appearances from Captain Sensible (lead guitar on “One Man Gang”), Nasty Suicide (lead guitar on “Wasted Years”), Eicca Toppinen (cello on “Low Life In High Places”) and Tero Saarti (trumpet on “Heaven Is A Free State”).