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.

Monthly Mixtape #2

It’s been about a month since the first Mixtape, that means it’s time for the second one. Man can I count or what?!

01. Michael Monroe - One Man Gang (One Man Gang 2019)

Monroe opened last months mixtape as well. The latest Michael Monroe single is so hot I had to do it again. Plus, this one’s got Captain Sensible on it!

02. The Tough Shits - Hombre de la Cocaina (The Tough Shits 2015)

“I’m Waiting For The Man” for a new generation. This song is cooler than wearing sunglasses indoors. Quiero mucho las Mierdas Duras!

03. The Hip Priests - Nihilist twist (Deja F.U./Nihilist Twist Single 2019)

This track is more badass than slam dancing while pissing into the wind. If it’s the end of the world we might as well make a party out of it. The perfect bang before the whimper.

04. The Ponys - Let’s Kill Ourselves (Laced With Romance 2004)

Staying on the subject of nihilism, no one is as poetic about it than the Ponys were. “I'm full of rage / The song of violence sings inside of my mind / And it will tell me things / About the pain of life and how the sad will die.”

05. The Dahmers - Blood on My Hands (Down in the Basement 2018)

Sweden’s favorite horror themed punks The Dahmers rip through your eardrums with this 60’s flavored garage punk track. The catchy chorus will be stuck in your head for years to come. 

06. Crystal Pistol - XXIII (Crystal Pistol 2006)

My favorite CP track, as mentioned before. Gets you off your ass and hopefully makes you stop complaining. 

07. The Cruel Intentions - Borderline Crazy (No Sign of Relief 2018)

The best voice in Scandinavian sleaze is back. First single released by the band, a fun straight-up rocker. Turn up to 11 for full effect.

08. Last Joint - The Tip (The Tip 2015)

I shamefully admit I only found out about The Tip the day I started writing my two-cents on them. What I’m not ashamed of is that I fell head-over heels for this band after the first song I heard. This was that song. It’s about smoking dope. 

09. Criminal Kids - Little Bitch (Criminal Kids 2018)

Criminal Kids lay down another track with their signature “nasty riffs and an attitude problem”. 

10. The Dead Tricks - Don’t Get High (Without Me) (You Should Have Worried About It 2011)

The Dead Tricks is one of those perfect buried gems. This track, as I mentioned before, 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

11. The Wildhearts - Let ‘Em Go (Renaissance Men 2019)

This year The Wildhearts gloriously returned with Renaissance Men. This track is my favorite of the album. “Let ‘em go, let 'em go / Let the shit filled rivers flow / While your belly burns in anger no one ever needs to know” ‘Nuff said.

12. Trashcan Darlings - I Just Wanna Die (On a Chemical High) (Real Fucking Make-Up 2008)

11 years ago Norway’s legendary Trashcan Darlings released a compilation of their singles and E.P.’s. The same year the band broke up after singer Strange? Gentle said he wanted to quit due to lack of inspiration. Which is the best reason to quit a band I’ve ever heard. This was their first single.

13. The Kids Don’t Want No Rock N’ Roll - The Sharp Lads (Blackout Offensive 2015)

From the Sharp Lads last album Blackout Offensive. Perfect gut-punching punk n’ roll. In one of my latest articles I brown-nosed the band enough for me not to feel obliged to write more about them here.

14. Born to Raise Hell - Bad Mother (Gone 2017)

Chicago’s Bad Mother released their first E.P. 2 years ago, 4 tracks of pure down n’ dirty rock n’ roll. To me, Born to Raise Hell is the best song on the E.P. Hope these guys are still kicking around somewhere.

15. The Humpers - Plastique Valentine (Plastique Valentine 1997)

Starting with a bassline that will make your heart race followed by piano tinkering so fast it will de-age Jerry Lee Lewis. The Humpers are here to make you (slam) dance.

Christian Martucci - Negative Balance

Christmas came early yesterday as Christian Martucci (Guitarist Stone Sour, Black Star Riders) released his first solo E.P. “Negative Balance”.  It features Acey Slade (Dope, Misfits, TrashLight Vision) on bass and Karl Rockfist (Michael Monroe, The Chelsea Smiles) on drums.

“Negative Balance” is a cool metal & punk hybrid, songs “Black Dust” and Give Me Fire” have that in-your-face Motörhead feel to them. “Give Me Fire” grabs you by the nuts and drags you along a strip of burning coals, what a thrill! Lemmy would be proud.

There is a mournful country spiced song “Bad Ghosts” with a Gun Club taste to it, hauntingly beautiful slide guitars sway back and forth on top of a tight country beat.

“Sounds and Silences” gets personal, dealing with depression & suicidal tendencies. Martucci tells us the music and quiet helps to break free of pain, “Keeps the hell at bay” and “Talks me off the ledge”. Powerful stuff that will hopefully inspire lonely and disconnected kids to pick up instruments and make badass rock n’ roll like this.

Martucci’s delivers his lines with frantic raw power and powerful howls. Great riffs, cool solo’s and you can’t go wrong with a drum n’ bass team like Slade & Rockfist. I bet these guys had a blast making this record, I know I’m having a blast listening to it. Definitely hoping there’s more where this came from.

Buy on iTunes here.

Listen on Spotify: 

Monthly Mixtape #1

Too Late for 78 proudly presents: Monthly Mixtape #1!

The first collection of songs by bands I have or want to write about. For this first edition I wanted to start and end with tracks that inspired me to start this blog.

01. ’78 - Michael Monroe (Sensory Overdrive 2011)

I took inspiration for my blogtitle from this song, it’s a piledriver of a track where Mr Monroe tells us “It’s time to take that middlefinger out your ass”. From critically acclaimed debut album Sensory Overdrive of then newly formed Michael Monroe band.

02. Stray Doll - Prima Donna (After Hours 2008)

These guys know how to rock n’ roll and it sounds like they like it. Awesome New York Dolls style song played with wild abandon. 

03. She’s Like Heroin to Me - The Gun Club (Fire of Love 1981) 

Jeffrey Lee Pierce was one of those pioneers in rock n’ roll that never really got the credit he was due. Self sabotage and substance abuse kept his band from success but it didn’t stop them from making some classic records.

04. Glore - Radkey (Dark Black Makeup 2015/Delicious Rock Noise 2016)

Radkey is firing on all cylinders on this one. Also check out the awesome claymation video on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaVpWb0kYiU

05. Sleeping Aides and Razorblades - The Exploding Hearts (Guitar Romantic 2003)

The sky seemed to be the limit for The Exploding Hearts, their debut album was getting great reviews and they were being hailed as the best punk band since 1977. A few months after the release of Guitar Romantic their van crashed and tragically killed 3/4 of the band. “Sleeping Aides and Razorblades” is a perfect piece of power pop.

06. Get Back to New York City - Dr. Boogie (Gotta Get Back to New York City 2005)

Like I wrote before, I instantly fell head over heels for Dr. Boogie after hearing this track. I L.U.V. love it. 

07. Kicked in the Teeth - Crank County Daredevils (Feed the Beast 2017)

I first heard C.C.D. about a decade ago and loved their stuff. It bummed me out when they broke up in 2010. A while ago I checked up on the Kings of Sleaze and was pleased to find out they were not only playing again but released what I think is their best record to date. “Kicked in the Teeth” is litterally that, a kick in the teeth. In a good way. 

08. Coke’n - The Sweet Things (In Borrowed Shoes, On Borrowed Time 2019)

The Sweet Things just released their debut album and it’s insane how much it rocks. Fuck this band is good. Think Exile era Stones mixed with the attitude of the Dolls. These guys are going places. 

09. Cigarette Spit - Sick Bags (Cigarette Spit 2018)

High voltage garage punk from Richmond, Virginia. Fuzzed up guitars & a beat that you can’t help but bang your head to. Sick Bags released their first E.P. last year and it left me hungry for more.

10. Buzzsaw - Brower (Buzzsaws 2018)

The spirit of Marc Bolan is alive and well and it lives on in Nat Brower. Buzzsaw is a 70’s style glam rocker that’s refreshing like a cold beer on a hot day.

11. Mary, Are You Livin’? (I Kill Me 1990)

First song from the first Jeff Dahl solo album. Dead Boys’ Cheetah Chrome goes full throttle on this one. “Mary, Are You Livin’?” is a classic any self respecting punk rocker oughta know.

12. F.Y. I’m Free - Mondo Generator (A Drug Problem That Never Existed 2003)

Oliveri’s voice thunders with anger as he sings about the effects of drinking Drano. He was really going through some stuff at the time. There’s just something exhilarating about hearing someone scream Fuck Yeah I’m Free

13. C.U.N.T. - PUSSYLIQUOR (C.U.N.T. 2018)

What’s even more exhilarating is hearing PUSSYLIQUOR screaming profanities for two minutes and eight seconds. These girls from brighton are, and I quote, putting the amp in tampon. It’s like Nina Hagen had a quintuplet, awesome. 

14. Liquor Store Romance - Sex Slaves (Wasted Angel 2009)

This is the perfect tragic love song. The Sex Slaves are brilliant and the world sucks a bit more because they went on hiatus. This year they played a couple reunion shows but I want more. These guys have a special place in my heart. they saved my ass when I got beat up after their show for wearing guy-liner.

15. The History of Rock ’n’ Roll - Supersuckers (Suck It 2018)

Eddie and co. clearly share my sentiments as they sing and praise a long list of great bands that are wrongly being pushed towards obscurity. They call it a footnote in the history of rock n’ roll, it is the exciting third act in my eyes.

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”).