So, recently i went to see ex frontman of Hanoi Rocks, Michael Monroe live at the HMV institute in town. Needless to say it's not my favourite venue since they did it up, i remember it as the good 'ol barfly where they used to host an event called 'redfest' whereby a bunch of grubby teens (including myself) went to run around the whole venue watching loads of different bands for a fiver! however since they did it up, the careless nature of it had been taken away, people sit around on the leather seats instead of moshing and tearing down the bar! However this all changed when i went to see the beautiful and talented Michael Monroe and his band consisting of Ginger from The Wildhearts on guitar, also on guitar Steve Conte from The New York Dolls, Sami Yaffa - the original Hanoi Rocks bassit and Danzig/Chelsea Smiles drummer Karl Rosqvist.
After clearing out my purse for a vodka lemonade i made my way over to centre stage and stood there waiting for the first support band. The stage was decked out in old vintage rugs, two mannaquin's painted gold with feather headresses, candles and wall hangings of Ginesh, so without even hearing this band you know they were going to be exciting. After about 10 minutes the room filled up and they were on; the lead singer walking out with just jeans on, his belly button pierced, tonnes of cross nekclaces, curly hair and a nose ring - very Jim Morrison-esque. The bassist then followed wearing skin tight jeans, no top and a feather headress with gems forming round his eye and onto his forehead, the drummer then completed the line up wearing similar get-up.
They were a band from New York called the Alcholic Anxiety Attack and oh were they true to their name! Well, maybe they had more than alcohol before they went on stage but it was alright because literally everyone in the room must have been high at this point! There music was so sixties psychedelic and it was really refreshing to hear a new band doing something other than pop/rock! you could tell they were really inspired by the likes of Donavon and The Velvet Underground but their music was alot heavier! The singer introduced the first song by saying "i wrote this song when i was on an acid trip in my back yard, not one of those shit ones though, like a really good one" then the bassist kept randomly stopping his bass and tried to play it with the mic, it was wild! The crowd were really pumped at this point then when they finished there set At The Libary came on - not sure how they actually got the support band but i'm pretty sure the guitarist thought he was in Iron Maiden, luckily the lead singer actually had a really good voice so by this point everyone was ready for Michael Monroe!
Honestly, i've been to plenty of gigs in my time but i've never heard such a scream for a band in my whole life! They opened with Trick Of The Wrist off the new album Sensory Overdrive (which i highly recommend) and everyone went mental! They then followed that with Got Blood? also off the new album which is a really up-beat fast paced song to get everyone going, and boy did it! The fast paced nature of the gig never stopped the whole way through either, everyone was going insaine moshing and charging to the front as he leant into the crowd. A very drunk Sammi Yaffa was throwing his wine over everyone smashing the bottle everywhere and everyone was chanting "Theres only one Sammi Yaffa" then Michael Monroe swung his sax round and the mouthpiece hit the guitarist in the head and there was blood streaming all down his face for the rest of the gig! Michael Monroe diving into the crowd passing the microphone about to keen fans, doing the splitz (in his late fourties!) I nearly broke my back when some fat guy decided i was going to be his crash barrier coming out of the mosh pit!
I tell you what though, one of the best gigs i have ever been to and well worth the £15 i payed for the ticket! I highly recommend you go and see this guy and his AMAZING band and check out his new album Sensory Overdrive out now!
xoxo