{"id":1497,"date":"2018-05-30T18:49:38","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T15:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelmonroe.com\/web\/?page_id=1497"},"modified":"2018-05-30T18:49:38","modified_gmt":"2018-05-30T15:49:38","slug":"biography","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/michaelmonroe.com\/web\/biography\/","title":{"rendered":"Biography"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the leather-bound history of heartfelt rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, not only will\u00a0Michael Monroe<\/strong>\u00a0have\u00a0at least\u00a0one chapter all to himself, but his name will be colourfully threaded throughout, such has been his impact, his appeal and his ongoing never-surrender story; a powerful, inspirational tale told in detail on\u00a0\u2018The Best\u2019\u00a0\u2013 the first official collection of his (ongoing) solo musical exploits, featuring prime tracks from 1987 right up to 2017.<\/p>\n

Icon, song-writer, multi-instrumentalist, media personality, flamboyant force of nature and one of rock\u2019s most celebrated and uber-kinetic front-men,\u00a0Michael\u00a0has been a name and a (much-photographed) face on the scene since 1979 when he played a central role in the formation of\u00a0Hanoi Rocks<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 legendary Finnish glam-punk heroes who came within a rolling paper\u2019s width of taking the world by glitter-storm.<\/p>\n

The beating heart of the group consists of bassist Sami Yaffa<\/strong> and drummer Karl Rockfist<\/strong>. Sami and Michael go way back, to the 1980s – Sami played bass in Hanoi Rocks, launched Demolition 23<\/strong> with Michael and started cult band Mad Juana<\/strong> in Spain in the 1990s, before going on to play in the reformed New York Dolls<\/strong>, as well as with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts<\/strong> this millennium. Karl, formerly with LA trash-rockers The Chelsea Smile<\/strong>s, has pounded the skins behind stars like Glenn Danzig<\/strong> and Joan Osborne<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s six-string bite comes from guitarists Rich Jones<\/strong> and stalwart member Steve Conte<\/strong>. Rich, formerly of The Ginger Wildheart Band<\/strong> and The Black Halos<\/strong>, is as volatile a guitarist as Monroe has ever worked with. He\u2019s been playing with the group since the summer of 2013 when he filled in for a temporarily absent Dregen<\/strong>. The kick he gave the Monroe rock\u2018n\u2019roll cocktail was potent enough for him to be invited on board as a full and permanent member.<\/p>\n

Steve Conte started his career at the age of 11, making his first album in the family living room and backing his jazz singer mom at venues in New York and New Jersey. Since then, he\u2019s led his own bands The Crazy Truth<\/strong> and Company Of Wolves<\/strong>, and provided the rhythmic backbone and tasty leads for artists such as Suzi Quatro<\/strong>, Willy DeVille<\/strong> and Eric Burdon<\/strong>. He was also the man called upon to fill the sizeable void left by Johnny Thunders<\/strong> in the reformed New York Dolls in 2004.<\/p>\n

Monroe\u2019s last three studio releases – 2015’s Blackout States, the aforementioned Horns And Halos, and 2011\u2019s Sensory Overdrive – were both critical and commercial successes, with the latter winning Classic Rock magazine\u2019s \u2018Album Of The Year\u2019 award. The band have just wrapped up recording on a new record, slated for an early 2019 release, that they hope will build on the success of it’s predecessors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the leather-bound history of heartfelt rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, not only will\u00a0Michael Monroe\u00a0have\u00a0at least\u00a0one chapter all to himself, but his name will be colourfully threaded throughout, such has been his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelmonroe.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1497"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelmonroe.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelmonroe.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelmonroe.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelmonroe.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1497"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/michaelmonroe.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1498,"href":"https:\/\/michaelmonroe.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1497\/revisions\/1498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelmonroe.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}