After a nineteen year absence Hanoi Rocks return to the studio for their new album ‘Twelve Shots On The Rocks’. Joining Michael Monroe and Andy McCoy are Costello on guitar, Timpa on bass guitar, and Lacu on drums and percussion. Lacu having previously worked with Michael in his solo band.

And it was done that Hanoi Rocks was once more reborn and ready to take on the world again with the sort of Glam/Punk/Sleaze that hasn’t be around since the Grunge scene nearly killed off the rock music scene back in the late Eighties and early Nineties.

‘Twelve Shots On The Rocks’ is like a breath of fresh air and with Monroe and McCoy writing together again that old Hanoi magic is back. ‘Obscured’ opens up the proceedings with a taste of what we’ve been missing for too long. Sleazy guitar riffs, upbeat tempo, total ear candy. ‘Bad news’ and ‘New York City’ slow things down a bit but still manage that sleazy blue’s sound.

‘Delirious’ ups the tempo again and the UK single ‘A Day Late A Dollar Short’, which isn’t the strongest track on the album, but is old Hanoi through and through and that’s probably the thinking behind it being released as the single in the UK.

Incidentally when the track ‘People Like Me’ was first released in Finland in the Spring of 2002, it went gold on release as did the release of this album. Ah well the UK fans will soon be able to find out why this happened when this long awaited studio album is released in September 2003. Whether it was done tongue in cheek or an actual statement, the words …’radio and MTV, you need people like me’ … have never sounded so true in a world where a large percentage of MTV orientated music is manufactured ‘safe’ music which has less to do with what the listeners want to hear and more to do with who’s label puts up the most cash to push the band onto everyone’s screens.

The rest of the album is more like Monroe’s solo work although it still has that sleaze factor that you associate with traditional Hanoi. Hanoi were never a glam band as such. They played sleazy blue’s rock with a ‘don’t give a damn’ attitude that Michael still has. And with McCoy’s Jack Daniels fuelled guitar they have managed to put new life into Hanoi Rocks and brought some fun back into the music industry.

Two rather magnificent covers that appear on this album are the Hall and Oates classic ‘Winged Bull’, and the tribute to the long gone but never forgotten Gary Holton of Heavy Metal Kids fame in ‘Delirious’.

With the likes of newbie’s The Darkness heading the great rock revolution to us, it’s Hanoi who are going to show then what high energy, down n’ dirty, rock n’ roll is all about.